Cantigny Park outside Chicago, once the private estate of a former publisher of the Chicago Tribune, will be getting a face lift over the next five years. Executive Director Matt LaFond says the $25 million project will create new gardens and renovate museums in the Wheaton park. He says the privately funded project is the largest comprehensive update to the gardens and grounds since the park opened in July 1958.
Former Tribune publisher Col. Robert McCormick fought in the Battle of Cantigny during World War I. When he returned home he renamed his estate after the French village.
The First Division Museum began a $7 million makeover last spring. Closed since Veterans Day, the museum and its new exhibits will reopen in late summer. Officials say about 367,000 people visited Cantigny last year.
