Past News & Events
Read about the programs we have put on in the past.
We have had programs and exhibits since 2005 on the 50th Anniversaries of the Aquacenter and the library;  three on the history of integration in Park Forest and how it fit into what was happening in the country; and we held the fifth in our series, "Up Front and at Home," presenting World War II veterans who have done oral histories with our own Suzanne Brown. 
This November 2007 was the sixth and, we think, the last in that series.
Recent past news and programs remain in the News section for several months.
"Up Front and At Home"  November 9, 2008  2:30 p.m.  
On Sunday November 9, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. in the Ringering Room of the Park Forest Public Library, the Society will present
another program in its series, "Up Front and At Home."  In this program, for the first time, wives of some of the World War II veterans will tell their stories--describing life on the Home Front.  Over 90 Park Forest's World War II veterans have been interviewed by Suzanne Brown for the oral history project, "GI Stories from a GI Town."  
Speakers will be Barbara Brown, Georgianna Delehanty, Jean Pickens, Leona DeLue, Helen Lawrence and Marge Weicker.  
Barbara Brown was living in Gloucester, MA and was still in high school during World War II.  She married Bob Brown in 1948.  Georgianna Delehanty lived at 79th and Paulina in Chicago.  She worked for the Navy during the war and married John in 1948.  Jean Pickens was attending St. Lukes Nursing School in Chicago.  She graduated in 1948 and married Arthur in the same year.  Leona DeLue was married in 1940 and lived with her husband, Ross, for a time at the Rome, New York Army Depot, there.  They later moved to Utica, New York.  Helen Lawrence was attending Smith College in Massachussetts.  She and Bo were married in 1945.  Marge Weicker was married in December 1943.  She lived in Dwight, IL and then came to Chicago Heights.
Ross and Leona DeLue are considered the first residents of the then primitve community of Park Forest, moving to the rentals in August 1948.  Each speaker will also tell how the couple came to live in Park Forest and talk briefly about early life in the village.
We hope you will join us for an entertaining and informative afternoon of remembering life during World War II and the sacrifices made by the families on the Home Front.

Our next program will be Sunday February 10, 2008 2:30 p.m. at Village Hall. We will have a panel of people involved in the history of the Gavin Foundation. Please come!! The grand opening and award ceremony on February 2, 2008 were just wonderful, with great speeches-another warm fuzzy experience for the society!  Fifty-two people saw the museum during the open house from 11- 3.  On February 3, the museum was featured in the Chicago Tribune Metro Section on pages 1 and 5.  To see the story, go to chicagotribune.com, enter "1950s Museum" in the search box, and you can see the story, color photographs, and a video clip from the tour.  There is also a section to add comments about the story.  Several former Park Foresters have added comments to the list--25 comments at last count.  Check it out!
Reserve the date April 6, 2008 for the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony!
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DR. CHARLES E. GAVIN FOUNDATION HISTORY FEBRUARY 10, 2008

 

On Sunday February 10, 2008 the Park Forest Historical Society will present a program on the Dr. Charles E. Gavin Foundation at 2:30 p.m. in the Board Meeting Room at Village Hall.  The Gavin Foundation was begun in January 1971, on the evening of Dr. Charles E. Gavin's death.

 

Speakers Lawton Wilkerson, Jackie McFarlane, Dr.'s Emanuel and Alice Racher, and Roy Dillard will relate how and why the group was formed, the history and charitable works of the Foundation over the years.  Yvonne Robinson, sister of the late Dr. Gavin, and founder of the foundation, will introduce the speakers.

 

The main areas of concern of the Gavin Foundation are education, medical services and human relations.  When it began the Gavin Foundation funded the work of the Gavin Clinic, with volunteer doctors offering services at little or no charge.  The Clinic was later operated with government funds, and staff doctors were hired.  The funds once used for the clinic are now directed to a medical scholarship program.  The foundation has also been involved in art scholarships and in operating a youth committee. 

 

The Gavin Foundation serves the communities of Chicago Heights and Park Forest.  The medical scholarship is offered to outstanding medical school students every two years.

 

For information on the program, contact Jane Nicoll at parkforesthistory1@yahoo.com.

For information on the Park Forest Historical Society, view their website at www.parkforesthistory.org.  Village Hall is at 350 Victory Blvd. in Park Forest, off Indianwood and Orchard in Downtown Park Forest.

