Danada Property and The Rice Family

The Danada House Property: A Historic Legacy

Danada House is the 19-room country mansion that Dan and Ada Rice built in 1939 as the heart of their Wheaton estate. Set on rolling farmland that once stretched to more than 1,000 acres, the house was both a family home and a place where Chicago business leaders, entertainers, and racing friends gathered.

The name “Danada” blends their first names, Dan and Ada, and today it also ties together a much larger story. Visitors who walk through the front door are not just entering a beautifully restored house. They are stepping into the history shared across the Dan Rice, Ada Rice, Danada Property, Rice Estates, and Ada L. Rice Racing Stables sections of this site.

A Rich Racing Tradition

For decades, the Danada property was known as much for horses as for hospitality. Dan and Ada bought their first 152-acre farm south of Wheaton in 1929. Over time they expanded it into a working operation of more than 1,300 acres with crops, livestock, and, eventually, a nationally respected thoroughbred racing stable.

Across Naperville Road from the house, the Rices built a 26-stall Kentucky-style stable, a half-mile turf training track with a four-stall starting gate, and a tunnel so horses could move safely between the barns and track. All of it operated under the Ada L. Rice Racing Stables banner, which would go on to produce champions that raced at Arlington Park, Churchill Downs, and tracks across the country.

The best-known of those horses was Lucky Debonair, who trained at Danada before winning the Kentucky Derby in 1965 and earning more than $370,000 in his racing career. Other stars included Pucker Up, Pia Star, Pet Bully, Advocator, and a long list of top earners who carried Ada’s colors to victories in major handicaps and stakes races.

On this page you see the home base that made that success possible. For the racing story in detail, visit:

• Ada L. Rice Racing Stables – History

• Overview of the Rice Notable Horses and the individual pages for Lucky Debonair, Pucker Up, Model Cadet, Admiral Lea, Proud Delta, and others

• List of Top-Earning Horses, Racing Results, Awards, and Naming the Thoroughbreds

Those sections connect the quiet pastures around Danada House to the noise and bright lights of American racing.

The Estate And Grounds

The Danada House property was designed as a full country estate. The mansion sat just north of the working farm and racetrack, close enough that guests could look out from the porch and see horses on the training oval or tractors moving through the fields.

Over the years, Danada Farm included corn and wheat fields, orchards, cattle, hogs, sheep, chickens, and turkeys. It was never only a showplace. It was also a serious agricultural operation at a time when DuPage County was shifting from rural land to growing suburbs.

Within that larger picture, Danada House functioned as the social center. The 19 rooms included a large living room, a library with a fireplace, a formal dining room, enclosed porches, and upstairs bedrooms that allowed the Rices to host both family and frequent guests.

Today, visitors can explore different parts of this story throughout the site:

• The Lexington Estate pages, which trace the companion farm in Kentucky

• The Florida Estates and Danada House, which show how the Rices balanced city life with their country properties

Used together, these sections place Danada House within a network of homes, barns, and farmland that stretched from Wheaton to Lexington and beyond.

The Rice Stables And Equestrian Landscape

A short walk from the mansion brings you to the historic Rice Stables, now familiar to many visitors through the Danada Equestrian Center and events like the Danada Fall Festival. The long barn, white fences, and grassy pastures are all pieces of the original thoroughbred layout.

Here, yearlings and older racehorses were stabled, conditioned, and shipped to racetracks across the country. Trainers and employees who appear in the People page, and mention in the Racing Stables pages, such as Tom Smith, Frank Catron, Clyde Troutt, Lester Wander, Howard Endicott, and James P. Conway, worked out of this complex at different points in the stable’s history.

To follow that story in more depth, see:

• Danada Equestrian Center for the current horse programs on the site

• Employee: Tom Smith, Employee: Clyde Troutt, and other staff pages under Ada L. Rice Racing Stables – Employees

• Wheaton Estate Danada Forest Preserve, which explains how the racing landscape transitioned into a public open space

Preservation And Public Stewardship

When Dan and Ada Rice passed away in the 1970s without a will, the future of their land was uncertain. Developers were interested, and large parts of the property were at risk of being paved over. In response, local residents organized under the “Save the Rice Farm” banner, a grassroots effort that eventually became the nonprofit Friends of Danada.

Their advocacy helped persuade the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County to purchase the house, horse barn, and roughly 800 acres of surrounding land in 1980. Four years later, the district opened the Danada Equestrian Center.

Friends of Danada was formally incorporated as a nonprofit in 1986, and continues to partner with the Forest Preserve under a long-term license agreement to operate Danada House and the Model Farm complex.

The Gardens And Ceremony Locations

Today, Danada House serves not only as a historic site but also as a beloved setting for weddings, community gatherings, and educational events. The formal gardens and lawn spaces around the mansion are part of that experience and still reflect the feel of a country estate.

Couples and visitors can choose from several distinct ceremony and gathering locations, each with its own view of the house and grounds:

• Formal Garden
  A classic garden with manicured hedges and a central arbor, located on the west side of the estate. Guests can be seated facing the arbor or the mansion, which gives two very different photographs but the same sense of history.

• Magnolia Garden
  A quiet garden on the southwest side of the house with views into the larger flower garden. In early spring, magnolia blossoms frame the mansion and create one of the most photographed corners of the property.

• Oak Garden
  An intimate outdoor room beneath a canopy of mature oak trees on the east side. Sunlight filters through the branches, and the sound of the forest preserve is never far away.

• Rose Garden
  A bright, sunny garden on the northeast side of the house, facing the labyrinth. This space connects the historic gardens to the walking paths and prairie beyond.

• Saddleup
  A rustic spot near the historic Rice Stables. Here the barns, fences, and fields remind guests that this was once an active training center for racehorses, not just a backdrop for photos.

• Front And Center
  The front of the mansion, with its white brick façade and formal entry, offers a striking setting for ceremonies and group portraits.

• The Atrium
  A modern, light-filled addition to the house that allows Danada to host events year-round while keeping the gardens and forest preserve in full view. –

For current rental details, availability, and pricing, visitors are directed to the Danada House and Plan Your Event pages, as well as the external Danada House website that Friends of Danada manage on behalf of the Forest Preserve.

Explore More Danada History

This page offers a broad view of the Danada House property. The rest of the site lets you zoom in on specific parts of the story:

• Learn about the people in Dan Rice History, Ada Rice History, and Dan Rice Jr. History

• Follow the thoroughbred story in Ada L. Rice Racing Stables – History, Overview of the Rice Notable Horses, Rice Notable Horses, List of Top-Earning Horses, Racing Results, and Awards

• Walk through the land in Wheaton Estate, Lexington Estate, Florida Estates, Chicago Quarters, and the History Summary of the Wheaton Estate

• See how the legacy continues in Friends of Danada, Danada Model Farm, Danada Fall Festival, Danada Equestrian Center, Rice Foundation, and Rice Donations & Grants

Every one of those sections connects back to this property and to the white brick house at its center. Visitors who begin with Danada House can follow the links outward to understand why this place still matters, locally and far beyond DuPage County.