When boys were first admitted in 1980, the facility was renamed the Park Ridge Youth Campus, before being simply renamed The Youth Campus in the 1990s.[1]
The Youth Campus closed in the summer of 2012. The organization merged into the existing Chicago not-for-profit organization Children's Home + Aid.[3]
The campus itself was split into parcels,[4] with plans to sell the north part, approximately 60%, to Mark Elliott Corporation for housing development, and the south part, approximately 40%, to the Park Ridge Recreation and Park District for $6.4 million.[5] The Park District voters approved a referendum in April 2013 for a $13.2 million bond for the purchase and conversion to a park.[6] The Park District's property was re-opened as Prospect Park in May 2016.[7]
Except for Emery Cottage, Solomon Cottage, and Wohlers Hall, the Park District had the campus buildings torn down in March 2015;[8] in exchange for allowing demolition, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency required that the demolished buildings be recorded with architectural details, that Solomon Cottage and Wohlers Hall be restored, and that Emery Cottage also remain preserved.[9] The Solomon Cottage, built in 1908,[7] was leased on a long-term basis to the Park Ridge Historical Society in 2016,[10] and renovated in 2017 to become the historical society's Park Ridge History Center.[11]
↑ Adlaf, Paul (July 2012). "Presidents Report". The Lamppost Newsletters. Park Ridge, Illinois: Park Ridge Historical Society. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
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