 

Park Forest Historical Society meetings are open to the general public.

May 2007:1950s PARK FOREST HOUSE MUSEUM CLOSING DUE TO LOSING LEASE

Be sure you read the newer story about our re-opening in a new location! 

Park Forest Historical Society President Therese Goodrich has announced the closing of the 1950s Park Forest House Museum at 395-397 Forest Blvd in Park Forest .

"We have been able to stay open at this location since July 1998 due to the generosity of David Clapper and Atlantic Associates who operate the Lofts of Thorn Creek. We are grateful to them for enabling us to develop the museum and to use it to interpret the history of this unique village. The development now needs our building, so we have to close our doors and put our collection in storage." 

 

The society is searching for a new location for the museum, which began during the 50th Anniversary of Park Forest and depicts a home as it might have been from 1948-1953, the first five years of the village.  It also tells the story of the building of Park Forest and of the first school and library.

 

Curator Jane Nicoll says, "We are disappointed because we have been making real progress in publicizing the museum and how special it is.  The museum will still have a virtual tour at www.parkforesthistory.org.  The Park Forest Historical Society will still be able to help with Park Forest questions.  The best way to contact us now is at parkforesthistory1@yahoo.com."

 

The closing comes just as the nice weather would have brought more visitors.  While packing on May 8, five visitors stopped by to see the museum.  Three other visitors came through by appointment earlier in the week, one of them a former resident who now lives in Norway and wanted to be sure to see the museum for a second time on this visit.

 

Therese Goodrich says, "We look confidently toward the future when we can have both the archive and the museum open to the public again.  We are hoping to find a new home for the museum as soon as possible."

 

5-10-07

    PARK FOREST HALL OF FAME 2007 INDUCTEES
 Awards Ceremony and Reception Sunday, April 15, 2007  3:00 p.m. @ Freedom Hall 410 Lakewood Blvd. Park Forest, IL  60466
Click Here for More Information

 

 

 "UP FRONT AND AT HOME" VETERANS PROGRAM NOVEMBER 11TH"

 

A very special Veterans' Day program will be presented by the Park Forest Historical Society on Sunday, November 11, 2007. The sixth in a series, "Up Front and at Home," in which Park Forest World War II veterans present their personal accounts of World War II, will be held at 2:30 p.m. in the Ringering Room of the Park Forest Public Library, 400 Lakewood Blvd.  Henry Landauer, Bill Lankton, and Calvin Singer are the veterans from this GI Town who will be presenting their stories.  Park Forest Historical Society programs are open to the public.

The veterans will be introduced by Suzanne Brown who has been recording oral histories of Park Forest veterans since April 2002, along the guidelines of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.  To date she has recorded 88 interviews.  Eventually one copy of each interview will be housed in the Park Forest Local History Collection and Archive.

    The project has received funding and /or support from the Park Forest Public Library, the Park Forest Historical Society, a donation from Rotary Club of Park Forest, and Park Forest American Legion Post 1198, as well as private donors. 

Henry Landauer was born in Middletown, Germany.  He left Germany for New York when he was 18, in 1938.  He was inducted in the U. S. Army in 1942 and volunteered for Intelligence and Recognizance.   After learning about German documents at the London Embassy, Henry was assigned to Patton's 3rd Army, 7th Armored Division, 45th Division Headquarters to evaluate documents and interrogate prisoners.  He went to Metz, to Holland, and was in the Battle of the Bulge, where many German prisoners were taken and interrogated.  He later visited Nordhausen, a satellite German death camp and was an interpretor in court martial trials, as well as a translator of documents for the Nuremburg trials.  Discharged in 1945, Henry received four ribbons and a bronze star.

Bill Lankton enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943, after having the equivalent of army basic training in high school.  He had extensive training as a pilot, navigator, and bombardier (tail gunner).  Because the war was winding down, he was not sent overseas.  He was discharged in March of 1946.  His service experiences and living outdoors helped determine his career, and he became a Presbyterian minister and a camp counselor.  He and his wife have worked in Wyoming, Utah, and Michigan.  Bill is a past President of the American Camping Association.

Calvin Singer was attending school in Bloomington, Indiana when he was drafted into the Navy at age 18.  He received Hospital Corps training and emergency room and contagious ward training before heading for the South Pacific. He became part of Group Lionate G10, component 47, a beachmaster outfit that helped establish causeways after an invasion. 

