Map to Park Forest Village Hall

350 Victory Drive

Park Forest, IL  60466

On the south side of Downtown Park Forest

(The former Park Forest Shopping Center.)

Many Park Forest Historical Society meetings are held in Village Hall.

Our thanks to Village of Park Forest for the basic map.  MapQuest directions to

Village Hall are not correct.

Directions:

Traveling on Western Avenue--You will be looking for Indianwood Blvd, which is

south of

Lincoln Highway

and north of Sauk Trail.  Trun west on Indianwood and travel past Forest Blvd. 

Look to the right and you will see

the shopping center.  Turn right into the parking lot that is just before

Orchard Drive.

Park Forest Village Hall is written on the building.  Use the main doors just off the

parking lot. 

The board room is inside and to the left.

Traveling on Sauk Trail--You will be looking for Indianwood Blvd., west of

Western Avenue and east of the

Village of Richton Park and east of Central Park Avenue.

Turn east on Indianwood Blvd, and continue traveling to the stop sign at

Orchard Drive. 

Cross Orchard Drive and immediately turn left into the parking lot.

Park Forest Village Hall is written on the building.  Use the main doors

just off the parking lot.

The board room is inside and to the left.

Traveling on Lincoln Highway, Route 30--Drive east from I-57, past 211th Street. 

You will be looking for Orchard Drive.

Turn right at the light at Orchard Drive and go 7 long blocks to Indianwood. 

Turn left at the stop sign.

Pull in the first road on the left.  Park Forest Village Hall

is written on the front of the building.  Use the main doors just off the

parking lot.

The board room is inside and to the left.

"Exploring the Park Forest Area Farm History"

Sunday September 20, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. in the Park Forest Village Hall Board Meeting

Room,

the Park Forest Historical Society will hold a brief Annual Meeting for its membership

followed by

discussion of an intriguing project.  The membership will vote on the society board for

2009-2010,

and hear brief reports from the officers.

Discussion of a joint venture by the South Suburban Genealogical and Historical

Society (SSGHS)

and the Park Forest Historical Society (PFHS) to explore the Park Forest area farm history.

Kathy Wellington-Nassios,

President of SSGHS and Jane Nicoll, Archivist of PFHS will discuss what progress has been

made so far in gathering

information on the farms and the families who owned them. Both societies have been contacted

by members of the

Weishaar families who owned farms on the land that became Park Forest. This has sparked a

desire to find out more

about other farms and families, including interest in finding photographs of the people and the farms.

Names of the farm families can be found elsewhere in this newsletter and is available on the

websites of the

societies at www.ssghs.org, and www.parkforesthistory.org.

As an offshoot of the project, SSGHS is collecting information on the St. Anne Catholic Church,

formerly at

Sauk Trail and

Westwood in Park Forest, IL. The parish became St. Irenaeus, and early residents of

1948-ca. 1952

Park Forest attended the little white church. Records of the church went to St. Liborius,

since the church,

in later years, was a mission of St. Liborius Parish. SSGHS is researching what happened to

the church

building itself and is trying to locate the records of the church.

For more information on the project and to offer information on St. Anne's, contact Kathy

at 708-957-7958 or

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For information on the Park Forest Historical Society,

contact Jane Nicoll at 708-481-4252, or PFHS email.

SSGHS and PFHS Seek Information on St. Anne Church and

Early Farm Families

The South Suburban Genealogical & Historical Society (www.ssghs.org) is

collecting

information on the St. Anne Catholic Church formerly in Park Forest, IL

(Sauk Trail & Westwood).

The church cemetery still exists and we are compiling a history of the

church and its members.

We are attempting to find out what happened to the church building that existed (at least)

until the early 1950's. If you have any documents about or photographs of

the church,

please contact us.

SSGHS is also working with the Park Forest Historical Society

(www.parkforesthistory.org)

to collect early photographs of the original farms that once made up the area

now known as

Park Forest as well as the histories of the families who owned the farms.

If you are researching

any of the early land owners of this area, and wish to be included in

this project,

please contact us.

We are looking for early plat maps of Bloom, Rich and Monee

Townships from

1840-1940. If you own these or know of local sources where we might

obtain copies,

please contact us.

Below is a listing of the surnames that were in St. Anne Cemetery in 1990 when it was

read by SSGHS.

If you are researching any of these families and wish to be included in this project,

or if you are a descendant

of an early Park Forest area family (pre 1946), please contact us at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (put "Park Forest Researcher" in the subject line):
Behrens
Berg
Berney
Biehn
Blattner
Blettner
Bock
Buselmeier
Bush
Campe
Carroll
Christopher
De Benedetto
Di Fiore
Einhorn
Emmerich
Engels
Fazzini
Foley
Furhmann
Gender
G--horn (marker unreadable)
Gorman
Gusselmeier
Hayes
Illgen
Isoylt
Jurkewicz
Kehoe
Keilman
Kelley
Kelly
Ketel
Klawitter
Klein
Koebele
Ledoux
Lennon
Lorig
Lustig
Lux
Mahan
Merk
Metzger
Morgan
Nussbaum
Ohmer
Petersens
Pfeifer
Pierceall
Polignat
Powers
Radtke
Scheidt
Schirra
Schroeder
Soelker
Steinhaus
Stephen
Tilton
Tucker
Turrellns
Vehrs
Weber
Wehren
Weishaar
Wolf
Wolff
The reading for this cemetery is located in our library. Also, if you wish to have a photo of

headstones in this cemetery please refer to our photo service www.ssghs.org/photo_service.htm

We hope to be hearing from you.

Kathy Wellington-Nassios
President, SSGHS
www.ssghs.org
Library 708-335-3340

Chicago Tribune February 3, 2008 and AARP Bulletin March 2008 Feature 1950s House Museum

On February 3, 2008 the Chicago Tribune ran a wonderful story by Joel Hood on the museum in the Metro section, Page 1 and page 5, with color photographs by John Smierczak (a former resident!). You have to pay to read it on their official site, but there is another site which still had the text for free. The article has brought many visitors to our doors in the past few months.