The same month in which the Park District acquired the golf course, citizens sent petitions to both the Park District and the Village Board requesting a referendum proposing that the Park District buy and preserve an 11-acre plot of land on the Mallinckrodt College property. The land had already been under contract, with its owners (the Society of the Sisters of Christian Charity) planning to sell it to a developer who intended to build 43 single-family homes. The referendum was held January 16, 1973, with voters rejecting the proposal. As a result, the parcel of land in question was developed into homes.