His hospital group, which included three corpsmen and a doctor, helped in sick bay at Guadalcanal, Talagi, Saipan.  At Okinawa, they established a temporary dispensing unit camp on the beach and later set up a semi-permanent camp on the other side of the island.  Wounded troops were brought by ambulance back to the hospital in the middle of the island. The war ended while he waited to go to the China coast for the invasion of Japan.  Calvin was discharged in March of 1946.  He received an area ribbon, the Asiatic and Pacific ribbon, and the WWII Victory ribbon.

For more information on the project call Suzanne Brown at 708-748-1529.

                 Sunday September 9, 2007 2:30 p.m. The Society will present a program, 

 

"PARK FOREST AS AN ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE"

Read the article which follows this flyer for more information.

PARK FOREST AS AN ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE

 

A PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE DESIGN OF THE VILLAGE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHITECTURE OF PARK FOREST , ILLINOIS

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PRESENTED BY

THE PARK FOREST HISTORICAL SOCIETY

 

SUNDAY  SEPTEMBER 9, 2007

 

2:30 p.m.

 

VILLAGE HALL BOARD MEETING ROOM

350 Victory Boulevard

(off Indianwood & Orchard)

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*****SPEAKERS*****

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PETER SCHLOSSMAN, AIA

SENIOR ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL, LOEBL, SCHLOSSMAN & HACKL

 

Grandson of Norman Schlossman of the firm Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett, which designed Park Forest , Peter will talk on the importance of the architectural and design project in the history of the firm.

.   Mr. Schlossman will also speak on the selection process for the AIA 150. 

Park Forest is on the AIA 150 list for Illinois which was announced in April of 2007.

 

ANTHONY RUBANO, ASSOC., AIA

PROJECT DESIGNER, ILLINOIS HISTORIC PRESERVATION AGENCY

 

An architectural historian who promotes the study and preservation of Park Forest architecture, Anthony will speak on architectural treasures in Park Forest .

 

A National Register of Historic Places nomination is being written for Area F, as a multiple property listing.

 

Information on what this means for Park Forest will be offered at the meeting.

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JOIN US!  THIS MEETING IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

 

For information, call Jane Nicoll, 708-481-4252

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The following is an article on Park Forest architecture and the September 9 program:

When you live in a village, it is common to take its design for granted.  When you live in a home, it is easy to see it only as the place you live and to see how it suits your needs for living space and location.  The Park Forest Historical Society has presented many programs on the social history of the village and how it has been studied since 1948. They have presented programs on and promoted the importance of Park Forest in the history of city planning.

   On Sunday September 9 at 2:30 p.m. at Village Hall, the society will present a panel discussion on the importance of Park Forest 's architecture and design of the village. 

Peter Schlossman, AIA, grandson of Norman Schlossman of the firm Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett, which designed Park Forest , will talk on the importance of the architectural and design project in the history of the firm.  Peter is now a Senior Associate Principal in the firm Loebl, Schlossman and Hackl.  The firm was responsible for the design and layout of the village and for the architectural designs for the townhomes, the shopping center, Rich Township High School-- now Rich East, Lakewood School , and for placement of churches, parks and greenspace in the village.  They also played a large part in the design of the houses throughout the village. Joseph Goldman, Construction Supervisor for American Community Builders, had a major influence on the design of homes as well.  A draft of the original Plan of Town which was submitted to the FHA in November 1946, included the design of the houses in Lincolnwood subdivision, which was not built until, roughly, 1958-1963.  We think of those house styles as having originated in the late 1950s, but they were already on the drawing boards of Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett in the mid to late 1940s.

   Mr. Schlossman will also speak on the selection process for the AIA 150.  Park Forest is on the AIA 150 list for Illinois which was announced in April of 2007.

    Anthony Rubano, of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, an architect who promotes the study and preservation of Park Forest architecture will speak on architectural treasures in Park Forest .  Central Park Townhomes have hired a consultant to do a National Register of Historic Places nomination for Area F.   The nomination will be written as a multiple property listing.  Information on what this means for Park Forest will be offered at the meeting. 

