ROCK FALLS — If Thomas Henry were to write a storybook about the history of Rock Falls’ parks, he wouldn’t have to look far for inspiration.

It’s just outside his office, where the howls of laughter and the sight of children letting their imagination run wild tell the story of just how far the city’s parks have come in the past 100 years, and just how much those parks mean to the quality of life for the people who call this city their home.

From his office, Henry can see Centennial Park’s Storybook Village — a view that’s particularly fitting this year for the executive director of the Coloma Township Park District, looking out at a park with its origins rooted in the city’s centennial as the district celebrates its own centennial.

It’s a view that also brings back memories for Henry, a trip down memory lane that takes him back to his childhood when he would play on some of the same equipment kids play on today. Times may change, but the song remains the same, and for Henry the sound of rambunctious kids with boundless energy ascending to new heights in a castle or swinging in all directions is like music to his ears.

Henry is like countless others who’ve enjoyed the district’s parks through the years, making memories of their own in the acres set aside throughout the city for all ages to enjoy — and as one of the stewards of those memories, Henry knows what a special place parks can be to a person.

“There’s stuff that people don’t want replaced because they grew up playing on it when they were kids,” Henry said. “There are generations of people who played on the same equipment.”

Behind that impressive legacy is a team that helps make it all possible: volunteers, paid staff and a five-member board of commissioners who voters elect to six-year terms. The board, which isn’t compensated, consists of president Michael Sterba, who has dedicated 50 years to the parks and was its longtime executive director, vice president Cindy Sondgeroth, secretary Hank Sobottka, treasurer Brad Leuschke and commissioner Kyle Hacker.

The parks are the district’s big focus, Henry said, noting the absence of indoor recreation facilities in Rock Falls that larger towns like Sterling and Dixon have — but what the district does have is a dedicated group of people committed to its success.

Through the years, commitment to the park system has been a point of pride for the people who’ve supported it — people like Sterba, who fondly recalls working for longtime board members such as John Sigel during his 38 years, Hal Cantrell (33 years), and Leo Nardini (41 years), he said.

“We’ve had people who have spent a lot of time on our board, and you don’t get paid anything,” Sterba said. “it’s a free gratis type thing. These people gave a lot of their time over the years.”

As a public entity, the park district uses tax dollars to fund its budget and programs, but also seeks grants and donations from public and private entities; it keeps its base low for its taxpayers, Sterba said. The park district owns 11 parks consisting of 91.7 acres, and maintains two more owned by the City of Rock Falls.

Beyond just the parks and playgrounds, the district also strives to ensure that the parks serve as a place for community connections.

“It gives people a place to go as a family,” Sondgeroth said. “Especially during the Covid era, people were still able to be outside, walk and do things together as a family. That’s what we’re still doing, and have done for years and will continue to do, is have it family oriented. It promotes time with family. You can come out on any given day or moment and you’ll see kids in the park playing. It used to be where you would see a lot of them without their parents here, and now parents and grandparents are there with them.”

Early history

During the early 20th century, as cities like Rock Falls grew, city leaders saw a need for parks during a booming industrial age, but rather than take on the task themselves, and force parks to battle for budget dollars, park districts and park boards were formed. This allowed board members to dedicate themselves to their mission, and their budget to the parks.

In Rock Falls, the first meeting was held to organize what was originally known as “The Park District at the Town of Coloma” on April 16, 1925, at local attorney Jacob Cantlin’s office. Officers were named during that meeting: Cantlin as president, Charles A. Smith as secretary and treasurer, and H.W. Moates as commissioner.

One of its first parks, Lawrence Park, was actually shared with the Sterling Park District for nearly 50 years, before the Coloma park district decided to give up its share. J.H. Lawrence owned land on the east portion of the large island on the Rock River between the west ends of Sterling and Rock Falls. In 1923, he donated land for use as a park — there was just one catch: Under the laws of the time, only a park board could accept the land for park purposes, and Sterling wouldn’t have one until October of that year and Rock Falls until two years later.

