Children could ride a Mexican burro or in a sleigh pulled by real live reindeer from Unalakeet, Alaska. Santa had a petting zoo with sheep, ducks, goats, and Penny Peck, the educated chicken. These pixies and elves operated rides, worked in shops, and served food to the public. Claus, and numerous helpers dressed as pixies and elves. On hand to greet these visitors of all ages was Santa, Mrs. The Dundee park officially opened on Memorial Day Weekend in 1959 to large crowds. Santa’s Village Corporation and general contractor Putnam Henck built Santa’s Village Dundee, Illinois, in nine months at the cost of one million dollars. In September ground was broken the third Santa’s Village was born. The property, located on State Routes 25 and 72, was similar to the settings of Holland’s two California endeavors. In April 1958, Holland entered a 50-year land lease on 40 wooded acres of McGraw’s Wildlife Foundation with Chicago businessman Edwin Eichier.
Santa at the Santa’s Village North Pole in 1965 The newly completed Northwest Tollway connected the small suburb to Chicago to the east and Rockford, Illinois to the west. The community was surrounded by cornfields and a huge forest wildlife foundation area. A suburban location approximately 45 miles northwest of the city was chosen.ĭundee, Illinois was a tiny little town with some local attractions and a few good restaurants.
The Chicago area, home to two World’s Fairs, birthplace of the Ferris Wheel, and a center of entertainment and culture was picked as the spot. With the success of the first and second Santa’s Villages, Holland began scouting a third location in the Midwest. (Closed 1998) A second Santa’s Village opened in 1957 near Scotts Valley in Santa Cruz County, California. The first Santa’s Village opened in 1955, six weeks before Disneyland, in Skyforest near Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County, California. He traveled the country selling his “Santa’s Village” concept and eventually listed his new company, Santa’s Village Corporation, on the California Stock Exchange. Holland developed this idea into a working plan and began finding investors for his project. In the early 1950s, struck with inspiration, Holland sat at his kitchen table one day and started to sketch his idea of a Christmas fairyland where all the magic of the Holiday would come to life. As a father he tried to give his own children the type of Christmas that he only knew in his dreams. As a grown man Holland married and had children. His parents died by the time he was 18 years old, leaving him to care for his younger sister. Glenn Holland grew up in California during the Great Depression. Santa’s Village was born of a man, who as a child had no real Christmas.
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