   The National Register of Historic Places has only in the past few years begun to accept buildings fifty years old for nomination.  It is part of a Recent Past initiative, also being promoted by Landmarks Illinois.  With this initiative, sections of Park Forest homes and public buildings are becoming eligible to be nominated, as they turn 50 years-old.  Large sections of Park Forest meet this age limit.  If the nomination the consultant is writing wins National Register status for Area F, other districts can be added, gaining recognition for Park Forest .  The caveat is that buildings and districts to be nominated, must at the time of nomination, be in fairly original condition-retaining the integrity of the original design.  Houses modernized by the Village's currently offered architectural design plans would not be eligible, and might affect the nomination of the district they are in. 

     The architecture and the layout of the village of Park Forest are studied around the world as an example of Mid-Century Modern post-World War II suburban design.

Archivist Jane Nicoll says, "I attended the Landmarks Illinois Statewide Preservation Conference in June on the day designated as "Recent Past Day."  The keynote speaker, Richard Longstreth, director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at George Washington University,  used slides of Park Forest to illustrate his talk, "The Imperatives of Preserving the Recent Past."  Dr. Longstreth is a founding member of the Recent Past Preservation Network.  When I introduced myself, he was delighted to hear that Park Forest Historical Society was preserving the history of the village and its architecture."

     For the most part, only homes on Oakwood Street , a handful on Monee Road , houses in Thorn Creek Estates, and the fifteen Parent Magazine houses had individual architects.     A two block section of homes from Western Avenue heading west on Sauk Trail, were prefab houses from a number of firms that ACB was experimenting with, including one Lustron house, which is now covered in siding.  Philip Klutznick originally had planned an order for a large number of Lustron Homes. Lustron Corp. and Carl Strandlund, who owned it, went into bankruptcy before the houses were constructed in Park Forest .

     The houses in Eastgate were the Cape Cod design borrowed from Levittown , the first Post-World War II suburb built in the U.S.   Levittown and subdivisions like it were the inspiration for the song by Malvina Reynolds, "Little Boxes," American Community Builders architects rejected the use of that model and made a concerted effort to integrate a variety of materials and house plans in the rest of Park Forest-- even in the facades and roof lines of the rental townhomes-- to avoid this image of suburban developments with houses that looked all the same on every street.  As an example, if you travel down Westwood Drive , you will see 4 house plans used in rotation as you drive down the street.

  Park Forest residents need to be aware of the place the village holds in design history.  Preserving the appearance of the village could give Park Forest a chance to become a Heritage Tourism destination.

   All program meetings of the society are open to the public.  Information is with Jane Nicoll at 708-481-4252.

8-13-07

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INTENTIONAL INTEGRATION IN A PLANNED COMMUNITY
June 3, 2007 
The Park Forest Historical Society will be presenting the second part of the history of integration in Park Forest at its meeting, Sunday, June 3, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. in the Village Hall Board Meeting Room.   Don DeMarco, who served the Village of Park Forest from 1971 through 1982 as Assistant to the Village Manager for Community Relations, and then as Assistant Village Manager, and Barbara Moore, current Director of Community Relations will speak on their roles and experiences with, "Intentional Integration in a Planned Community."
 
Park Forest was peacefully integrated in December 1959, through the actions of a group of citizens on the Unitarian Universalist Church's Social Action Committee.  The Village of Park Forest, members of the Social Action Committee and the Village of Park
Forest Commission on Human Relations worked together to maintain the peaceful integration of the village when other towns in Illinois and around the country were experiencing violence.  The February 2007 historical society program covered the integration history to that point.
 
Once integration had taken place, the Village began a controversial program called, "Integration Maintenance" in an effort to prevent re-segregation of the community. 
During his eleven year tenure, Don DeMarco focused on intentionally promoting integration as an alternative to re-segregation, working both inside and beyond Park Forest's borders.  Barbara Moore replaced Mr. DeMarco as the Director of Community Relations.
 
Mr. DeMarco served in a similar capacity in Shaker Heights, Ohio until 1992 when he became executive director of the Fund for an OPEN Society, a New Jersey and Pennsylvania-based non-profit equal housing company offering pro-integrative consulting services to communities who want to thrive with inclusive racial diversity.  In partial retirement, he now serves as OPEN's senior community consultant.  Don and his wife, Loretta now reside in Philadelphia, PA.  Mrs. Moore will be retiring this summer from her Village of Park Forest position.
 
