Olympia Fields Transforms Sergeant Means Park From Cornfield to Playground

Driving on Western Avenue in Olympia Fields will allow you to pass an area of land that may cause you to look twice.

At first glance, one notices a barn and what looks to be a small house just across a walkway from the barn.

But that is just the beginning of a 20-acre plot of land that offers activities, sports and exploration that is sure to spark most people’s interest.

This place is called Sergeant Means Park and it is located at 20712 South Western Avenue (four blocks north of Lincoln Highway).

“This is a very popular park,” Olympia Fields Park District’s superintendent of parks Eric Darwell said. “We offer something for just about everyone.”

This land and the park's name is in tribute to Olympia Fields Police Sgt. Chester Means, who died Dec. 15, 1967, of injuries sustained while on duty.

The park currently is owned and operated by the Olympia Fields Park District, but there is a long history about the land dating back to the early 1900s. According to the park district’s Web site, Sergeant Means originally was part of a 600-acre farm.

The 20 acres of land where the park sits now was owned by A.J. Mason from 1918 until 1934 and switched ownership a couple more times before Louis Cull purchased the land in 1949.

In 1955, Cull founded Cull Nursery. By 1967, 10 acres were developed into a park site. The park district stepped up in 1985 and obtained the other 10 acres of the nursery and turned the land and historical buildings into a community recreational center.

The history of the land is noticeable when you enter the parking lot as the late-1800s farmhouse on your left is the administration center and carries the name "Cull House."

Just a few feet from the farmhouse to the north, you will find a 1917 barn which serves as a place for meetings and other activities. As for the rest of the land, you can find a playground, picnic pavilion along with two picnic areas, an 18-hole disc golf course, two soccer fields, four tennis courts, a baseball field, a sledding hill and a half-mile walking path.

“Sergeant Means in the only place in our district where we have an indoor facility, so most of our programming is done there,” said Denise Will, executive director of the Olympia Fields Park District. “The park provides Olympia Fields residents and those in surrounding communities events in a unique place with a beautiful background of the park.”

On the park district Web site, it is noted that the design of the park was carefully thought out. Trees cover the northern and southern edges of the park to create the effect of an amphitheater.

The half-mile walking trail leads to a new working windmill. The outer edges of the clearing create a “map of Illinois” with the windmill denoting the location of Olympia Fields.

The concept of the park is never more prevalent than on a beautiful day. Walking around the park on one such day, one is sure to encounter local residents.

“I always enjoy driving by and seeing if anybody is playing basketball,” Chicago Heights resident Joe Garcia said. “Countless times, I have just randomly driven by, decided to stop, grabbed my basketball and joined in on the game.”

“They have a nice course,” Flossmoor native David Mahler said of the disc golf course. “(It is) one of the few courses in the area, and I always find it both challenging and enjoyable when I come here.”

As for the meeting houses, the Cull House is ideal for groups of 14 or less. The Silo Meeting Room, located inside the barn, is ideal for a group of 32.

The Barn Meeting Center is ideal for groups up to 128 people.  A kitchen is also available and, when combined with the Silo Meeting Room, the two can accommodate 160 people.

Coming to the park and enjoying what it offers is something that Olympia Fields Park District officials hoped would happen to this plot of land, a plot turned from farmland into a gem of place.