When Coloma Township Park District was finally formed, Lawrence officially handed over his soon-to-be park property to both park districts to own on a 50-50 basis; they worked together to build an outdoor swimming pool that opened in 1928. That joint ownership ended in 1973 when, unable to keep up with the costs of maintaining the pool and park, the Coloma Township Park District withdrew its share, which at the time was only 29 percent.

“It cost a lot of money to run it, and then Sterling wanted to put an Olympic-sized pool there, and our board said, no, we’re not paying for that, and you can have it for $1,” said Sterba, who started working for the park district in 1974. “That’s the best thing we ever did, because financially it was killing us and Sterling could afford to have it.”

Another park the district had a hand in during its early years, and still does, is Veterans Memorial Park, the oldest park in town. Though it’s a city-owned park, the park district has maintained it since 1925. It was originally named Tracy Park, after local businessman George Tracy, and was established in 1892 on property owned by early resident Isaac Merrill, for whom the nearby Merrill School is named (the park itself had also been called Merrill School Park). Its most prominent feature, a rectangular bandshell, was constructed in 1959.

Growing its park portfolio

As Rock Falls continued to grow during the 1930s, more green space was needed, and a Fireman answered the call.

Fireman’s Park was established in 1941, renamed in 1949 it after then-park board-president, Ed Wallingford in 1949. The land, bound by Seventh and Eighth streets and Avenue C, features a playground, picnic shelter, and three baseball diamonds, and has been home to Rock Falls Little League since 1954. Plaques honoring past Little League baseball and softball state champions are near the concession stand, which is open when games are played.

Wallingford holds a special place in Henry’s heart, he said, with memories of playing baseball games there inspiring him to become executive director in 2022.

“My memories growing up as a child were there and baseball was my sport,” Henry said. “I loved baseball and I couldn’t wait to play it, just so many memories growing up as a kid there spending every day there all summer long. It’s been a baseball town, to me, one that’s always had good programs, and growing up with that brought me closer to a lot of people.”

Nims Park opened in 1947. The land for this park, near East Third Street and Avenue E, was donated to the park district in 1940 by property owners Charles and Bessie Nims Schoaf, in memory of Bessie’s parents, Edward and Fredda. The Nims lived in the neighborhood near Avenue E. The park features playground equipment, a shelter, disc golf course, basketball court, and access to the Hennepin Feeder Canal walking path.

The Rock River was tapped into in November 1951, when the park district leased riverfront land owned by Northwestern Steel and Wire on East Second Street. This park was called P.W. Dillon Park when it was established, named after the then-president of Northwestern Steel and Wire. The park district would purchase it later that decade and rename it Riverside Park, and rename it once more in 1967 to Seward’s Riverside Park, in honor of park board commissioner Frank Seward.The park features playground equipment and ample space that provides seating where visitors can sit and watch activities along the river, including one that it’s home to: the annual River Chase stock-outboard boat races.

The 1950s saw Rock Falls grow to the south, and a new park was added to serve those new neighborhoods. Dillon Park was established in 1955 on former property owned by the estate of NS&W founder and P.W. Dillon’s father, Washington Martin Dillon. Located at 19th Street and Ninth Avenue, the park features playground equipment, a book exchange post and a baseball diamond home to Rock Falls Senior League Baseball.

Another riverfront park, Lower Dam Park, was established in 1959 on property previously owned by the Sterling Hydraulic Company at the foot of Second Avenue. Improvements were made to the park in 1985. Though the park is owned by the city, the park district had maintained for many years before the city once again took over maintenance.

The 1960s saw even more growth in Rock Falls, and three more parks were added to the town’s landscape, including its largest.

Celebrating a centennial

Rock Falls celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1967, and in December of that year, park board president Ivan Larson and mayor Louis Pignatelli sought to turn a 50-acre property on East 11th Street near the canal into a park in honor of the centennial.

The West Canal Development project broke ground on Centennial Park in 1968, and the park opened in 1969. It features shelters, playground equipment, the Harry Helgason Tennis Complex, baseball/softball diamonds, a book exchange post, ponds for fishing (and paddleboats during the summer), a 1909 American LaFrance fire engine, a Rock Island caboose, shuffleboard, a butterfly garden, and access to the canal trail. Centennial also hosts an annual Christmas light display, a big draw to the park after dark.