Park Forest Village Hall is located at 350 Victory Drive in Downtown Park Forest. 

The public is welcome to attend.

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 PARK FOREST HALL OF FAME INDUCTION For 2007

 

The Park Forest Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held April 15, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. in Freedom Hall at 410 Lakewood Blvd in Park Forest. The Hall of Fame is a presentation of the Park Forest Historical Society. The induction ceremony is followed by a reception on the ground floor of  Freedom Hall.  Those wishing to attend the reception are asked to call Jerry and Penny Shnay at 708-747-3571 by April 9.     

This year the ceremony will honor Mary McCall, Jane Nicoll, Rev. Daniel O'Sullivan of St. Irenaeus Parish, James D. Saul and Anna T. Saul, and George C. Townsend and Theresa (Terry) Townsend.

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HOW INTEGRATION CAME TO PARK FOREST TO BE PROGRAM FEB.11TH

 February 11, 2007

 

On Sunday February 11 at 2:30 p.m. in the Village Hall Board Meeting Room, the Park Forest Historical Society will present, "How Integration Came to Park Forest."

Speaker, Jim Saul, will tell how the Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Park Forest brought the first African American family to Park Forest in December 1959.

Shirlee Wheeler, another member of that committee, now residing in the Southwest, plans to be on the panel with Mr. Saul. Pastor David Bumbaugh, currently Professor of Theology of Meadville-Lombard School of Theology will contribute written commentary on his view of the committee's role in integrating Park Forest, peacefully in late 1959.   These three, and others, were part of a troupe of actors who presented a play, "In White America," around Illinois, and in other states.  "In White America" was a play promoting racial equality. 

The committee also worked with the first African American family who was willing to break the color line in Park Forest, and with the white family who eventually agreed to sell a house to that family.  The Human Relations Commission of the Village of Park Forest, and several other citizens worked within the community so that integration in Park Forest would be accomplished peacefully, at the same time suburbs around the country were experiencing violent protest over integration.

Linda Rosenbery, a Park Forest native writing a book on the life of her Japanese-born mother who moved to Park Forest with an ex-GI husband in 1956, will read an excerpt from her book as part of the panel.  Asians and mixed Asian families moved into Park Forest earlier than African American families, and encountered difficulties of their own.

One of these residents, the late Harry Teshima, was an active participant and catalyst member of the Social Action Committee.  Mr. Teshima participated because of the prejudice he had encountered during the war and in his efforts to buy a home in Park Forest.

Park Forest has long stood as a model of peaceful integration-a model copied by other suburbs and written about in Time and Look Magazines at the time.

Meetings of the Park Forest Historical Society are open to the general public. 

Park Forest Village Hall is at 350 Victory Blvd in Downtown Park Forest. 

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1950s Park Forest House Museum Spring 2007 Hours, Name Change, Exhibit, "How Integration Came to Park Forest." (House Museum closed temporarily in May 2007)

April 2007

 

The Park Forest Historical Society announces that the former 50th Anniversary House Museum has been renamed the 1950s Park Forest House Museum. The house museum is located at 397 Forest Boulevard, near the corner of Indianwood and Forest Blvd. Parking is available within one block of the museum; visitors can be dropped off at the front or back door.  The museum still concentrates on the first five years of the Village of Park Forest, 1948-1953, representing an original rental townhome as it might have been furnished in those years, and interpreting the early development and history of the village.  It includes a classroom representing Forest Boulevard School, one of the schools set up in the rental units in the first years of the village.

The museum will be open every Saturday it can from 1-3 p.m., with a docent on duty to describe the contents and the history of the town.  Since it is staffed by volunteers, the society does recommend that visitors try to call to be sure the museum is staffed, at their new phone number, 708-679-1950.  The museum can be shown by appointment, with prior arrangement, by calling that phone number, or by calling the curator, Jane Nicoll, 708-481-4252.  A donation of $2 is requested for visitors over age 12.  Tours may be priced at a higher rate.

The society also maintains a second unit at 395 Forest Blvd. intended for rotating exhibits, but also containing 1950s furnishings.  The exhibit for Spring 2007 is, "How Integration Came to Park Forest."  The exhibit displays copies of documents and articles on the peaceful integration of Park Forest, which took place in December 1959, while many other suburbs were experiencing violent demonstrations over integration attempts.

