Ex-missile site, Arlington Lakes Golf Club turns 30
Suburban homeowners picketing the U.S. Army, generals flying in from Washington to meet with citizens and big-name politicians throwing their weight around.
The 1970s-era campaign to get land from the Defense Department to build Arlington Lakes Golf Club and help prevent flooding in a nearby subdivision was pretty exciting for Arlington Heights, then a village of about 65,000 residents, on its way to today's 77,000.
Convincing military leaders required five years of political pressure and wrangling, but this weekend the Arlington Heights Park District celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 90-acre golf course.
It was formally dedicated on Sept. 8, 1979.
During its short history from farmland (before 1944) to golf course and flood-control site in 1979, the land east of New Wilke Road and south of Central Road housed German prisoners late in World War II and Nike missiles later.
Tom McDonnell, current president of the Surrey Ridge West Civic Association, is credited for his persistence in lobbying for the land. He is also the project's unofficial historian.
An avid golfer, McDonnell was told when he moved into the neighborhood in 1969 that the site, which Army Reserve and National Guard units had started using in 1966, would someday be a golf course.
That seemed far off, until flooding in 1971-72 that affected 90 of the 400 homes in the area motivated him and others to pressure the Army to make good on its promise.
The Arlington Heights Park District had declared in 1967 that it wanted the land, but the drama didn't heat up until the early 1970s when then Illinois Senators Charles Percy and Adlai Stevenson III each talked the military into relinquishing a portion of the area.
Stevenson's sense of urgency was spurred upon hearing the Navy wanted to build overflow housing there to serve Glenview Air Station. That never materialized.
But then Army officials got stubborn. They argued that even though the Nike missiles were gone, they needed the land for a Reserve center.
The situation was tailor-made for Rep. Philip Crane, who then represented the 8th District.
Not only was Crane a well-known conservative Republican supporter of the military, but his local office was at Algonquin and Wilke, practically across the street from the site, said Ed Murnane, Crane's aide at the time.
"It was win-win for everybody," said Murnane, an Arlington Heights resident. "Crane was the representative to the federal government for these people. Whatever they wanted, he was going to try to help.
"That's the best example that I have ever seen of the federal government - both parties, Crane, Stevenson, the military - local government and local citizens working together to accomplish something," he said.
One of the people Crane called on was Howard "Bo" Callaway, then Secretary of the Army, who had served with him in Congress.
"I think Crane put as much pressure on everybody as he probably could," Murnane said. "It was an important project for him."
Crane had the bona fides with the military, so if he argued the Army did not need all this land, "they would listen to him," Murnane said.
The politicians encouraged McDonnell, co-leader Martin Cawley and other Surrey Ridge residents to keep up the pressure.
Fifty of them picketed the Army base in June 1974 and had so much fun that a week later 350 turned out.
"Some of them loved being branded as radicals," said McDonnell, specifically mentioning the late Sharon Sharp, who headed the Illinois Lottery and once ran for Illinois Secretary of State on the Republican ticket.
The groups had parade permits from the village.
"Were they rabble-rousers?" Murnane said. "No, they were aggressive and fought hard for what they thought was a solution to their problem."
McDonnell guesses the military had 50 to 75 people stationed at the site from 1953 to 1960 when the Nike missiles were active. The missiles left in 1960, and the prominent radar towers - ready to track incoming missiles for the Nikes to intercept - were removed in 1974.
During the Cold War there were 22 Nike sites designed to protect Chicago, including Libertyville and Mundelein, Addison, Naperville and Palatine.
Crane stayed on the case, and eventually in 1975 the Army gave up land and worked a swap with local officials so both the golf course and a Reserve center could fit in the area.
In Murnane's view, everyone ended up working together with the Army scheduling tours at the approximately 40 acres it kept on the day the golf course was dedicated.
Current Arlington Heights Village President Arlene Mulder was appointed to the park district board right before the new golf course was dedicated.
"The golf course is a tremendous asset, and the Army base is still there," she said. "It's an economic benefit to the village of Arlington Heights when people come for their training. We are proud of our heritage with the Army."
Not everything was perfect. For the first five years the golf course was open, an old missile silo near the 15th hole kept collapsing because it had not been properly filled.
And although almost $1 million from flood control funds was available for the area, including golf course construction, the park district had to pass a $2.5 million referendum to build the course and improve other park sites in the village, McDonnell said.
Some of the flood control money was used for huge drainage systems in Surrey Ridge West, McDonnell said. And since the golf course was constructed with its lakes and a few fairways designed to hold water, there has only been one flood in the subdivision, he said.
Crane, retired from Congress since 2005 and reached at his home in Virginia, reiterated his belief that national security is one of the most important things a government does, but agreed the homeowners and the military could share that property.
"The local community people were keenly interested in the acquisition," he said. "I was with them."
From farmland to golf course
1944 - Farmland becomes Navy Auxiliary Landing Field and Prisoner of War camp.
1953 - Nike Ajax missile base constructed.
1960 - Missiles removed.
1966 - Site occupied by Army Reserve and Illinois National Guard.
1967 - Arlington Heights park board says it wants land.
1972 - Sen. Charles Percy helps park board acquire 13 acres; Navy plans to build dependent housing; Heavy flood hits nearby homes.
1973 - Sen. Adlai Stevenson III gets involved; Navy relinquishes 52 acres.
1974 - Area residents travel to Washington to meet with Army officials in Rep. Phil Crane's office; Army says it won't claim 52 acres the Navy relinquished, but needs to keep 75 acres for Reserve use. Area residents picket the Army base twice. Last radar dome removed. Army generals and officials come to Arlington Heights to reiterate decision to keep the land.
1975 - Illinois Attorney General William Scott ask for an environmental-impact statement for Army plans at the site. Crane keeps up the pressure; Army willing to discuss joint use of the land, then agrees to give up 26 acres. Army and local officials meet to draw boundaries so both the golf course and Reserve center will fit.
1976 - Crane speaks on the floor of Congress to expedite the transfer of 26 acres to the park district; deed presented to the park district. Village of Arlington Heights appropriates $800,000 toward flood control in the area. Park district residents pass referendum.
1977 - Course construction starts.
1979 - Course opens for play in May.
• Courtesy Tom McConnell