Horse boarding property to become forest preserve land, family plans estate sale

Leask Lane is a pleasant stretch of road alongside the Morton Arboretum and curving around Gladstone Ridge, a home for horses for decades.

“There’s so much nature. That's really what makes it so beautiful,” said Shawn Bolger, who grew up on the property near Wheaton with her siblings.

The Bolger family is preparing to sell that piece of land — 35 acres or so — to the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, ensuring that it will remain just that, a natural area. The district is expected to pay $12 million for the site, just across the street from the Danada Forest Preserve trail system.

“I think our residents are thrilled with that purchase. And that, really, link to the Morton Arboretum from Danada there,” Forest Preserve President Daniel Hebreard said.

Gladstone Ridge has a storied history.

In the late 1960s, the Bolger family took over the property from Jay Stream, the developer who’s considered the founder of Carol Stream and who named the community after his daughter during her recovery from a car crash.

“He had Arabians that he imported from Egypt. It was a very big operation that he had for Arabians,” Shawn Bolger said.

Her late mother, Helen Bolger, had a “great business mind” and ran a successful horse boarding operation on the property.

Shawn Bolger and her sister, Heidi Bolger, called growing up there idyllic and wonderful. Their parents — Helen and Vincent Bolger had six children, four daughters and two sons — were very social and used to host barn dances.

“We did also have tenants on the property,” Shawn Bolger said.

That included one of Wheaton’s famous sons.

According to the Bolger sisters, John Belushi and his roommates rented one of the apartments while he was a College of DuPage student.

Gladstone Ridge, though, was mostly known for its four-legged residents. At capacity, the Bolgers boarded about 50 horses.

“It was a tremendous location for a lot of people,” Shawn Bolger said.

Helen Bolger died in 2006, and her husband in 2008.

“My mom and dad have left us a legacy that now we get to pass on to the rest of the community,” Heidi Bolger said.

Hebreard said the district hopes to close on the property in the next six weeks. The facilities on the site are going to be slated for demolition, and the district will return it to open space.

The district is asking voters in the November election for a property tax increase that would, among other things, provide funding for acquiring land.

However, Hebreard says the purchase of the Gladstone Ridge site does not hinge on the referendum.

A contract has been negotiated and signed for the acquisition of what the district calls the “Danada-East property.” Final due diligence is underway.

“This was a concerted effort to negotiate and make this happen,” Commissioner Jeff Gahris said. “It took some time, and I think the residents in that area very much appreciate our efforts.”

The Bolger family has scheduled an estate sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. The land is surrounded on three sides by the forest preserve and the arboretum. And the house is set back from the road.

“You’re elevated when you're at the house point, and you can look down … it's magnificent,” Shawn Bolger said. “It really is.”