Oswego in Kendall County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Heritage Perennial Garden
Oswego's First Community Garden
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, May 3, 2025
1. Heritage Perennial Garden Marker
Written by Robert Hallwachs
Ford Lippold doesn't hold with scientific gardening. "The experts say you're supposed to plan a garden on paper first," Lippold says, "but I've found that's a helpful hint best ignored. My rule of thumb is to put the tall plants in back and stick the rest in where there's room."
"I have the feeling that colors in nature just don't clash; at least I've found it that way," Lippold says.
Lippold's theory is best proven by a visit to the flower garden he began and still tends at the Little White Schoolhouse, at Polk and Jackson streets in Oswego.
Stretching 200 feet across the back lot line of the historic, Greek Revival building built in the mid-19th century, the garden is a breathtaking vista of hundreds of perennials and annuals.
Hollyhocks stand sentry by a split-rail fence on which purple wisteria climbs. Lilies nod their heads to phlox and delphinium in the rear, while such veterans of grandma's garden as daisies, scabiosa, coreopsis and nicotiana hold court in the front rows.
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"I started it as a Park District project four years ago," said the 31-year director of the Oswegoland Park District, now retired. "I thought it'd be a good place for the old-fashioned flowers that've been in the community for years."
In a textbook example of intergovernmental cooperation, the former church and schoolhouse property is owned by Oswego School District, leased to the Park District and is being restored by the Oswegoland Heritage Association.
Lippold had Park District staff rototill the back of the Little White Schoolhouse lot, truck in several loads of dirt for mounds at each end and some boulders for aesthetic effect.
"Then I went to people's gardens and cadged a piece here and a piece there," Lippold said, chuckling.
The supply of garden stock rose rapidly after Lippold ran a newspaper story asking for perennials. [See A Green Idea is Born]
"I had one woman call and ask if I wanted any iris; she had thinned out her beds. When I got to
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, May 3, 2025
2. Heritage Perennial Garden Marker
The Little White School is on the right.
He estimates he now has around 125 different varieties of flowers in the 10-foot-wide bed, blooming from spring thaw to fall frost.
The Little White School Garden is a point of pride in the Oswego community.
"Couples have had their wedding pictures taken here. We've never had any vandalism; I've never seen so much as a foot print in the dirt, Lippold says with pleasure.
Further, many people feel a part of the garden, having donated a clump of this or a shoot of that, though Lippold admits he can hardly remember where he got what. Lippold says tending the garden, and a nearby rose garden set against one wall of the White Schoolhouse takes him four to five hours a week. He also tends the annuals planted at the Route 34 entrance to the Oswego Village Green, and a smaller perennial garden at the Oswego Public Library.
Of course Lippold has a garden at home, too, but mostly vegetables.
"That's not worth the time, because vegetables all ripen at the same time and everyone's trying to give 'em away," he says. "I'm going to turn it into a flower
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, May 3, 2025
3. Little White School Museum
The perennial garden is at the rear of the building.
A Green Idea is Born
Ad from the Oswego Ledger—August 17, 1978
"Area gardeners are welcome to help the Oswegoland Park District develop a perennial flower border at the Little White Schoolhouse in Oswego.
Any variety of perennial can be donated. Especially needed are phlox, daylilies, iris, daisies, hardy chrysanthemums, and dwarf varieties and rock garden types of perennials.
Persons should call the park district office when they are ready to divide their perennials. A park district official will pickup the plants or persons may drop them off at the Civic Center."
Erected by Oswegoland Park District.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Environment • Horticulture & Forestry. A significant historical date for this entry is June 25, 1982.
Location. 41° 40.948′ N, 88° 20.925′ W. Marker is in Oswego, Illinois, in Kendall County. It is on Jackson Street south of Jay Street. The marker is near the community garden, behind the Little White School Museum. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 72 Polk Street, Oswego IL 60543, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Greater Chicago. It is also in the American Midwest and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Little White School Museum (within shouting distance of this marker); Veterans Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away); Oswego Girl Scouts Clock (approx. 0.2 miles away); Oswego, Illinois (approx. ¼ mile away); Oswego Veterans Memorial Plaza (approx. ¼ mile away); American Revolutionary War (approx. ¼ mile away); Mexican-American War (approx. ¼ mile away); Fox River Fording (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Oswego.
Credits. This page was last revised on March 17, 2026. It was originally submitted on May 5, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 107 times since then and 17 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 5, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 3. submitted on May 4, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.
