Stevenson Park
Managed by Memorial Park District
12 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Bellwood
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Bellwood
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 40 acres are parks and preserves, 2.2 per 1,000 residents. 2% of Bellwood’s land is conserved, about 29 acres.
Ahead of 48% of U.S. towns · #519 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
2%
29 acres · of 2.4 sq mi of land
Trails
0.5 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
40 ac
2.2 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.6 mi
1.6 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Bellwood?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bellwood have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bellwood is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns, #519 of 768 in Illinois. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bellwood’s overall grade.
Conserved land2% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%C+Trails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land2.2 acres of park per 1,000 residents (40 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 48%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 32%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Stevenson Park, with 0.2 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Babe Ruth Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 5 parks & preserves
Stevenson Park12 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · Memorial Park District
DirectionsEisenhower Park8 acres
DirectionsBabe Ruth Park1 acres
Flippinger Park1 acres
DirectionsLemm Park1 acres · Memorial Park District
DirectionsWho protects it
29 conserved acres
2% of Bellwood’s land. Who manages Bellwood’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Regional agency22 ac
Town or city6 ac
Local Park · 28 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stevenson Park Local Park | Regional agency | 12 | Open |
| Eisenhower Park Local Park | Regional agency | 8 | Open |
| Unknown Park Local Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| Cernan Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Babe Ruth Park Local Park | Regional agency | 1 | Open |
| Fippinger Park Local Park | Regional agency | 1 | Open |
| Lemm Park Local Park | Regional agency | 1 | Open |
Things to do
10 places to go in Bellwood
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Bellwood
10 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
1.6 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.6 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
6Baseball
2Soccer
1Football
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Bellwood: April, July and September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 36 | 47 | 59 | 71 | 80 | 84 | 82 | 76 | 63 | 48 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.6 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Bellwood →
Next door
Bellwood and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellwood | 2% | 0.2 | 2 | 99%+ | B− |
| Hillside | 2% | 0.4 | 5 | 99%+ | B |
| Berkeley | 1% | under 0.1 | 3 | 99%+ | C |
| Melrose Park | 2% | 0.1 | 2 | 99%+ | C+ |
| Maywood | 2% | 0.2 | 2 | 99%+ | B− |
| Westchester | 6% | 2.1 | 5 | 99%+ | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Bellwood
Where can I hike in Bellwood?
The longest trail networks: Stevenson Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Bellwood is conserved land?
2% of its land, against a typical 4% for an Illinois town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Bellwood’s trails?
Stevenson Park and Eisenhower Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Bellwood?
1.6 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.6 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Bellwood?
10,648 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bellwood or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 40 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Bellwood have?
Ahead of 48% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #519 of 768 in Illinois. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Bellwood neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →