15 Best Things to Do in Streamwood (IL)

This Chicago suburb has a multicultural feel thanks to a large Asian population, and even has its own highly successful cricket team.

As you might expect from an affluent community, Streamwood has exceptional public facilities, while a massive Cook County forest preserve offers many miles of hiking and equestrian trails on the village’s north side.

Despite being some 30 miles from Chicago proper, you can also catch some professional sports action, pretty much in Streamwood’s backyard.

The Windy City Bulls, the NBA G League affiliate of their more famous parent team, plays at the NOW Arena, while the Schaumburg Boomers are a pro baseball team in the Frontier League.

1. Hoosier Grove Park

More than a community park, this public space in the heart of Streamwood is a compelling piece of local history.

Hoosier Grove Park goes back to 1888 when it was occupied by the Landmeier dairy farm, and there’s an interesting vestige from that time in the form of the Hoosier Grove Barn.

Nowadays this impressive structure is an award-winning wedding and event venue. Much later the land was bought by the village to preserve the area’s agricultural past and Streamwood’s previous name, Hoosier Grove, which derived from immigrants from Indiana.

As well as a museum, which we’ll talk about below, the park has a gazebo, picnic benches, a kids’ playground, three soccer fields, a sand volleyball court and a baseball/softball field.

2. Hoosier Grove Museum

Now, if you visit Hoosier Grove Park on Wednesday afternoons or Saturday mornings you can take a look inside the preserved one-room schoolhouse built in 1904.

Although its main role was education, the schoolhouse was also used for elections, town meetings, picnics and all sorts of annual celebrations.

The building served Hoosier Grove in this capacity until as late as 1954. Inside you can learn more about education and town life during this period, engaging with interactive displays and seeing some intriguing artifacts.

3. Arthur L. Janura Preserve

Streamwood’s entire north side is bounded by this huge Cook County forest preserve.

The Arthur L. Janura Preserve is not a landscaped urban park, but rather a real slice of nature, harboring wetlands, open water, restored prairies and remnant woodland composed of mature oaks that date as far back as three centuries.

In spring and summer there’s breathtaking color in the prairie, with wildflowers like wild false indigo, coneflowers and prairie blazing star, while the woodland is dappled with wild hyacinth, shooting star and red trillium.

The Poplar Creek Trail, which we’ll deal with later, runs around the preserve’s perimeter, and has easy access points for Streamwood at Bode Lake, Bode East and the intersection of Bartlett and Schaumburg Road.

4. Bode Lake

Set within the southern boundary of the Arthur L. Janura preserve is a scenic lake, with its own parking lot on Bode Road.

Bode Lake is a cherished local beauty spot, partially fringed by mature trees and popular for jogging, walking, bicycling and nature spotting.

Dogs are allowed to walk here on leash, and if you’re here early or late in the day you stand a good chance of spotting the preserve’s deer herd.

There are plenty of spots for fishing all around the lake’s picturesque banks, and anglers can expect to catch northern pike, crappie, largemouth bass, yellow bullhead, bluegill and channel catfish.

5. Sunny Hill Park

In just under 20 acres, this charming neighborhood park affords a surprising amount of amenities for all ages.

For families with smaller children, Sunny Hill Park is maybe at its best in summer when the splash pad is open, offering tons of fun on hot days.

This is paired with two playgrounds, while for older visitors there’s a nine-hole disc golf course and a skate park.

Elsewhere you’ll find tennis courts, a super sledding hill in winter, three picnic shelters and a meandering pathway for relaxing strolls.

6. Poplar Creek Trail

The way to navigate the Arthur L. Janura Preserve and the adjoining Shoe Factory Road Prairie Nature Preserve and Schaumburg Road Grassland is via this wide-ranging trail system.

The Poplar Creek Trail has a series of color-coded loops, depending on how long you want to walk and the kind of environments you’d like to explore.

If you’re ready for a long-ish hike, the trail’s Red Loop leads you around the perimeter of the Arthur L. Janura Preserve for almost nine miles.

You’ll pass through shrubland alive with passerine bird species like indigo buntings, brown thrashers and gray catbirds.

The Brown Loop shows you around the wonderful restored habitat of Shoe Factory Road, while the Yellow Loop is in the Schaumburg Road Grassland and is popular with horseback riders, curling through a changing landscape of prairie, woodland and unrestored farmland.

7. Now Arena

Just on the other side of the Arthur L. Janura Preserve is a major multi-purpose arena that opened in 2006.

Since 2016 the Now Arena has been home court for the Windy City Bulls, the NBA G League affiliate of the Chicago Bulls.

