Boy Scouts Resurrect Winnetka History

Last month, Boy Scouts from Winnetka-based Troop 20 helped Winnetka's Mason McQuet resurrect one of the original "Jungle Gym" and return it to climbing condition.

A machine dug 20 holes before eight people could lift the steel grid and set it in its permanent location at the Winnetka Historical Society. 

Jungle Gyms were invented and patented in Winnetka in 1920. A larger version has been actively used at Crow Island Elementary since it was moved from Horace Mann School in 1940.

Historical society Director Patti Van Cleave said, "We are so grateful to Mason and Troop 20 for taking on this project. This is our second largest artifact after the log house, and we are thrilled to see it standing properly in our yard.”
 
The original structure was conceived as a collaboration between inventor Sebastian Hinton, educators Perry Dunlap Smith at North Shore Country Day School and Carleton Washburne, Superintendent of Winnetka schools.  

Allegedly sketched on a cocktail napkin at a party, Hinton was inspired by a three-dimensional bamboo structure his father had built for them as children.  

McQuet, a freshman at New Trier High School, spent approximately 80 hours and $800 (from fund-raising efforts and donations) on the entire project.  
"I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends, my scout leaders and my grandpa," he said. "It was a challenge, but it feels good to have done something that represents a piece of our Village's history."