$500K restoration cleans up Geneva Creek, protects Grotto

It used to be that Geneva Creek was so eroded and choked with invasive species you could barely even tell it was there.

Even as recently as 2023, erosion at the creek and the Geneva Grotto located on the southwest side of the Kane County Government Center, 719 S. Batavia Ave., Geneva, was so bad that if you walked the trail in the Gunnar Anderson Forest Preserve you could fall in.

The path to the Grotto is now gravel instead of dirt and Geneva Creek has been stabilized, the overgrowth cut back and native vegetation expected to sprout and help maintain its banks.

“The project was done for just a hair over half a million dollars,” said Rob Linke, Kane County Water Resources Senior Engineer.

The creek stabilization was a joint project between the county and the Forest Preserve District. The Forest Preserve District provided $50,000; a Kane County Riverboat grant was $250,000; and the Kane County Wetlands fee-in-lieu fund provided a bit more than $200,000, documents show.

They had to share the cost because different parts belong to the forest preserve and the county, Linke said.

“All of this was completely overgrown,” Linke said, gesturing to the now wide open and clear creek bed. “None of it was really being managed. Frankly, the forest preserve has a lot of areas to manage, so this was one where they weren’t really going out and cutting out all the invasive species, the honeysuckle, the buckthorn and things like that.”

The county was leaving its share unmaintained as well.

“Same thing with the county. The county portion of this project area had largely been forgotten about,” Linke said. “For 52 years, nobody’s really done anything.”

A sign at the end of the lower parking lot announces the path to the Geneva Grotto, an altar about 40 feet wide, 20 feet high under a dome, with Christian images set in mosaic stone.

A little surprising on public property, but the government center used to be the Sacred Heart Seminary. A priest and brothers built the Grotto in the 1930s.

Like Geneva Creek, the Grotto had also fallen into disrepair. The local Knights of Columbus Council 2191 took the lead in its restoration efforts for the past several years.

Linke said with more people coming to the Grotto, the county took more interest in stabilizing the creek.

“The creek itself had been severely eroded, again, because all these invasive species, they overgrow and create a canopy that shades out all the good vegetation,” Linke said.

Geneva Creek drainage starts at the Jewel at the corner of Illinois Route 38 and Randall Road, Linke said.

Rain flows into the storm sewers, comes out at Geneva Golf Course, which is actually the start of the Geneva Creek itself, Linke said.

Then it flows under Illinois Route 31, eventually connecting to the Fox River.

“As the channel was eroding over the last 40 or 50 years ... all of that soil would wash off, go into the creek, and then be transported down into the Fox River and made pollution in the Fox River worse,” Linke said.

Knights of Columbus members Bob McQuillan of Batavia and Patrick Murtaugh of Geneva, and his wife, Ann Murtaugh, have volunteered for years in the Grotto’s restoration project.

McQuillan said the Grotto is important as a historic site, nearly 100 years old.

”We decided this was something very cool and very unique and restorable,” McQuillan said.

In front of the Grotto itself, commemorative bricks are laid flat, a reminder of the fundraiser to cover the cost of materials.

Visitors also place memory cards for their loved ones in holders on the altar itself.

Off to the left, where a statue of Mary stands, is a small fenced off garden where native species are blooming, including turtlehead, wild geranium, Jacob’s ladder and start of Bethlehem. Others yet to bloom are cardinal flower, phlox, great blue lobelia and wild ginger.

Overhead, a redbud tree is in full flower, while nearby, leaves are just starting from native species of oak and silver maple.

The last piece of work to be done are white and aqua marble tile at the base of the Grotto, McQuillan said.

“From there it will be a matter of keeping the maintenance up. We may eventually do a story board,” McQuillan said. “The Grotto is returning to being a spot that a lot of people go just to be quiet with their thoughts. It’s a religious memorial that is open to everyone, as it’s on public land.”

Linke said he plans to make a presentation Wednesday at the Kane County Administration Committee meeting about the creek restoration project.