Wing Park History

Tyler's Creek at Wing Park, early 1900s — Elgin's first families gather along the water. Elgin History Museum.

The Wing Family Arrives

The Wing family relocates to Elgin, Illinois, and settles on a sweeping estate on the city's west side. The land they call home includes open farmland, native woodland, and a natural spring that would give the property a reputation reaching far beyond Elgin's borders.

The Sulfur Spring

Before the park, before the golf course, this land was known locally as "Sulfur Springs." The Wing family enlarged the stone ledges surrounding the natural spring on multiple occasions. Word spread. Families reportedly traveled hundreds of miles — some with sick infants and children — seeking the spring's reputed healing waters. The spring was a destination long before the first golfer ever set foot on these fairways. 

Harness Racing 

The area now occupied by the ball diamond served as a harness racing venue. Crowds gathered to watch the races, which ran through 1920. Long after the grandstands came down, the land remembered: to this day, the banked curve of the original racetrack remains faintly visible on the north portion of the 4th hole fairway. 

More Than a Park

In its early years, Wing Park was a full-scale recreational destination and not just for golf and swimming.

A family visits the Sulfur Spring at Wing Park. Elgin History Museum. 

A Gift to the City

William H. Wing — a successful Elgin attorney and descendant of the founding Wing family — donates 121.5 acres of his estate to the City of Elgin for use as a public park. The land is a blend of open farmland and native woodland along Tyler Creek.

William H. Wing — Elgin attorney, civic benefactor, and the man whose gift of 121.5 acres became Wing Park.

The Park Opens

Wing Park officially opened to the public on August 2, 1903. Elgin families immediately claim it for picnics, walks along Tyler Creek, and summer afternoons by the water. The park is the western anchor of a city that is growing fast, thanks to the Elgin National Watch Company and other manufacturers giving their workers their first real hours of leisure.

Entrance to Wing Park, Elgin, Ill. — an early postcard view of the iconic brick gate pillars, with the clubhouse visible beyond. Elgin History Museum. 

Tom Bendelow — course architect, designer of over 600 courses

A Course Takes Shape

Elgin hires Thomas Bendelow, the nation's most prolific golf course architect and a passionate advocate for public golf, to design a course on the park's open land.
Bendelow surveys and stakes the entire layout in a single day. His crew built it in two months.

Cost: $1,250
Opened: September 5, 1908

The game, long reserved for wealthy country club members, is now open to anyone who wants to play. Wing Park is the oldest public golf course in Illinois still operating in its original configuration.

Swimming Arrives

Locals call it "the mud hole" — but it works. Wing Park becomes a full-day destination.Bendelow surveys and stakes the entire layout in a single day. His crew built it in two months.

Bathing at Wing Park, Elgin, Ill. — the original Tyler Creek swimming hole, ca. early 1900s.
Elgin History Museum. 

The City Championship Begins

The Elgin City Golf Championship is inaugurated and fittingly, it is won in its first year by Edwin Wing, brother of park benefactor William H. Wing. A championship born on the Wing family's donated land, won by a Wing. 

A Club Is Born

The Wing Park Golf Club is formally established on September 14, 1912 to help manage the property, with 88 charter members. The clubhouse, a handsome American Craftsman bungalow opens the same year, becoming Elgin's social gathering place. The club immediately sells an additional 200 memberships at $25 each.

Note: The original Wing Park clubhouse was located across Wing Street from the course. It was later destroyed by fire, and the existing smaller clubhouse was built as its replacement.

Arthur Lindgren, Ray Philips, Paddy Cox & James Hayes at Wing Park, 1922 or 1923 — the game in working clothes, as it was meant to be played. Elgin History Museum.

Too Popular for Its Own Good

By 1921, Wing Park is so crowded that the City of Elgin bans non-residents from playing on weekends entirely. Non-residents still flock to the course. By the mid-1920s, the city imposes a tiered fee — 50 cents for residents, one dollar for visitors — just to keep tee times available for Elgin.

The National Guard Encampment 

Wing Park served as a National Guard encampment during this period — a dramatic chapter in the park's history. Military drills and encampments took place on the same grounds where families picnicked and golfers played. Historic photographs from the encampment period document soldiers in formation, temporary structures, and a large weather balloon flying over the park. 

A real pool

By 1924, The improvised Tyler Creek swimming hole gives way to a proper aquatic facility: a grand formal pool with an ornate bathhouse featuring a distinctive cupola roofline. On hot summer afternoons, the pool is packed — lifeguards on duty while hundreds of Elginites cool off. Wing Park is now a resort in everything but name.

Swimming Pool, Elgin, Ill. — the formal Wing Park pool with its iconic bathhouse cupola, packed on a summer afternoon. Elgin History Museum. 

Almost 18 Holes

By 1926, Plans are drawn to purchase adjacent land and expand Wing Park to a full 18-hole course. The ambition is real — but the Great Depression arrives first. The expansion is shelved, and the original 9-hole layout survives intact. Today, historians consider this a stroke of luck: the course remains exactly as Tom Bendelow designed it.

Opening Day, Still Going Strong

In 1937, nearly three decades after the course opened, Opening Day is still a cause for celebration. Willard Miller and Johnny Gostele mark the occasion the way Elginites always have… by coming out to play.

Willard Miller (left) and Johnny Gostele (right) on Opening Day 1937, Wing Park Golf Course. Elgin History Museum.

The Course Record

Al Huske serves as golf professional at Wing Park during this era. He sets the course record of 29 — a mark so remarkable it has only ever been matched, never broken. To this day, the record of 29 is shared by just three players in Wing Park's history: Al Huske, Bob Thoren, and Mike Lehman. 

The Community Game

Wing Park Golf Course continues to serve generations of Elgin golfers through the mid-twentieth century. The City Championship runs year after year, with the Thoren family among the notable multi-year champions. Steve Thoren's father returns to competition and wins multiple titles; Steve himself participates in the Wing Park Junior Golf Program in the 1960s, one of many young Elginites the course introduces to the game. 

Jack Claes, LeRoy Mote, Carl Scabareti, Robert Brunton & William Wilson at the hole — the familiar faces of Wing Park's competitive years. Elgin History Museum.

National Recognition

On February 18, 2009, Wing Park Golf Course is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency cites Wing Park's association with Elgin's recreational history and its landscape architecture as an outstanding example of early Bendelow design.

On February 27, 2009, the National Park Service features Wing Park as its Highlighted Property of the Week.

Wing Park is now recognized as the oldest and best-preserved nine-hole municipal golf course in Illinois, retaining its original configuration of tees, fairways, and greens unchanged since 1908.