(STAGING) Carol Stream Park District

Park Features

NEW! 6 Pickleball courts (Reserve a court »)

2.32 miles of trails

Pavilion/picnic shelter (available to reserve)

4 baseball/softball fields

Restroom with flush toilets

Portable restrooms (seasonal)

1 drinking fountain at Restroom with flush toilets

1 drinking fountain by Kidsworld with ADA height and dog fountain

Basketball court

2 sand volleyball courts

Sled hill (north side of park)

Historical Markers

Natural areas

Fishing *

Armstrong park, named after the famous astronaut Neil Armstrong, is the park district’s largest park. Features include lighted ball fields, playgrounds, six pickleball courts, a sand volleyball and basketball court. Upon entering the south parking lot, visitors are greeted by the historic Gretna Station and Caboose. Walk the trails around the reservoir to Lake George and then to Balog Island, which is home to a colony of Purple Martins. Pass the baseball hub and sled hill as you walk to the north end of the park which features ball field #1, a large picnic shelter and KidsWorld playground.

Carol Stream’s Largest Park

* State of Illinois requires fishing license from Illinois Department of Natural Resources. We encourage catch and release.

391 Illini Dr
Dawn – Dusk
25 acres
2.32 mi walking trails

Reserve a picnic shelter!

Celebrate birthdays, graduations, reunions or other events in the great outdoors! Picnic shelters are available to reserve April-October. The Armstrong Park picnic shelter is located at the north end of the park off of Idaho Street. Kids World Playground and ball field #1 is nearby. The shelter contains ten tables and can hold up to 100 people. Portable toilet (seasonal) and small parking lot located nearby.

Kids World Playground Today!

Newly designed in June 2016, KidsWorld playground retains the qualities and spirit of the original park. Personalized fence pickets and two towers are reused to adorn the entry, and a natural aesthetic flow is created with slides cascading down a stone embankment, with tree logs and rocks outlining the playground borders, and with the original honey locus tree planted in 1998 as the centerpiece. The modern play structures also have décor of a natural element and are designed to attract kids of many ages. Maintaining these features commemorates and preserves the playground’s original sentimental value and spirit.

Kids World Playground History

A playground planned and built by the community! In 1997, neighborhood moms initiated a community wide movement to build a beloved playground. After a year of planning, fundraising and gathering donations, $120,000 was raised for the playground. Donations included building supplies, business services, tools, food and cash, all of which came from community organizations, nearby businesses and individuals.

In May of 1998, in only five days, KidsWorld Playground was built. Over 1,200 adult and children volunteers completed every aspect of the construction, working from sunrise to sunset to be a part of this historical playground raising. Designed to incorporate ideas of the local school children, the playground developed into a 13,000-square-foot fantasy filled “wonderland,” as quoted in newspaper articles of the day.

KidsWorld Playground boasted multiple climbing towers, space shuttles, more than a dozen slides and bridges, a children’s art gallery, game tables, musical instruments, a fire truck, swings, sand play area and more! The towers gave it a castle-like appearance that one could see from afar.

The 1998 KidsWorld Playground project changed Carol Stream, as it is not every Village that can boast their community planned and built such a magnificent playground from the heart of the people and in only five days. A spirit grew in the community. New friendships were formed that became part of the fabric of Carol Stream, a town known for its volunteerism. While the spirit of the original KidsWorld Playground lives on, the structure aged beyond its useful life and was replaced in June 2016.

Purple Martins on Balog Island

The colony of Purple Martins at Armstrong Park is an established colony of this type of swallow. Graceful in flight, musical in its pre-dawn singing, Purple Martins nest in birdhouses put up especially for them. Armstrong Park’s colony is housed in several apartment-style houses on Balog Island, located on the west side of the park. The Purple Martins have been returning to Balog Island since the mid 1970’s.

Gretna Station & Caboose

The Gretna Station in Armstrong Park is a partnership of the Carol Stream Park District and the Carol Stream Historical Society. The station was moved from the original Gretna area (now southeast Carol Stream) and in 1976 re-erected as a bicentennial commission and donated to the Park District. For many years it housed a large train table and historical artifacts and documents and was considered a small museum. Due to flooding in the area, the museum closed. In approximately 1978, the Elgin-Joliet and Eastern Railway donated a caboose to the Carol Stream Historical Society, and it sits next to Gretna Station at the south end of Armstrong Park.

Land & Water Conservation Fund

Armstrong Park received an Land & Water Conservation Fund administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources—contributing to major park improvements.