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The Batavia Spur is the short western link from the Aurora Branch to the Fox River at Batavia. It leaves the Aurora Branch near Bilter Road at the old Batavia Junction, parallels the I-88 tollway for its first mile, then bends northwest along the edge of Fermilab's prairie and past Kirk Road on a tree-lined corridor between fields and neighborhoods. It ends at the Fox River Trail in Glenwood Park Forest Preserve, an oak woodland on the east bank just below an old broken dam about a mile south of downtown Batavia. The surface is crushed limestone and the grade is rail flat. Beyond the junction, the Aurora Branch continues east to Wheaton and west into Aurora.
Illinois Prairie Path: Batavia Spur
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Illinois Prairie Path: Batavia Spur has about 97 to 135 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, running, birding, biking, and walking, with May, September, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Illinois Prairie Path: Batavia Spur!
In half of past years, color along the Illinois Prairie Path: Batavia Spur peaks October 25 to November 7, typically around October 31. The trail has 13% deciduous coverage, with the majority being bur oak, black cherry, boxelder, white oak, and American elm.
The Chicago, Aurora and Elgin ran its last passenger train at noon on July 3, 1957. The line had opened on August 25, 1902 as the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago, an electric interurban that drew power from a third rail. It carried commuters to the Loop, milk from Fox Valley farms, and some freight. Postwar expressway construction cut its direct route into downtown, and riders drifted away. Freight ended on June 10, 1959, and the Illinois Commerce Commission authorized full abandonment on July 6, 1961. On September 30, 1963 the Chicago Tribune printed a letter from Morton Arboretum naturalist May Theilgaard Watts asking for a footpath on the empty right of way. DuPage County bought the property that same year. Her supporters incorporated the Illinois Prairie Path in 1965, leased 27 miles from the county in 1966, and had the first trail signs up by 1967. In June 1971 the Interior Department named it a National Recreation Trail. A state lease in 1972 pushed the path across Kane County to the Fox River, and in 1979 it grew east through four Cook County towns. DuPage County took over maintenance in 1986. This segment follows the Batavia branch, a 5.9 mile shuttle line opened in September 1902 that split from the Aurora line at Eola Junction, later renamed Batavia Junction. Its Kane County miles were added under the 1972 state lease.
Illinois Prairie Path: Aurora BranchFox River TrailFermilab Trail