The Little Red Schoolhouse also is located in the park. The red replica one-room structure was built in 1985 and is home to the park district’s educational programs for children during the summer, including the Tot Time summer preschool program, which Sondgeroth taught before joining the park board.

The park has three playground areas: Storybook Village near its front entrance; another by the Lions Shelter; and the newest one next to Sigel Shelter, Commissioner’s Playground, which was completed in 2022 and includes a zip-line.

Storybook Village opened in 1978 and is themed around children’s literature, including a tall castle tower, a spider and animal-themed spring riders. Not all of its original equipment is there (the spinning clown swings are gone), but new ones have been added through the years — the most popular of which is a large fiberglass chicken, painted in a super hero motif, where children can walk up steps to reach its top. Its popularity has led Sterba’s and Sondgeroth’s grandchildren to call it the “Chicken Park,” they said.

“When I was teaching Tot Time, the kids loved that,” Sondgeroth said. “I would take them to the other playground by the Lions Shelter, but they liked … ‘Chicken Park.’ They liked crawling up and standing up on top of the chicken, and they loved the horse swings."

The chicken once stood in the parking lot of Sis’s Chicken in Dixon, and after it had another owner, it came to Rock Falls in 2002. “When my grandkids come, they just love to run over here and I have to run after them,” Sterba said.

As the district’s centerpiece park, Centennial attracts many visitors both locally and from out of town, whether it’s for bright lights or playing under lights in adult baseball and softball games. Sobottka once directed league tournaments and heard plenty of compliments on its upkeep.

“When I was working some of the tournaments, people from out of town would comment on how nice Centennial Park looked and how well it was kept,” Sobottka said. “For the crew that did that, that’s a feather in their hat for when people appreciate it.”

Further growth

Optimist Park at 14th Avenue and Prophetstown Road was purchased in 1968 after the Rock Falls Optmist Club spent six years planning a park on property owned by the public school district. It has playground equipment, a book exchange post, and two baseball/softball diamonds. A plaque displaying the Optimist Creed is affixed to a stone, as well as a dedication marker to Optimists Joe King and Cecil Richardson, who were inspirations behind the park’s development.

Bennett Park opened in 1968 at the end of Bennett Drive. Both the street and the park are named after nearby property owners Clarence E. and Anna M. Bennett. The park features playground equipment. The park district maintains the park, which is owned by the City of Rock Falls.

Rotary Park opened in 1975 at the east end of Minkle Street, on land donated by subdivision developer Robert Hampton and has a shelter, playground equipment, baseball diamond and a pollinator plot with native grasses and forbs.

Kiwanis Park opened in 1976 south of the Rock Falls Community Building, and is a city-owned park that the park district maintained until the early 2020s. Like Optimist Park, Rotary and Kiwanis are named after local service organizations which assisted with the development of the parks.

Also in 1976, a replica liberty bell donated by Rock Falls Savings and Loan was placed inside an enclosure on a triangular lot on First and Second Avenues, named the Liberty Bell Monument in honor of America’s bicentennial. The bell was removed in 2016.

A.V. Sieglinger Park opened in 1983 at the south end of Ninth Avenue near Dillon School. Allan V. Sieglinger was a stockholder for the Rock Falls Bank and manager of the Prince Castle Ice and Coal Company in Sterling. Involved with the start of several youth programs in Rock Falls, he established a memorial and endowment just before his death in 1973. In 1982, the endowment committee worked with the park district to establish a park in his honor. The park has playground equipment, a shelter, an area to practice horseshoe throwing and large greenspace big enough for soccer matches.

Sieglinger also is home to the district’s T-ball program, and its four ball diamonds are specifically designed with the developmental baseball program in mind. T-ball began in 1975 at Optimist Park and moved to Sieglinger in 1984.

Sieglinger is Sobottka’s favorite park, he said: “We have three dogs and we take them for walks. It’s a nice place to jog around, too, with the trees planted there, and it’s nice with the shade.”

