Phillip L. Wenz

Santa's Village (Images of America: Illinois) 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.