Also included are displays from the 50th Anniversary of Park Forest naming some of the earliest African American families who came to Park Forest, and with displays prepared by some of those families about their experiences and accomplishments.

Curator Jane Nicoll says, "The society is seeking volunteers willing to help show the museum on Saturdays, or for showings by appointment.  We are also looking for volunteers to help with work on fundraising for a new home for our archival collection and for work on the collection itself."

The society's work and a virtual tour of the house museum can be viewed at www.parkforesthistory.org.  It can be contacted at parkforesthistory1@yahoo.com.

4-21-07

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EXHIBIT ON DISPLAY AT 50TH ANNIVERSARY HOUSE MUSEUM

November, 2006-March 2007

Throughout the fall, the Park Forest Historical Society will have an exhibit on display celebrating the first fifty years of the Park Forest Public Library.  This will be a positive recognition of the accomplishments and contributions of dedicated volunteers and employees who deserve to be proud of the work they did in building a library recognized as one of the leading reference and circulating collections in the state.  As a former co-headquarters for the Suburban Library System, the Park Forest Public Library held book collections of major importance in the state inter-library loan system.  It was a leader in library automation, led by Leona Ringering, who had helped form the Suburban Library System, and later by Gretchen Falk and Marcella Lucas who led the library in setting up one of the first Local Area Networks in a public library in the region.

 

The exhibit recognizes the contributions of administrative librarians, Leona Ringering, Elizabeth Ohm, Neal Ney, Barbara Flynn, Marcella Lucas, and Barbara Osuch.  The work of past librarians, like Gretchen Falk, Head of Reference for 21 years is featured in articles about their accomplishments.  Alice Racher, who served on the library board for more than 20 years, and helped found the Friends of the Library, is also featured in articles displayed.

Park Forest's library was begun in 1949 as a bookmobile demonstration for the Illinois State Library.  It then became a volunteer library supplied with books by the Illinois State Library.  The first library was in Forest Boulevard School, soon moving to the new Village Hall.  In 1955, village residents voted to establish a real library, and the first of three sections of the library was opened in 1957.  A number of articles in the display describe this progression in library services.  The exhibit was mounted by Jane Nicoll, Curator and Archivist for the society, who served as a reference librarian for 26 years.  Part of the exhibit was on display at the historical society's program on June 25, 2006 on the same subject.  The exhibit at the museum contains additional photographs and sections of a display on the library which was used for an exhibit at a library conference by Leona Ringering.  Also on display is a headset which Miss Ringering used in the 1962 addition of the library building so she could stand at the card catalog while speaking to patrons on the telephone. The society welcomes all past or present library employees, volunteers, and board members, along with the general public, to visit the museum and enjoy the exhibit which is a celebration and recognition of contributions to one of the Village of Park Forest's most valued assets.

The 50th Anniversary House Museum at 397 Forest Boulevard shows an original rental townhome as it may have looked from 1948 to 1953, the first five years of the Village of Park Forest.  It contains furniture, books, kitchen supplies, clothing and toys from that era, arranged as if a family were living in the unit.  Museum attendants offer a history of the founding of the village and of circumstances after World War II which led to the village becoming what was referred to as, "America's Original GI Town," in a book by that name published in 2000 by Gregory Randall.  There are many photographs, articles and sales brochures in the museum, showing what life in early Park Forest was like.  One room is decorated as a classroom to demonstrate that the first schools in Park Forest were in rental units, like Forest Boulevard School and Juniper School, before the actual school buildings were constructed, and were used as overflow classrooms, since each school built filled with Baby Boomers as soon as it was built.

 

The library exhibit is in 395 Forest, immediately next door to 397 Forest.  This is a new unit of the museum, again generously provided by Thorn Creek Townhomes, who provides the rent and utilities for the society to occupy the space.  David and Pat Clapper of Atlantic Associates have provided the historical society with the rental unit for the House Museum since July 1998. The 1950s furniture in the 395 unit was provided by the estate of Jerome and Nita Aprill of Urbana, formerly of the South Side of Chicago.  The late couple was aware of the 50th Anniversary House Museum.  They had visited friends in the village, and had shopped at the Park Forest Plaza in its heyday.  When both of the Aprill's passed away within months of each other, their children donated the furniture to the historical society.  There are other 1950s pieces used in this unit as well, donated by a number of other families.  For the time being only the living room and dining room of the second unit of the museum are open to the public.  The society hopes to develop an exhibit on the second floor and to use one room as office space.  This second unit gives the society much needed space for processing and storage for donations and reference materials.

