An evening in downtown Wheaton can take one back to a simpler time.
Second-run movies are playing for $1.50 at the twin-screen Wheaton Theatre, 123 N. Hale St. If it`s summertime, most likely there is a free band concert in Memorial Park, a block north of downtown. Just a few blocks away, Wheaton College may be hosting a concert or lecture in its 2,400-seat Edman Chapel.
”Wheaton has maintained a certain charm, a small-town flavor,” says Veronica Brach, owner of Brach`s Good List, an ice cream shop at 109 E. Front St., around the corner from the theater. ”People call you by your first name; there`s a feeling of concern for each other.”
Brach offers a rotating choice of 45 flavors of ice cream–made on the premises–in a store she describes as ”kind of a landmark.” Previous owners had been in business for nearly 15 years before Brach bought it in 1980.
Wheaton is home to many landmarks. With the 134-year-old Wheaton College, a 113-year-old bank and one of the oldest downtowns in Du Page County, the village boasts a rich heritage as it heads into the 21st Century.
Wheaton began attracting families early in its history. Begun as a 12-block plat tract nearly 150 years ago, Wheaton was incorporated soon after, in 1859.
For many years, most of the city`s residents lived in grand old houses surrounded by stately oaks and elms. They are (or were) clustered within blocks of a small downtown district, all an easy walk from the Chicago & North Western commuter train stop at Front and West Streets (once the Galena & Chicago Union Railway).
Wheaton has grown steadily through the years, but that hasn`t changed its character, residents say. ”It has a small-town orientation in a metropolitan area; so you have the best of both worlds,” says Jerry C. Bradshaw, president of the Gary-Wheaton Bank. ”People still do things here like it was 30 years ago. Wheaton has the same lifestyle many of us grew up with.”
The city`s residential nature has remained throughout the city`s growth. More than 6,500 housing units were built in the 1970s. The population jumped to about 46,000 in 1984 from 40,464 in 1980. Though still primarily a community of single-family homes, Wheaton has seen an increase in multifamily homes in the last few years.
”Wheaton will always be principally residential, there`s no question about that,” Bradshaw says.
But the forces of growth that are sweeping through Du Page County are bringing change, which many of the city`s leaders see as opportunity
As the Du Page County seat, Wheaton is the center of activity for one of Chicago`s fastest-growing areas. A multi-acre county complex on the city`s west side includes the Government Center, the jail and sheriff`s department, the health department and the fairgrounds.
A new $50 million county courthouse is in the works. Plans include 34 courtrooms in a 300,000-square-foot building between the administration building and the fairgrounds. Final approval of the project is expected this year.
Unlike many other suburbs in the area, Wheaton still has room to grow, and its location near the high-technology corridor along the East-West Tollway makes it desirable, community businessmen say. The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is directly to the west near Batavia and the Du Page County and O`Hare International Airports are within easy access.
”In the case of Wheaton, our tide is coming in. Our time has come,”
Bradshaw says. ”Our heritage is important, but it is also important that we adjust ourselves to what`s going on today.”
The city`s leaders are seizing opportunities to expand the nonresidential tax base. Eighty-five percent of the city is residential, forcing it to rely heavily on property taxes. Of Wheaton`s $18 million 1987 estimated budget, 27 percent is to be funded through property taxes.
Nonresidential development will enhance the tax base and ensure financial stability in the future, village officials say.
The so-called Danada development, named for former owners Dan and Ada Rice, tops the list of Wheaton`s expansion plans. Near the intersection of Butterfield and Naperville Roads, the land will include residential and commercial uses on portions of the nearly 600 acres within the city`s limits. (Of the original 1,300 acres, a 700-acre tract belongs to the Du Page County Forest Preserve District.) The city council has reviewed and approved a majority of the proposed projects for the land in the last several months.
”It was a difficult piece of property to put together because of its size,” says local developer Joe Keim, who is building homes on the land and represents the land`s corporate owners.
Work on several portions of the development has begun after several years of delay involving litigation with the forest preserve district and heirs to the Rice Estate. ”The property was annexed in the late 1970s, and I`ve been working with it ever since,” Keim says. ”It`s still going to take a little time, but I`m pleased with how the project is turning out.”
