The Ridge Historical Society
Skis and Toboggans in Dan Ryan Woods
By Carol Flynn
Someone posted on another page about the toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff.
Winter sports were also very important at our own Dan Ryan Woods (DRW).
The high, steep Blue Island Ridge, a glacial moraine just like Swallow Cliff, was perfect for ski jumping, tobogganing, and sledding. When flooded, the baseball diamonds and sports fields made great ice skating and hockey rinks. The open meadows and hiking trails accommodated sleigh rides, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. And of course, building snow forts and snowmen, and having snowball fights, were all part of winter fun.
Winter parties and events in DRW were regularly held by school and church groups, Scouts, businesses and associations and private families. Of course, the weather was always a factor. On more than one occasion, what was billed as a sledding outing turned into a hike and weenie roast when there was no snow to be found. When the snow did come, there was nothing local students loved better than a “snow day” so they could head over to DRW with their sleds.
The Forest Preserve Ski Club started in 1925 under the auspices of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The Club conducted professional and amateur ski jump competitions in several of the preserves, and the Ridge in DRW was one of the sites where a ski slide was built. It was to the north of the warming shelter.
The competitions were held for over a decade. Then in the late 1930s, while the Great Depression was still affecting finances, the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPPC) decided that maintaining the ski slides, running the competitions, and funding the prizes were too expensive.
An issue was always the weather because back then artificial snow did not work well on the slides. One article reported, “Ammonia pipe snow is too lumpy for use on the slide, according to August H. Loula, chief of forest preserve police and secretary of the Forest Preserve ski club.”
FPCC got out of the ski jump business and the ski slides were converted to toboggan runs. Cross-country skiing was promoted as a continuing option.
DRW had toboggan slides from its earliest days. They were routinely updated and/or replaced. In 1937, it was reported that six toboggan slides were newly constructed at DRW, likely by one of the New Deal government agencies. These toboggan slides were “banked, ‘S’ curve runs.”
By 1954, DRW was down to one functional slide, and a new slide and platform area were built. Also at that time, the entrance to the parking area at 87th Street and Western Avenue was changed to have the opening on Western Avenue. Congestion around the area on week-ends because of DRW had become an on-going problem.
Tobogganing remained a favorite recreation at DRW for the next four and a half decades, but there were always issues. Maintenance of the slides was a constant expense. And then there were the accidents. The newspapers carried many reports of wintertime accidents in the FPPC. Broken bones, injured backs – and lawsuits – were not uncommon. At DRW, one 1960 Sunday afternoon alone saw seven accidents at the toboggan slides.
The emergency room at Little Company of Mary Hospital frequently treated the injured. In one case, a 12-year old boy fell off his toboggan and wound up with a stick impaled in his side. In another case, a young woman took a bad tumble off a toboggan during its run down the slide and was seriously injured. In a third example, an 18-year old boy was hit by two toboggans, suffering cuts and bruises, and prompting Superintendent Sauers to call for an investigation into the slides at DRW.
In 2000, the toboggan slides at DRW closed for much needed repair work. They never reopened. The cheapest bid the FPPC received for the work was over $700,000. By 2004, more than $4 million was needed to repair or replace the aging slides throughout the FPCC. Although there was protest from the public, the decision was made to close all of the slides, and by 2008, the slides were removed from FPCC.
Alas, a favorite pastime in DRW became part of memories and history. Today, sledding and hiking are allowed on the Ridge, and a new exercise staircase was added to the hill in the spring of 2019 on the site of an old toboggan run. Cross-country skiing and snowshoe hiking remain popular in DRW.