Specialty: Zoological Park/Wildlife Reserve
Features: Weekly Sunday Brunch
Hours:
Open-daily - May 29th - September 6th (Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend)
General Admission:
April - October - Ages 13 & up $6.50
Ages 4-12 $4.50
Ages 3 & under Free

To explain how Wildlife Prairie State Park came to pass we must look at its history and founder Mr. William Rutherford. Bill, an attorney by profession, never expected to develop a nationally recognized park at the age of 60 - it just evolved.
In the 1960's Bill heard that the Brookfield Zoo was looking for space to raise exotic endangered animals. Coincidentally, the Forest Park Foundation, a foundation that his family has run since 1939, had acquired 480 acres of land (including abandoned strip mined land) near Peoria with the intention of using it for conservation and environmental purposes.