Historic Wagner Farm

great place

My girlfriend and I are vegetarians and we went to see the animals, but not only were we not allowed to pet the animals, we didn’t even get to see the pigs because they locked the gates. People were mowing the grass flinging rocks and dust everywhere-​on a Saturday?! Why not do it on a weekday when it isn’t crowded w people. When we walked across the field to see the horses the women who cared for them acted inconvenienced, and rude, angrily yelling at a little girl running up to pet them. Over all this farm had little to offer and we left feeling disappointed.

Love this place as a Farm. We recently had a birthday party here for my daughter and the staff was ok but very strict with everything. They said they couldn’t bring in a few extra chairs into the room because it wasn’t in our contract. Very by the book which was a bit frustrating. Overall, room was fine, party went well which is all that matters.
Kids LOVE this place. Well maintained.

Today we have «Field Trip» and visited Wagner’s farm. The weather was nice and everybody was interested in something not so luxurious and fancy… We all are international students and everything is new for us. The place smells like it supposed to smell… village…
Basically the place is better for kids than for adults, but was interesting anyway.
The museum is about 8 years but it is equipped with many ancient things. It has great little store, where you are able to buy something funny just for memory. The lady at the museum was so friendly. We stuck a conversation and she was happy to see adult visitors too.
The most amazing for me was the kind of carpet on the wall and below many tiny sewing machines.
Except cows and horses you can see the little place, where various of organic apples and pumpkins are available for funny prices.
If you feel tired of everyday life, full of stress and emotionally tired of city life, take a little pleasant trip and have fresh air and fun!

Great place! Makes you feel like your in the country on a farm. So refreshing to have some nature and such a beautiful simplistic place in the midst of a city. I enjoy the animals. They have only Cows, Chickens, Sheep and some Horses so not a lot of animals but enough to make you feel like your at a farm. I also like the fall decorations and pumpkins they have for sale there. I really enjoy seeing the smile on all the children that are visiting there when I am there. This place is run by very sweet and kind people. I have enjoyed going here for many years and hope it remains there for many years to come. The milking demonstrations are enjoyable and educational to. It’s just an all around feel good place.

Came here on Columbus Day to by 4 pumpkins to carve on my day off. Was told to go inside with the pumpkins to buy them. When I got inside the lady said pumpkins weren’t for sale today because two people called in sick who sold the pumpkins. Had to walk all the way back with my 4 cool pumpkins I picked out only to set them down and drive home. Not cool. They were heavy. Rest of the place looked decent.

I can’t imagine how anyone would give Wagner Farm less than five stars. It is true that it is not an all day activity, more like two or three hours at most, but that is perfect when you are trying to entertain little kids that need naps.
My kids love everything here. We say hi to the animals, eat our lunch from home at the picnic tables, sit on the big tractors, go to the kid’s museum in the Heritage Center to play for a little while, and then end the day with some ice-​cream from the old fashioned ice cream parlor. My kids hang up a picture there every time.
There is also a really interesting farm house museum that is decorated to be like it was one hundred years ago. This is right up my alley, and I like to go in when I can, but my children are still too young to appreciate this exhibit. They will be ready in a couple of years.
Thanks Wagner Farm. We will visit you often!

My 1 ½ yr old is so not a fan of Wagner Farm. He takes one look towards the cows and horses (or perhaps a sniff) and breaks out into hysterics. I have to admit I don’t blame him… the animals are smelly!
My 3 ½ yr old, on the other hand, thinks this place is great… and loves getting a glimpse at the cows, horses, chickens and more. However, I think she enjoys the activities inside «museum» even more than the outside, which is good because her little brother is happy in there.
And (of course) they like the ice cream parlor inside even more. After a morning with a bunch of smelly animals, some activities inside and scoop of Homer’s ice cream… I’ve got one happy (and smelly) little girl.
We did check out the annual dairy breakfast* this past weekend. It appears to be a great fundraiser for the fair, but we were less than impressed with the long lines (especially for mediocre food) and there aren’t many more activities than a typical day. Next time we’ll stick to the regular hours where there is no charge and less crowds. And perhaps we’ll leave the 1 ½ yr old at home.
*

Fun place! Kids love it! Nice place to go in a beautiful day, you feel like you took a mini road trip, it takes your soul out of city mode for a few! They also have fun small events. Fun to stop by after or before the farmers market.

We come here in the summers to enjoy a tiny taste of farm life. The whole place is very kid friendly! Check out their special programs– they are worth trying out. The home tour is my favorite. Kids always like «milking the model cow» in the museum part of the farm. The old country store is adorable! They have done a nice job with keeping this landmark in good condition! Check it out next time you are in the area… There is lots to explore here.

Wonderful kid friendly place that was so generously given to the community by the Wagner family. Has indoor interactive center that is great for children on a wet or cold day.

It’s free, it’s fun for kids and the staff was friendly. Great way to entertain the little ones for a few hours.

4 Stars to the farm. It is well kept and my children enjoyed it. They have cows, 2 horses, pigs, chickens, and a wandering cat.
1 Star to the lady selling souvenirs. Went in and wanted to buy a candystick for my daughter and it cost .12. She would not take my 10 dollar bill and credit card. My daughter was really sad. The lady could have just given it to her. .12 cents!

My kids love this place. It’s a great place to take the kids if you want to get them out of the house and not spend any money (admission is free). They sell cheap pumpkins during Halloween and cheap trees during Christmas. They also do a bonfire/s’mores in the Fall. There are other activities during the year that I haven’t experienced first-​hand, as well.
There’s something especially charming about a real, working farm in the middle of a busy suburban street.

For our first visit ever, we came here on a warm and pleasant October afternoon for Corn Fest. Wagner Farm is just that — a farm, though it is a touristy one. Upon entering through the parking lot in front, it didn’t really seem like a lot to do. There was a tilled-​over field with soil turned up in large chunks. To the kids, climbing over the mini-​boulders of hardened soil seemed like the whole purpose of our visit, but after a few minutes we were able to steer them elsewhere.
Wagner Farm, while it is still a working farm with some livestock and a corn field, is an educational place for kids to see what old-​time farms looked like. A row of rusting old farm implements sat on the edge of a field. The kids got to climb and pose on a dilapidated tractor too.
In the main building, there are numerous exhibits on farming, demonstrating how to lift a bale of hay, milk a plastic cow’s fake udders, or pour slop to a fake pig waiting for its meal. There’s also an old-​fashioned store, complete with a non-​digital cash register that my kids were fascinated with, as numbers popped up on top with the punch of a button. My kids especially enjoyed scraping little seeds off of the brush-​like ends of broom corn to make little whisk brooms. We got to take those home too.
There’s a little gift shop and snack bar alongside in the main building.
Outside, there’s a small barn with geese, chickens and some goats. It’s not a petting zoo, but the animals were eager to see the many visitors stopping by.
Finally, they sold apples and pumpkins. The apples looked really good, and there were varieties I had never heard of. At $ 1 a pound, they were even better than farmer’s market prices. I got me a suncrisp apple, which was sweeter than a honeycrisp and a little softer inside.
A pleasant fall day is the perfect time to see an old-​fashioned farm like Wagner and escape to an earlier time without leaving the suburban realm.

Wagner Farm is a great place to take kids to kill a couple hours. It’s an actual working farm that was purchased by the Glenview Park District (I THINK I read somewhere that it’s the last working farm in Cook County, but I’m not positive).
They have a couple of horses (Sue and Bob), chickens, geese, a pig, some sheep, a herd of cows and a couple farm cats. It’s great to get out and stroll around the grounds and check out the animals.
Inside they have a cute play area for kids. You can pretend to candle eggs or milk a cow. I wish the «general store» allowed for more playing but as it’s set up, it’s mostly decoration. In the summer they have an ice cream shop that is hard to resist.
The best part… it’s FREE. Free parking, free admission. Can’t beat that.
There’s really not much to do indoors so it doesn’t make for a good rainy day destination. The workers/​volunteers on the farm are there to do a job and are not always the friendliest bunch. You can take your time and do and see everything in an hour or two so it’s not an all day thing unless you’re attending a program.
All in all… it’s a fun place to visit!

