We held a very festive opening at Rieger Park on May 17. A horde of young children was enjoying the new playground. Lively music played, refreshments were served and park district board members spoke. I was glad the property we once called “16th & Circle” has a shorter more meaningful name.
I’m also proud that we live in a community that is so ego-free that many of our parks don’t have names. It is appropriate, however, that we named this park for Frieda Rieger, who donated nine 35-foot lots to the village in 1950.
This undeveloped “prairie” property was adopted by Ed Lambke, who lived across the alley on Marengo. Ed and his buddies cut the grass, constructed a backstop and laid out a baseball diamond. His uncle, Mike Lambke, was a commissioner who further improved the park.
Swings, slide and merry-go-round were added. Tennis and basketball courts were built and a concrete block building was added. Public Works placed a chain link fence around it. This was how “16th & Circle” looked when I brought our young children there.
It was ideal. They could play at the playground and, when they got old enough, played baseball on the field. We used the park for everything, including some bruising games of tackle football. But it did have some minor problems.
The building housing the bathrooms was closed most of the time. The drinking fountain didn’t work. Most frustrating of all was the backstop had curled up and no longer did its job of stopping pitches. I complained about the “butter-fingered” backstop to then-commissioner Terry Steinbach.
Thanks to her, the backstop was soon replaced. I was encouraged by the efficiency of local government. Point out a problem to an elected official and — voila! — it is fixed. My kids finally outgrew the park, but it continued to serve as a soccer field for FPYSA.
There was talk of naming it Lambke Park in honor of the family that adopted it. But I’m glad we’re giving credit to the woman who made it all possible.
Frieda Kammer was born in Germany in 1867. When she was 23, she married William Rieger. The newlyweds moved to 15 Keystone, River Forest. They had two daughters, Louise and Hildegarde.
William owned Concordia Marble Works on the northwest corner of Gale and Madison. He sold monuments and flowers for Concordia Cemetery across the street. In 1914, he retired from making cemetery monuments. (The site is now occupied by the Good Earth Greenhouse).
William went on to become a vice president at Forest Park Bank and a River Forest village trustee. He died at the age of 83, just before his 58th wedding anniversary. Two years later, Frieda granted title of the property to Forest Park for $10.
On July 30, 1955, Frieda died and was laid to rest with William. Hildegard Horn and Louise Whalen joined them in the family plot. We could not find a living relative to tell us what prompted Frieda’s generosity. But Forest Park finally honored her for her precious gift.
Rieger Park no longer has a baseball diamond but it has plenty of other improvements. It has a new playground that has much safer equipment than the old one. It has play-mounds and a gaga ball pit. It has water play and a walking path. It has a new park building, a lush soccer field, and it’s all surrounded by a new wrought-iron fence.
We give thanks to the Rieger family and the Lambke family for keeping the dream alive of a community park at 16th & Circle.
