The First 35 Years

When told that the North Wheatland Township Homeowners Association was completing its 33rd year of community service, a new resident decided to join after concluding that we "must be doing something right." The fact is that we have accomplished a lot since 1974, when we first became a voice for unincorporated Wheatlanders. Here are some of the highlights from our association's history:

1. In the 1970s, we helped decrease the overall density, eliminate apartments/town homes, and reduce the size of Leverenz Plaza as we monitored plans for Springbrook and Brook Crossings Estates. Further, we worked with township and county officials to get four-way traffic lights and turn lanes at the intersection of Naperville-Plainfield Road and 87th Street.
    
2. When appropriate, we have written letters and/or appeared before Naperville's City Council and Plan Commission and the Wheatland Township Board and Planning Commission, and thereby presented our members' views on new residential/commercial developments, roads, and other issues.
    
3. With the help of our state legislators and Will County Board representatives, we have sought to maintain our quality of life in Wheatland Township — especially when confronted by quarry, asphalt plant, and landfill proposals. For instance, we successfully opposed plans for two asphalt plants, with the help of our County Board representatives and the county state's attorney.
    
4. We have stayed in close touch with the teachers, administrators and school board of Indian Prairie School District 204 and supported efforts to secure the best possible education for our children. In fact, over the years, we have had one superintendent (Clifford Crone), five school board members (Bob Giesen, the late Gordon Gregory, Pauline Warkenthien, Owen Wavrinek, and Herman Wissenberg), and many teachers and other staffers among our NWTHA members. Currently NWTHA president, Owen Wavrinek and NWTHA member John Broihier are members of the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation (IPEF) Board of Directors, along with longtime NWTHA member and Wheatland developer Alan Fry, who chairs the IPEF Board.
    
5. As a community service, we have sponsored "candidate nights" in conjunction with state, county, township, and school board elections and we have provided information and recommendations on school-building and education-fund-tax-rate, and township-road-construction referenda.
    
6. We have always supported the preservation of open space, whenever and wherever possible in northern Wheatland Township. For example, we have donated funds toward the development of the Riverview (Clow) farmstead at 111th Street and Book Road, and supported the expansion of the Vermont Cemetery Prairie, both being planned by the Will County Forest Preserve District. Also, we support the passive development of the Spring Brook Forest Preserve, north of 87th Street in DuPage County.
    

   Under the direction of the Will County Forest Preserve District, Riverview Farmstead (at 111th Street and Book Road) is slowly but surely becoming a reality. Repairing the barn was an important part of the restoration effort.

   
    
7. We have sponsored a wide variety of general member services, including special sales and discounts on lawn/garden fertilizers, grass seed, driveway sealing and paving, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, nursery stock, and power generators. And we have had NWTHA garage sales, sponsored special courses on first aid and CPR, and facilitated well-water testing.
    
8. For more than 32 years, we have regularly published an informative (now bimonthly) newsletter and an annual membership directory, which includes names, addresses and phone numbers of members, government officials, schools, voting precincts, as well as info on area services (including baby sitters), subdivision maps, and our association by-laws.
    
9. We have provided a lot of fun and entertainment through social activities, such as our annual Easter Egg Hunt, Christmas party, and picnic games for the kids, plus many adult events, including barbeque rib nights, special restaurant dining, comedy and theater nights, bowling, wine sharing, a road rally, and the late-summer membership picnic.
    
10. In 2003, we introduced this web site.

Then and Now
Remember When