As the 1980s drew to a close, work on improving Lower Dam Park led to another riverfront project which would become Bowman Park in 1989. It is named for the Bowman family and John W. Bowman, longtime NS&W executive vice president and vice chairman. The park, highlighted by its limestone gazebo built in 1999, was established in 1990 with money from the Sieglinger memorial fund.

The district’s two newest parks opened in the 1990s. Logan Park opened in 1992 on U.S. Route 30 in Yeowardsville, and has a playground, large grove of trees, basketball hoops and a shelter. The park is named for Ellsworth Logan, who owned the property and was a local musician and 50-year member of the local Masonic Lodge.

The tragic death of 12-year-old Joshua Nailor in 1991 presented the Rock Falls community with a challenge: find a way to memorialize the boy, and minimize the chances that other children would lose their lives the way he did: struck by a pickup truck while playing along the road in the Allen’s Addition neighborhood, where there was no park. The property at Riverdale Road and A Street was donated by Arlyn Lawrence, and was completed in 2010. The park has a playground area, shelter, restrooms and a disc golf course.

Parks — and more

The park district also offers other programs to keep kids engaged, both young and young-at-heart.

In addition to Tot Time, other seasonal activities include a children’s field trip program to museums and kid-friendly attractions, long-running events such as an Easter egg hunt and fishing derby, and a Letters to Santa reading at the Little Red Schoolhouse. Another long-running offering is the Girls Skills program of dancing, cheerleading and gymnastics.

The park district has help from volunteers to make the programs a success, and cooperates with schools and local businesses to facilitate many of them. “We don’t have a lot of paid employees to run these programs,” Henry said, “but we get a ton of volunteers for the Easter egg hunt and the fishing derby, and the Junior Optimists also come help.”

Paint the Park on May 31 was one of the district’s newest events, and one that it hopes to continue annually. It attracted children to the parking lot by the Lions Shelter at Centennial who painted square spaces on the asphalt. The park district also is hoping to receive a grant to convert three of Centennial’s tennis courts to pickleball courts; they haven’t seen much use since the long-running Todd McThenia tennis tournament folded two years ago.

The park district’s 100-year celebration contest was a scavenger hunt that ran from May to October across 12 parks (the district’s 11 parks, plus Veterans Memorial Park). Participants had to find one small sign with that park’s name on it at 12 parks, have their pictures taken with all 12 of them, and submit them for 10 chances to win $100. The promotion/celebration was designed to get people out to see and explore all of the district’s parks, some that they might not have been to before, Sondgeroth said.

“They had a chance to go out and explore every one of the parks; it introduces them to all of our parks,” Sondgeroth said. “If they haven’t been to a particular park, now they have to see what it looks like, and maybe have a picnic there.”

Sign-hunters and other park-goers will also notice that many benches, shelters and trees are dedicated in honor or memory of past employees, board members, service organizations and park-lovers from the community. Businesses have donated money toward the upkeep of some facilities, and benches have been installed at no expense to the park district — and thus the taxpayers. “We’ve had a lot of financial help over the years with a low tax base,” Sterba said.

Shelter rentals for all gatherings and special events fill up fast, Henry said. Jan. 2 is the first signup day for them, and on that day, “there are people waiting when we get here in the morning to make sure they get the same date and the same shelter every year,” he said. “I was told that when I first started here, and when that first time came around, oh my gosh it was busy.”

For 100 years, the Coloma Township Park District has balanced tradition with innovation, preserving beloved spaces while adding new parks and new features. It’s a blend of community spirit and forward-thinking ideas that keeps its parks lively and relevant to its community.

The centennial is more than a milestone (and a park’s name) — it’s a celebration of community roots.

“Sometimes a place may get in a rut and have to do the same thing,” Sobottka said. “With our park district, we’re willing to try new things. The [Christmas] lights, different field trips and things like that. With the employees and the board, we’ll keep focused on keeping the parks up and maintained, and also focus on what can we do that’s new that can draw people them to the parks.”