In the case of the Prairie Path, the vast majority of its routing runs on the former right-of-way of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad.

May Theilgaard Watts is credited for a letter written in 1963 that initiated the first project in what became a widespread rail-to-trails program of land use across the United States.

On a more local level, the Prairie Path intersects with Kane County's Fox River Trail four times, and the Great Western Trail—a parallel connector between the Main Stem at Lombard and the Elgin Branch.

[4] The concept of a regional trail in DuPage County was introduced in 1963 by May Theilgaard Watts, a leading figure at the Morton Arboretum.

After eight years of contentious meetings between Watts and her representatives, and those of the towns of Wheaton and Glen Ellyn (who sought the right-of-way as valuable parking space), U.S. Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B.

The bridge and new approaches permit a direct crossing over the Des Plaines River, allowing the main stem of the Prairie Path to terminate further east, at the Forest Park station.