Things to Do in Dixon, Illinois

Reagan lived in this house on South Hennepin Avenue after his family moved to Dixon when he was nine. Visits start with a short film about the family’s Dixon years, then a docent walks you through the rooms. Admission is free, and a tour takes about an hour.

★ Good to know The house is open from early April to mid-December, Thursday through Saturday, with tours on the hour. Park in the lot at South Galena Avenue and West 9th Street.

Carlotta Lowell gave this 200-acre woodland to the city in 1906, and landscape architect Ossian Cole Simonds designed it. It has river bluffs rising 144 feet, a 50-acre nature preserve, hiking trails, boat access and the Ruth Edwards Nature Center. This is also where young Reagan worked as a lifeguard.

★ Good to know Bikes are welcome on park roads and the Lowell Park Bike Trail, but not on hiking trails. The lower park gates close for winter.

Downtown’s Heritage Crossing Riverfront Plaza started a riverfront plan more than 20 years ago. Its newest piece, Petunia Crossing, opened in July 2026. The bike and pedestrian bridge crosses the Rock River on old Illinois Central piers and has a pavilion and two viewing platforms. On the downtown side, the Viaduct Point path runs over three limestone railroad arches listed on the National Register.

★ Good to know The bridge lands in Page Park, so you can make a loop on foot from downtown.

This museum fills Reagan’s old South Central School and is a Smithsonian affiliate. You can see a restored “Dutch” Reagan classroom, original Reagan movie posters, an Abraham Lincoln room, a diorama of Dixon in 1846 and a prairie room.

★ Good to know It’s open Tuesday through Friday only and closes for maintenance some weeks, so call before a long drive.

Leonard Crunelle’s bronze shows Lincoln as a 23-year-old militia captain in 1832. It was dedicated in 1930 on the site of Fort Dixon, and reliefs on the base show the fort and John Dixon’s tavern and ferry. A marker nearby recalls the 1873 Truesdell Bridge collapse, which killed 46 people.

★ Good to know It’s a state historic site on the north bank of the river, open around the clock.

About 20 minutes east near Franklin Grove, The Nature Conservancy protects more than 4,000 acres of prairie, savanna and wetland. Thirty bison arrived in 2014, and the herd now roams about 1,500 fenced acres. The visitor center on Lowden Road has trail information.

★ Good to know You can’t hike inside the bison units, and the herd is often out of sight, so bring binoculars and pull well off the road to look.

Dixon plants pink petunias along its main streets every year, a habit that started in the early 1960s after Dutch elm disease killed the street trees. The festival around Independence Day has a carnival, a Sunday parade, concerts, the Reagan Run 5K and fireworks over the Rock River.

★ Good to know It lands on the Fourth of July week each year.