Brew Fest Would Never Happen in Electric Park

It's ironic that the craft beer festival being held Saturday to raise money to restore would have been expressly forbidden back at the turn of the 20th century, when the park was in its heyday.

According to Plainfield historian Michael Lambert, the park had “strict rules of conduct to promote a family and upstanding atmosphere. … Besides alcohol being prohibited on the grounds, smoking and spitting were prohibited as well.”

He finds it “mildly amusing” that the is being used to promote the once-alcohol-free park’s redevelopment, but times have changed in this way and many others, he said.

“It is no different than thinking about the changes in mode of dress from those days to the present – no one would suggest that girls wear bloomers, stockings and dresses along with a bonnet to go for a swim in the 21st century,” he said.

Electric Park, now called Riverfront Park, was built by the Joliet, Plainfield and Aurora Railroad Co. and opened in 1904. The park on the banks of the DuPage River was meant to lure Chicagoans away from the grimy, crowded city by getting them to take the electric street car out to the country, Lambert said.

(These electric-powered trains would have been similar to the South Shore Line, which continues to operate between Chicago and South Bend, Ind.)

While many people think the park’s name came from the electric bulbs that decorated the site, those weren’t introduced until 1905, he said.

And, in fact, Electric Park wasn’t even much of a novelty at the time. There were similar parks built by street car lines locally (Dellwood Park in Lockport and Fox Valley Park in Montgomery) and all over the country, Lambert said. One thing that did make Plainfield’s park different was it offered overnight accommodations, he said.

While Plainfield’s Electric Park never had a religious affiliation – the prohibition of alcohol was more a reflection of the times – it did have an unofficial link to the Chautauqua religious movement, which began holding regular events there in 1906.

“Like all other Chautauqua societies, the Will County Chautauqua Association and, later, the Plainfield Chautauqua Association promoted spiritual, civic and personal improvement — primarily through lecture series and entertainment venues,” Lambert said.  

“The Chautauqua movement was, typically, interdenominational and presented a wide range of religious theologies throughout the week run of events. However, temperance (if not outright abstinence) regarding the consumption of alcohol was a major topic of the day.”

For the most part, the park was designed more to provide a spot more for relaxation, socializing and escapism than to dictate social mores beyond the standard “civilized” code of conduct, he said. While it was lights out at 10 p.m. in the cabins, entertainment on the west side of the river often went on much later, he said.

“The grounds provided pathways for promenading, a common activity of the time for exercise as well as ‘to see and be seen,’” Lambert said. “The restaurant, concessions and dining hall were located on the east side, as (were) the bathing house, beach and boat dock – the more genteel, or family-fare. 

“The west side of the river was a bustling hub of entertainment: sunken gardens for strolling; lawn gliders for the more tame to swing and converse; toboggan chutes into the river; bowling; dancing; lectures and entertainment in the auditorium; and, beginning with the second season, ball games and harness racing.”

Interestingly, in later years the park started offering racier fare, including “negro nights,” jazz bands and daring entertainers, such as famed fan dancer Sally Rand, he said.

The Midwest Brewers Fest isn’t “bad” or “immoral,” Lambert said, but there’s no denying it certainly would never have been held during the park’s heyday. For anyone who is a purist, “it’s just an odd event to promote the nostalgia of Electric Park, (which was billed as) a temperate and wholesome, alcohol-free environment.”