July 6, 2011: The warm sunny day's festivities began with speeches from numerous dignitaries, beginning with Mayor Pradel. Senator Dillard spoke to us about his special affinity to history. His father was a history professor. Incidently, he wrote Kate a very nice note after having read "Ruth By Lake and Prairie" to his daughters.

If you travelled along Jefferson Avenue a few blocks west of downtown Naperville from July through October of 2011, you saw a construction site surrounded by cyclone fence.

What you saw being created was the Naper Homestead, a new park being built by the city to remember our founding family, Joseph and Almeda Naper, at the very spot where they settled in July of 1831.

November 2, 2011 - The ribbon cutting ceremony was held at 3pm. It was a beautiful autumn day with lots of sunshine, perfect for wandering through the park.

 

Here are some of the features of the new park.  But don't take our word for it! Come visit!  Get directions from Google Maps.

 

	Beautiful, Explanatory Signage To have signs for the public to see during the ribbon cutting, workers placed these temporary signs at each of the points of interest in the park. They have since been replaced with the permanent versions.  The signs enrich your experience with wonderful bits of history and a little trivia too.
	North End The view from the corner of Jefferson and Mill Streets, welcomes you to the park from the city.
	Hand Pump This gives our children an understanding of life in the early days, before running water (or bathrooms!) in the home.
	Welcome! In this clever effect to keep the park open yet instruct on the location of original structures on the property, the designers marked the house walls with these limestone blocks. Stroll through the home of our founding family!
	Tight Quarters These stones mark the borders of the Naper's first log house. The entire family lived within these walls, and often guests as well.
	Naper's View The new park opens from the North side, but imagine Joseph looking up the hill from the saw mill at the river to see his home and his family.

 

At the ribbon cutting, Peggy Frank announced a fundraising initiative: a larger-than-life statue of Joseph Naper pointing the way into his town from the northwest corner of the new Homestead. 

Peggy unveiled a picture created by Dick Locher, famous artist of the Dick Tracy comic strips. In it, Joe Naper with his platts and his books, welcomes people into town.

If you look closely at the photo of the picture on its easil you'll notice a reflection. It's of the artist himself, who was standing next to the eisel as the photo was taken!

 

August 9, 2013: A beautiful sunny day for a parade! One float, a flatbed trailer carrying the new statue of Joseph Naper, made its way into town from the north, not far off the original trail the Napers traveled in 1831. The statue arrived at 9:45am and for the next 4 hours the city crew drilled and aligned and hoisted until Mr. Naper was set.