"It seemed like it took Bolingbrook a long time to get over it," he said of the park at the intersection of the Stevenson Expressway and Illinois Highway 53. "You're not used to seeing huge things like that just disappear."
Robert Brindle opened the park, which he envisioned as a year-round family destination.
But Brindle was eventually forced out.
Although the new management invested millions of dollars in renovations and new rides, the mall never attracted a major anchor store.
With shrinking attendance and growing debt, the park reduced its hours and adjusted prices but in the end, the giant complex couldn't sustain itself.
It closed in March 1980.
The extended Brindle family eventually headed for California where they started another family destination spot -- this one more successful.
Robert Brindle, who had retired to Palm Springs, Calif., was visiting his grandkids in the state's Humboldt County in 1979 when he noticed picturesque oceanfront property for sale in a town called Trinidad, according to Damon Brindle, Robert's grandson.
Robert Brindle used his share of Old Chicago money to buy 300 acres in Trinidad, which he turned into the Redwood Trails, a resort with cabins, a campground and a clubhouse.
Over the next several years, Brindle developed many more resorts across California, all in idyllic settings where he sometimes lived with his wife, Damon Brindle said.
From time to time, a friend from Illinois would call with an update about Old Chicago's fate, but Robert Brindle never let it bother him.
"He didn't hang on to stuff like that," Damon Brindle said. "He just liked being with his family. He was just happy that everybody was still around."
Though Old Chicago is no longer around, memories of it remain.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-03-13/news/0903110694_1_amusement-park-mega-mall-remembers