The first golfers at the Phillips Park Golf Course hit the links on the hilly nine, back in the mid 1920’s. The original 60 acres for the park were donated to the city by the estate of Travis Phillips in 1899. Phillips had served as Mayor and as an Alderman in Aurora and was also a downtown merchant.
The hilly area consisted of several wooded coves and lagoons that had been used for picnics and family outings as far back as 1835. It was known as “Scharsburg’s Woods” in the 1860’s, and as “Sharp Shooter Park” in the 1870’s when it featured a beer garden, a shooting range, and a vineyard, followed by Evan’s Parks in the mid 1880’s when attractions included a dance hall and a refreshment hall, and then as City Park in 1899. Residents commonly referred to it as Phillips Park, prior to it being officially named so by the City Council in 1902.
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