 

The 50th Anniversary House Museum is usually open Saturday from 1-3 p.m., or by appointment.  The museum should be open every Saturday, November 18-December 16.  The museum's phone number is 708-679-1950.  The society recommends it as a place to visit with family.  The museum units are located at the corner of Indianwood and Forest Boulevard, across from Nurses Plus.

 

The Park Forest Historical Society needs many more volunteers to cover open hours of the museum and to be available to open the museum by appointment. Long-time residents enjoy reminiscing with visitors, newer residents enjoy learning the history of this unique village and people who have lived in nearby towns enjoy sharing what they have known about the village over the years.  Anyone interested in being trained as a docent or attendant should contact Therese Goodrich at 708-748-7672.   For information about the library exhibit, call Jane Nicoll at 708-481-4252.

Appointments to visit the museum can be made by calling 708-679-1950.

11-15-06

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A CELEBRATION OF FIFTY YEARS OF LIBRARY HISTORY

  June 25, 2006

On June 25 2006 at 2:30 p.m. in the Village Hall Board Meeting Room,

the society will be holding a panel discussion celebrating fifty years of the Park Forest Public Library.  This will be a positive recognition of the accomplishments and contributions of dedicated volunteers and employees who deserve to be proud of the work they did in building a library recognized as one of the leading reference and circulating collections in the state.  As a former co-headquarters for the Suburban Library System, the Park Forest Public Library held book collections of major importance in the state inter-library loan system.  It was a leader in library automation, led by Leona Ringering, who had helped form the Suburban Library System, and later by Gretchen Falk who led the library in setting up one of the first Local Area Networks in a public library in the region.

   Panelists will include Neal Ney and Marcella Lucas, former administrative librarians, and Gretchen Falk, Head of Reference for 21 years. Virginia

(Gini) Kent Baxter, will join us.  She worked with the all-volunteer library then joined the library staff under Leona Ringering, founding administrative librarian.  Gini will tell her own experiences of working with the library over several decades and through the building additions, and will share stories of Priscilla Rockwell and Mary Jane Roth- early staff members who had a profound effect on the library.  Also on the panel will be Alice Racher, who served on the library board for more than 20 years, and helped found the Friends of the Library.   The panel will be moderated by Jane Nicoll, who served as a reference librarian for 26 years.  Jane worked on the Oral History interview done by Leona Ringering, and will add some history from Miss Ringering's perspective.

   The society welcomes all past or present library employees, volunteers, and board members.

  Join us for this afternoon of celebration and recognition of contributions to one of the Village of Park Forest's most valued assets.

   Park Forest Village Hall is located at 350 Victory Drive in Downtown Park Forest.

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UP FRONT AND AT HOME

 November 5, 2006

 The Sunday, November 5, 2006 Park Forest Historical Society Program will be the fifth in a series on Park Forest World War II veterans, "Up Front and at Home."  Three veterans' stories will be told at 2:30 p.m. at the Park Forest Public Library at 400 Lakewood Blvd.  Veterans presenting their stories this year are Dorothy Lachmann, John W. Delahanty, and Bill Galle. 

Dorothy Lachmann was in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACS), and then the Army Air Corps during World War II.  She was trained as a radio mechanic, but had some trouble being accepted as a woman in that role.  She instructed men to fly by instrument, worked in the post library, and edited the post newspaper.  After repairing a broken hand mike, she did lots of radio repair and also calibrated B17 radio receivers.  Dorothy went overseas to Lile, near Belgium, and worked on civilian claims against American soldiers.  Following a week in Paris, she attended University at Shrivenham, England while awaiting orders to return to the United States.

John W. Delahanty was in the U.S. Army Infantry, and was in the second wave of the D-Day Invasion at Omaha, Dog Red Beach on June 6, 1944.  His job was to remove wire entanglements and mines from the beach.  He was hit in the arm by a grenade on the way to town, and was sent to a hospital in Bristol, England.  On July 14, he was sent back, helping to take St. Lo.  Before they had taken Brest, he was hit in the same arm again.  While in England recovering, he tried to help put heavy wire through a window from another building, and the window came out, breaking his wrist.  He received two purple hearts and two bronze stars, among other citations.

