Good Templar Park Association

<p>Good Templar Park's history is fascinating and closely tied to the city of Geneva. It is a private park, purchased in 1924, primarily because the International Brotherhood of Good Templars were charged the hefty sum of $4,000 by Ravinia Park to hold its annual <i>Midsommar</i> event called <i>Svenskarnas Dag</i> ("Swedes' Day"), to which attendance had grown to 10,000.</p>
<p>The Good Templar Park Association was established in 1925 after the purchase of about 66 acres of land that stretched from what is now East Side Drive to the Fox River. The park land by the river eventually was donated by the Good Templars to the city, and is now part of Bennett Park.</p> <p>Good Templar Park presently encompasses about 60 acres and ends at Bennett Street. There are 51 cottages on the site, each owned by a Good Templar family.</p> <p>The park is home to the Viking ship that was a replica of an 860-AD Viking ship and built for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Good Templar Park holds its annual Swedish Day in June and also opens to the public, usually on the Saturday of the city's Swedish Days festival. The public and corporations can rent the park at reasonable rates. Several soccer associations use the park's three soccer fields, and local Boy Scout organizations have visited annually.</p> <p>Good Templar holds various fund-raisers during the year to help raise money for local charities.</p>