ST. CHARLES — A first-of-its-kind nature park is coming to St. Charles thanks to a donation from the city’s Pundmann family.
The two-acre Pundmann Nature Park, located at Hawks Nest and Lynnbrook drives, will feature a pavilion for outdoor educational classroom space, walking paths and informational signs about the various native flowers and plants growing in it, said St. Charles Parks & Recreation Director Maralee Britton.
City planners expect that park staff, master gardener volunteers and others will host area schools and other groups that want to learn more about the area’s native plants.
The park, located in a largely residential part of the city, won’t have metal playground structures, asphalt, or manicured landscaping. Instead, Britton said it will feature “natural playscapes,” for children as park staff will utilize fallen trees or rocks as play areas for kids.
“This is going to be 100% more natural than our other parks,” Britton said. “It is going to be kept in a more natural habitat to create a space for nature in the middle of the city of St. Charles.”
The park — the city’s 27th — is scheduled to open in mid-2025, pending final City Council approval of the land donation. Pavilion construction is scheduled to start next year.
Tim Pundmann, general sales manager at Pundmann Motor Company, said the land donation coincides with the 100th anniversary of his family-owned Ford dealership in St. Charles.
“I’ve probably driven by this property thousands of times and wondered how this property might be used in the future,” Pundmann said this week. “I don’t know if I ever thought of a nature park, but I think this is a great idea.”
Britton said the Pundmann family has deep roots in the development of the city’s sprawling network of 26 parks stretching across 826 acres. Pundmann family members have served on the city’s park board and the city’s park foundation board, a nonprofit that helps raise funds for the conservation and preservation of city-owned parks in St. Charles.
“We’ve been in this community for almost 100 years, not just selling vehicles or repairing vehicles but living here,” Pundmann said. “This has been our home, and we felt that for all of the members of our family who have loved the parks, loved gardening, loved the outdoors, that this was an ode to them.”
His family is scheduled to donate the property to the city in a brief ceremony on Thursday.
“I hope that this park will be around for a long time, showing our sons and daughters and those that come after us that the Pundmanns were more than a car dealership.”