I chaperoned for my daughters field trip here and I thought it was pretty cute. Unfortunately the day we went it was raining so I am sure it would be nicer on a sunny day.
The farm is pretty small so it’s good for small kids. They have quite a informative tour that they took us on. The let the kids shuck corn, grind it, and feed it to the cows-​they got a kick out of that. As well, they had the usual cows, pigs and horses to look at.
Inside they had some interesting things to look at. The kids got a real kick out of the fake cow you could milk. As well, the area where you can play with the plastic eggs was a hit.
They had a little discussion where they talked to the kids about butter and how it’s made. Then they passed around small jars of cream and allowed the kids to shake them to help turn the cream into butter. Of course my daughter dropped the jar and it broke everywhere but the staff was nice and didn’t make us feel bad about it. They also let the kids taste the butter they made on a graham cracker-​my daughter wasn’t crazy about that though.
Overall it was a cute little trip that took about 3 ½ hours from door to door (leaving from the city and including eating your own sack lunch there.)

We came here on a Family night where they had smores and storytime for free! What a fun location and the best part was it was all free (I believe that you pay when the kids are 2+ but adults were free and our son was too little to have to pay). We all got cups of apple cider and smores to sit on the bales on hay to listen to storytime.
They have a barn where you learn how to pretend milk a cow, pick eggs, and how to process vegetables that are grown on the farm. Their dairy farm also includes cows, horses, sheep, chicken, and pigs. Definitely a fun family destination for an afternoon.

I’ve been going here for three years and I can’t imagine how I haven’t written a review yet. The Glenview Farmer’s market is here on Saturdays from late June through October.
My three year old son absolutely loves coming here. Their big barn has a place to pretend milk a cow, harvest eggs, process corn and bale hay. The 1920’s farmhouse captivates my son. They also have a working dairy farm with cows, pigs, horses, sheep, chicken and roosters. Its a great place to spend the day with young children and unless there is a special event its free. They now also have a outpost for Homer’s Ice Cream in the afternoons during the summer.

Had a birthday party there for my two sons, five and seven. The indoor facilities (described in great detail in another review) were clean and engaging. My five year old had fun milking the cow, playing with the eggs and running around. The floors were very clean and it is a pleasant space to be in.
What we particularly enjoyed was the horse-​drawn hay ride (an additional $ 125) that seated about 20 people. For thirty minutes two teamsters (no, not those teamsters, that’s what they call the farm hands) directed two beautiful horses around the farm (the horses looked like Clydesdales). At one point the horses took to a gallop, adding some excitement. Both birthday boys had the opportunity to take the horses’ reins.
Unfortunately, the two college girls that directed the party did a poor job of time management. The first 20 minutes we waited for the horses to be ready. As a result, there wasn’t enough time on the back end to do the craft activity, the building of the bird houses. That was a real bummer and an inexcusable lack of planning. Had the workers been prepared, I certainly would have given an additional star.
For those of you who don’t know, a cow is a female, a bull is a male. A steer is a castrated bull. Most meat you eat comes from a steer. Don’t ask about how a bull becomes a steer, you don’t want to know. The farm has no males, only cows. Once they park district took it over they deemed it to high risk to have a bull roaming around.
It is very nice to have a farm preserved on the north shore. I would recommend coming here, especially to those who have limited experience with nature.

Be warned: this is not a petting zoo. It is an 18.6 acre working dairy farm that’s been restored to approximate what an American dairy farm would look like circa 1920.
It’s owned and operated by the Glenview Park District, since the last of the Wagner family died in 1997.
The farm has free public visitation hours (M-​Sat. 9 – 5, Sun. 9 – 3). You can see cows in the pasture, chickens, draft horses, sheep and pigs along with a barn and a restored farmhouse.
A separate building, the Heritage Center, has interactive exhibits for kids to learn about early 20^th century farming. Kids can simulate milking a cow (the teats squirt water instead of milk), hoist heavy hay bales by pulling a rope, gather up fake hen eggs. There’s a 1930s-​era grocery store to see. And a gift shop — try a bottle of sasparilla (it’s like root beer) while sitting in a rocker on the front porch.
Wagner Farm also offers educational programs you can register for through the park district (i.e. learn about the milking parlor — participate in a milking demo with actual cows, sign up to do farm chores).
We went one Sunday afternoon to see the farm and while it was interesting to check out, we got through everything in about an hour. I was kinda expecting a petting zoo, and my daughter was more or less done after petting a lamb through the wires of the pen.
Frankly, I think kids would get a lot more out of the experience by signing up for one of the programs. Wagner Farm also has special events throughout the year such as an egg hunt, a dairy breakfast, a barnyard dance/​ice cream social. During summer, it also hosts the Glenview farmers market on Saturday mornings. I think it’s definitely worth checking out, but I’d try to do it in conjunction with an event or the farmers market.