History of Sand Creek Campground

Some maps list Camp Farr instead of Sand Creek Campground.  Camp Farr was a summer camp run by the University of Chicago’s settlement house which served immigrants from the back-of-the-yard neighborhood.  It was made possible by a donation of $3,000 by alumni, Shirley Farr, in 1923...

Groups from the settlement (mothers and children) usually spent two weeks at camp.  There they raised vegetables, helped with the care of animals and fowl, helped with the farming and harvesting of crops.  The campers helped to grow most of the food eaten during the summer, as well as help with the canning and processing of vegetables, freezing of chickens, which were used as food for campers during the next summer.  They participated in sports, games, and swimming in the camp’s pool.  Camp Farr provided the one experience most campers had with nature and rural life.  Two weeks of the camp year were also set aside for University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (still in existence) students.

The camp itself was 40 acres and consisted of 6 cabins, a modern swimming pool with shower house, a recreation hall with a fireplace, library, ping-pong-tables, and games; a separate craft house, dining room, and kitchen; farmhouse and barns with farm machinery, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, and geese.

While no longer part of the current Sand Creek Campground, the Camp Farr farmhouse still stands as a private residence to the North of the campground entrance.

In more recent history, Camp Farr has become Sand Creek Campground, changing hands in 1977, 1984, 1995, and 2011. Original cabins are gone from the property, but four new cabins, as well as a new office, were built in 2012. The original pool house and recreation building still stand, but have been updated so that all of the camp buildings would aesthetically match.

Presently, 100+ tent or RV sites are part of the property, as well as two bathhouses, four cabins, a playing field, and a meeting room.  Sand Creek itself winds through the property, and singing birds and breezes blowing through the trees greet our guests with nature's song.  As new management beginning in April of 2021, we hope that these features will make your stay at Sand Creek Campground enjoyable and compel you to visit again and again.

​

Jason Muller Family - Camp Ground Management