Book traces history of Aurora's Phillips Park

The rich history of Phillips Park, Aurora's largest park, is chronicled in a new book, "Phillips Park: Aurora's Treasure," by Ron Moses and John Jaros.

The book, released last week, is available in the Museum Store of the Aurora Historical Society in the Pierce Art and History Center, 20 E. Downer Place. The price is $27.99, plus tax; historical society members receive a 10 percent discount.

Moses is a retired attorney and former city and county official whose father, Ray Moses, was park superintendent from 1926 to 1978, and whose grandfather, George Moses, supervised the park from 1910 to 1926. Jaros is the longtime executive director of the Aurora Historical Society.

The book, 160 pages with more than 300 photographs, traces the history of today's park back to a wooded picnic grove in the 1830s and outlines the development of the park as a privately operated recreation venue in the Victorian era. It was established as a municipal park in 1899.

The book highlights such major 20th century events as the creation of the zoo 100 years ago and the discovery of mastodon bones in the 1930s, as well as the 2002 restoration of the Sunken Garden.

Regular hours for the Museum Store are noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays. The book may be ordered online at aurorahistory.net.