Santa's Village

Images of America: Illinois

by Phillip L. Wenz

Since 1959, Santa’s Village in Dundee has entertained millions. The park was born of a man who as a child had no real Christmas. Glenn Holland grew up in California during the Great Depression. His parents died by the time he was 18 years old, leaving him to care for his younger sister. As a father, he tried to give his own children the type of Christmas that he only knew in his dreams. In the early 1950s, struck with inspiration, Holland sat at his kitchen table one day and started to sketch his idea for a Christmas fairyland where all the magic of the holiday would come to life: Santa’s Village. Holland and general contractor Putnam Henck built three Santa’s Villages, two in California and one in Dundee.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Christmas

171 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2007

Reviews

[Holly L'Heureux · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting but the info was a bit old since Santa's village is now a park again. I did enjoy learning about the history and seeing the interesting historical pictures. I just wish there was an updated one on what is going on with the park now that its under new management.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally thought this was included in the library collection because it was from Dundee, Michigan, but it's actually Dundee, Illinois. No problems though because it's a very sweet and slightly sad story about one of the many Santa-themed parks that eventually went under. Overall, I love this series and was pleasantly surprised to find that the ebook (ePub version) features high-resolution photos, which allow for easy zooming and manipulation so you can see the smallest detail even when the photos within the text are tiny.

[Janny · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so nice to see images and read about the place I loved to go as a child. The last chapter however really saddened me as tehy showed pictures of the park in its state after all teh rides were actioned off and the park in disarray. :( I would definitely recommend it.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was put together really well. There are pictures from all eras of the park's history and the author showed that he not only knew the history, but lived it. This book was well organized and the captions were relevant to the pictures, giving a true sense of what you were seeing.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a kid, we went to Santa's Village instead of Great America. This book is a nice flashback.