In the 1800s, before heavy use of municipal water wells drew down the aquifers beneath Glen Ellyn and surrounding communities, there were many springs bubbling to the surface, spawning creeks here and there. One such creek originated in the vicinity of what today is the Glen Ellyn Public Library. That small stream ran northeast right through downtown. A storm sewer guided it under Main Street, after which it flowed on to the marshy meadow that later became Lake Ellyn and then continued on to the DuPage River.
Ice skating was a popular winter sport then. While there was a decent pond for skating just south of the railroad tracks (east of Park Boulevard) a more ambitious option was to skate on the creek that flowed from the center of town to the East Branch of the DuPage River all the way to Lisle and back. This would have been about 15 miles round trip. And not without some risk of getting wet if the ice wasn’t sufficiently thick. For the youngsters in town who undertook this adventure it would have come on top of the many chores expected of them.
This creek still exists today, but is fully contained in storm sewers all the way to Lake Ellyn.