Last summer, work was begun on utilities and streets and several model homes in Danada North, one of the site`s subdivisions. The approved plan for this area and another, Danada West, calls for 476 single-family homes to sell for $170,000 to $450,000.
Construction on Danada Square, the major retail component approved for a 30-acre site at the northwest corner of Butterfield and Naperville Roads, is set to begin this spring. The shopping center will include a total of 370,000 square feet, with Jewel-Osco as a major store. Another retail development along Naperville Road includes a $2 million branch of the Gary-Wheaton Bank.
Two commercial office buildings have been approved for construction on a 3.3-acre parcel on Naperville Road. The target date for completing development on the 300 acres covered by Danada North and West is 1990.
”There`s tremendous demand (for commercial and residential) in the area, and aside from this property, Wheaton is landlocked,” Keim says.
Final approval came on March 2 for the residential and nonresidential development proposed for the remaining 265-acre parcel of the property, called Danada East, northeast of Butterfield and Naperville Roads.
This plan includes 260 single-family lots on 73 acres; 113.5 acres devoted to retail/commercial or office use and 56.5 acres of office/research or multifamily home development. Another shopping center is planned for the Danada East development, with a Dominick`s as a major tenant.
”It could have been developed as apartment buildings, but in-stead it is going to be the finest shopping and residential area in the city. It will be the upper end of Wheaton,” Keim says.
Village and business leaders are also working to preserve parts of Wheaton`s past, especially in the central business district.
”We`re keeping the best of the old and combining it with some new things,” says Beverly Hocker, Wheaton Chamber of Commerce executive director. ”There`s a charm downtown that can`t be re-created.”
With an estimated 1.1-million square feet of retail space, the original downtown is the focus of several new ordinances. To foster the area`s old-fashioned look, a proposed sign ordinance would prohibit internally lit and moving signs and restrict colors on both new and old signs to reflect an Early American style. The ordinance is in the early planning stages.
A facade improvement program is underway. Sponsored by the city and the chamber, the program provides low-interest loans for business owners who plan to do at least $25,000 worth of facade renovation. Sixteen downtown businesses have had designs drawn for new facades in the last two years; several store owners have completed their renovations.
Most of the city`s services are in drawn up for new facades in the the immediate vicinity, including the college, library, post office and the major commuter train stop; so the downtown continues to be a natural center.
”We constantly have a parking problem–not that we don`t have enough, it`s just that our lots are always full. We like that kind of problem,”
Hocker says, implying that full parking lots mean good business for the downtown.
Plans have been approved for refurbishing a block of Front Street between Main and Hale Streets, historically the center of the downtown district, and construction is set to begin in May. A small pedestrian plaza and fountain will serve as a focal point for downtown activities, including the weekly farmers` markets, which last from mid-July to mid-October.
Not far from the central business district, developer Wayne Ottoson has taken on a different project–creating a European-style bed-and-breakfast place, the Wheaton Inn. The inn, at 301 W. Roosevelt Rd., will open this month. It will have 16 lodging rooms, each named for prominent people of the city and county, such as Harold ”Red” Grange, Dan S. Rice and Robert R. McCormick.
Ottoson obtained the help of a husband-and-wife team of consultants from England. He says the inn will be the first bed and breakfast in Du Page County.
”Wheaton is much more than a oriented. It`s a great climate.” commuter community,” Ottoson
Ottoson, who has completed seven condominium office buildsays. ”You recognize people, you say hello. It`s extremely family ings along Roosevelt Road, is also at work on a $1 million redevelopment of a 15,000-square-foot, two-story building at 1062-1072 College Ave. The site is across from the Wheaton College dormitories and next to the train station. When completed in May, it will include 12 apartments upstairs and retail shops and a restaurant below.
The city also hopes to develop 70 acres at a site called Wheaton Park Manor, at Hazelton Avenue between Manchester and Roosevelt Roads. The city brought in a consultant in 1984 to devise a strategy for the area, which was annexed in 1969. A mix of residential, commercial and offices are envisioned, and the city hopes to get $1.8 million in increased tax revenues from the project.
Despite all the growth, the Wheaton of old will be the theme as the village approaches its 150th year celebration. The July 4th celebration kickoff promises to be more than a little reminiscent of the days when the town`s first several blocks were mapped out.
