The new Franzosenbusch Heritage Project website is available.  The new site (www.fhproject.org) will include all the old material and over the next few weeks add some new material along with some re-writes.  Please be patient during the transition.

Franzosenbusch, a mid-nineteenth century community of German immigrants, was centered around the crossroads of 22^nd Street and Wolf Road.  The name Franzosenbusch is German for “Frenchman’s Woods”.  The different construction periods of the Prairie House depict more than 150 years of human history against the backdrop of Wolf Road Prairie Nature Preserve.

America’s Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie

January 22, 2017 – 2 PM at the LaGrange Park Library,  555 N LaGrange Road

This beautiful and informative film was crafted by some of the same people that worked with Ken Burns on many of his historic films.

“This is the story of the rich and complex story of one of the most astonishing alterations of nature in human history.

“Prior to Euro-American settlement in the 1820’s, one of the major landscape features of North America was 240 million acres of tallgrass prairie. But between 1830 and 1900 – in the space of a single lifetime- the tallgrass prairie was steadily transformed to farmland.

“This drastic change in the landscape also brought about an enormous social change for Native Americans, in an equally short term their cultural imprint was reduced, in essence, to a handful of place-names appearing on maps.

“The extraordinary cinematography of prairie remnants, original score and archival images are all delicately interwoven to create a powerful and moving viewing experience about the natural and cultural history of America.”

It is that time of the year for the Prairie Fest at the Franzosenbusch Prairie House on Wolf Road Prairie (11225 Constitution Drive, Westchester, Illinois).  The Fest will be on Saturday, September 3 from 11 AM to 4 PM.