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Des Plaines Methodist Camp Ground

Illinois, US

Des Plaines Methodist Camp Ground

Des Plaines Methodist Camp Ground is a historic Methodist church camp at 1250 Campground Road in Des Plaines, Illinois, USA. The annual camp meeting was established in 1860 by a group of Methodist ministers and businessmen, including the future war hero and Illinois Governor John L. Beveridge, on th

e scenic land of Squire Socrates Rand along the Des Plaines River. At the end of the US Civil War in 1865 approximately 25 equally scenic acres downstream (in what some deem to be the lowest geographical point in the Midwest) were purchased from Squire Rand with donations. Upon these grounds the meetings have been held annually without interruption. The Chicago District Camp Ground Association was granted a charter in 1867 and continues to be led by an elected Board of Trustees. Chosen for the proximity to Chicago (about 16 miles), Squire Rand's properties bordered both a C&NW train line and a popular road that served travelers from the college town of Evanston, Illinois, home to Northwestern University then and now, making it an ideal location to bring Midwesterners together to express their Christian faith in the serenity of the outdoors. Each summer in the early years devout Methodists...

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