Title
Grace Bliss - One of the Founders of the Forest Preserve District of Kane County
Description
Grace Bliss was the wife of Jedediah Harris Bliss, who was the son of Peleg Young Bliss.
Sections of the article are transcribed below.
NATURE FOR ALL: How the Women of Kane County Championed a Forest Preserve District
Kane County Magazine
January 2025
Bertha George and Grace Bliss were alarmed. Land along the Fox River was being snatched up for private development. Farms and forests were being bulldozed for industry and housing. Open spaces were shrinking. Where were kids going to find safe places to play? Would there be clean air left to breathe? How far would a family need to travel for a pleasant Sunday picnic?
The year was 1922.
Bertha George, of Geneva, and Grace Bliss, of Aurora, were two of many civically minded women in Kane County in the 1920s working to improve education, health care and the environment through dozens of women-led organizations. Among the most influential of these organizations were local women's clubs. Both Bertha George and Grace Bliss served in leadership roles of these organizations.
In October 1922, the Geneva Republican reported on a meeting of the Kane County Federation of Women's Club that there was "an urgent plea for a forest preserve along the beautiful Fox River before the land is entirely taken over by campers for summer resorts..." Bertha George, president of the club at the time, appointed a committee of 11 women including herself and Grace Bliss to investigate the establishment of a forest preserve district for Kane County.
Sections of the article are transcribed below.
NATURE FOR ALL: How the Women of Kane County Championed a Forest Preserve District
Kane County Magazine
January 2025
Bertha George and Grace Bliss were alarmed. Land along the Fox River was being snatched up for private development. Farms and forests were being bulldozed for industry and housing. Open spaces were shrinking. Where were kids going to find safe places to play? Would there be clean air left to breathe? How far would a family need to travel for a pleasant Sunday picnic?
The year was 1922.
Bertha George, of Geneva, and Grace Bliss, of Aurora, were two of many civically minded women in Kane County in the 1920s working to improve education, health care and the environment through dozens of women-led organizations. Among the most influential of these organizations were local women's clubs. Both Bertha George and Grace Bliss served in leadership roles of these organizations.
In October 1922, the Geneva Republican reported on a meeting of the Kane County Federation of Women's Club that there was "an urgent plea for a forest preserve along the beautiful Fox River before the land is entirely taken over by campers for summer resorts..." Bertha George, president of the club at the time, appointed a committee of 11 women including herself and Grace Bliss to investigate the establishment of a forest preserve district for Kane County.