Avid Bulls fans can come along to spot potential Bulls stars in development. The arena has a capacity ranging from 3,000-6,000 for theater shows to 11,000 for concerts.

Over the last 15+ years the arena has hosted numerous major AEW events, the annual U.S. classic gymnastics meet and concerts by artists as prestigious as Bob Dylan, Elton John and Arijit Singh.

8. Streamwood Oaks Golf Club

This well-regarded 9-hole course is owned by the Village of Streamwood. Something to note about Streamwood Oaks is the abundance of water.

In fact, water comes into play on all nine holes, so the course can be a challenge for even the most seasoned golfers.

With a championship layout, at 3,304 yards, the course has two par 3s, five par 4s and two par 5s. The clubhouse is lovely too, with a large central fireplace and an outside patio, while the pro shop is well-stocked for a neighborhood public course.

9. Rolling Knolls

Also on Poplar Creek, this Cook County preserve is just off Streamwood’s western flank.

Set right next to the Arthur L. Janura Preserve, Rolling Knolls provides a vital green corridor for wildlife along the Creek’s banks, as well as a route for native plant seeds to disperse across the landscape.

The preserve is mostly forested, and a fun way to experience the scenery is on the 18-hole disc golf course, smartly designed to challenge all ability levels.

You can take a walk, go jogging or ski here, while there’s a little 1.8-acre pond for fishing and a hill for sledding in winter.

10. Park Place Family Recreation Center

A first-class facility for Streamwood residents, the Park Place Family Recreation Center opened in 1996 and contains a host of amenities for sports and fitness.

You’ve got an aquatic center with a six-lane pool, activity pool and sauna & whirlpool, as well as a dance studio and two basketball courts.

The fitness center here is comprehensive too, with modern cardio equipment, weight training equipment, a two-lane running track, a group fitness studio and spinning studio.

11. Lords Park Zoo

One of a few reasons to make the brief trip west to Elgin is for the gorgeous Lords Park, which covers more than 100 acres and has a history going back to 1893.

There’s much to love, along the green banks of Willow Creek, at Elgin Public Museum’s natural science exhibits and the spacious Family Aquatic Center.

Another major draw is Lords Park Zoo, which has been around since the park’s earliest years and features a mix of animals native to Illinois and domestic species.

So in large fenced enclosures you can expect to see buffalo, white-tailed deer and elk, as well as donkeys, ponies, pigs, calves and sheep at the farm zoo.

12. Schaumburg Boomers

There’s a popular and not to mention successful baseball team just a stone’s throw from Streamwood in Schaumburg.

The Boomers were only founded in 2012 but have claimed three championships in the Frontier League since that time.

Their home stadium is the impressive Wintrust Field, which can hold 7,365 and hosts dozens of themed events throughout the season.

As well as great ballpark food and drink you can look forward to fireworks after every Friday and Saturday game, with a special display organized for July 4th.

And if you’re wondering about the name, “Boomers” refers to the dance of the greater prairie chicken, and you can see the mascot performing a rendition as part of the between-innings entertainment.

13. TOM’s Farm Stand

Based out in Huntley, IL, this family owned business runs a greenhouse producing bedding plants, but also grows and sells a wide variety of fresh produce throughout the summer and fall.

TOM’s runs a farmstand along E. Lake Street (Route 20), just south of Streamwood.

The stock changes throughout the season, but depending on when you come you can pick up farm-fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, strawberries, basil and, of course, corn.

The farm stand also stocks homemade salsas, jams and baked goods like apple cider donuts.

14. Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Streamwood — Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

The Tri-village area has a large number of people from an Asian background for this, and one of the drivers for this is a jaw-dropping Hindu temple completed in 2004.

This mandir was built for the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha denomination, but deserves to be seen, regardless of your faith.

The level of craftsmanship, evident in the mandir’s highly ornamented facades, is astounding, and you’ll pick up amazing facts about the construction on a tour.

For instance, the white marble and limestone you can see was quarried in Italy and Turkey respectively, before being sent to Rajasthan to be moulded by some 2,000 craftsmen, and then shipped to the Chicago suburbs in blocks like a vast 3D puzzle.

15. Seascape Family Aquatic Center

If you’re looking for a family outing on a hot summer day, there are a few public outdoor water parks within a small radius of Streamwood.

The closest and arguably the best can be found a couple of miles away in Hoffman Estates. Open for the summer, Seascape is an award-winning water park that comes with a heated pool with beach entry, a choice of water slides, a diving area, sand play area and a water playground for tots.

And after working up an appetite kids will be thrilled with Garibaldi’s Seafare Concessions, and its choice of wraps, pasta, pizza, smoothies and healthy and tasty snacks.