Bill Galle was in the U.S. Navy serving as an officer on the repair ship, U.S.S. Ajax AR5 in the South Pacific.  He supervised men who repaired damaged ships tied up to the repair ship.  Some men also went out to ships needing repair.  A diving division did underwater repair, as well, keeping the damaged ships from having to go long distances to dry dock for repair.  They were attacked by Japanese kamikaze planes as they were in forward bases at Ulithe Atoll and later at Leyte Gulf during the invasion of Okinawa.

    The three veterans will be introduced by Suzanne Brown who has been recording oral histories of Park Forest veterans since April 2002, along the guidelines of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.  To date she has recorded more than 81 interviews.  Eventually one copy of each interview will be housed in the Park Forest Local History Collection and Archive.

    The project has received funding and /or support from the Park Forest Public Library, the Park Forest Historical Society, a donation from Rotary Club of Park Forest, and Park Forest American Legion Post 1198, as well as from private donors.  Donations to help Ms. Brown continue copying the audiotapes and producing transcripts of select interviews, may be brought to the meeting on November 5, or may be mailed to the Park Forest Historical Society, 400 Lakewood Blvd, Park Forest, IL  60466.

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Park Forest's Role in the Story of American Integration
To Be Topic of Talk at Park Forest Historical Society
February 26, 2006
    On Sunday February 26 at 2:30 p.m., at Park Forest Village Hall,   the Park Forest Historical Society will offer a public program 
featuring Lowell Thompson of Chicago. Mr. Thompson will lead a discussion on Park Forest's role in American race relations, 
past, present and future based on his article, "Hats Off to Harry," which appeared in the Chicago Reader in February 2005.  
The article, which included research from the Park Forest Local History Collection and Archive, centered on the work of the late 
Harry Teshima.  Mr. Teshima had experienced prejudice during World War II, and in buying a home in Park Forest.  He worked 
with the Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Church to bring the first African American family to Park Forest in 
December 1959.
    Lowell Thompson is an artist/writer/cultural commentator. His writing has appeared in the Chicago Reader, Chicago Life 
(a supplement to the Sunday New York Times) and How and Print, two international 
communications design magazines. His ideas, activities and writing have also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, and 
Advertising Age, the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times and on Nightline.  
   In the 1990s he was co-creator and host of an award-winning radio show, "The Race Question" on Lite FM.
   Mr. Thompson spent over 30 years creating ads and commercials for America's leading advertisers and their ad agencies. 
He won the Clio, the "Oscar" of advertising as art director/producer for the "Da Bulls" campaign for the Chicago Bulls. 
Thompson is the founder of ORIGINAALS, the Creative African-American advocacy project.
   He began painting in 1999, and his artwork is beginning to appear in corporate and private collections.
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Celebrating 50 Years of the Aquacenter  June 26, 2005

 

   On Sunday, June 26, at 2:30 p.m., in the Board Meeting Room of Park Forest Village Hall, the Park Forest Historical Society will honor the Aquacenter on its 50th Anniversary. The Aquacenter's planning began in 1954, and the pool complex, built for $250,000, had its grand opening on June 24, 1955.  The pool was begun by a citizens' group and funded by $100 Aqua-Bonds sold to residents of the village.

     Barbara Pennington, who, with her husband, Gene, helped the original citizens' committee which formed the Aquacenter, Ardith Dickerson, an original bondholder who volunteered for the Aquacenter Board, and John Joyce, Director of the Park Forest Recreation and Parks Department, will speak on the history of the pool. Gene Pennington served on the original Aquacenter Board of Directors as Vice-President in charge of construction, and also worked for the architect of the pool complex.  Mrs. Dickerson, volunteered with other housewives sending out the annual membership drive in return for her family's pool pass.  When the YMCA took over the pool, she became an employee, working on the membership rosters and taking pass photos.  She followed the YMCA to Governors State University.  In 1980, she began teaching a senior fitness class for the Y, which she still teaches for GSU now that they run the pool there. Like Barbara Pennington, as an "Aquacenter Mom," she watched her children and grandchildren grow up using the pools.   Mr. Joyce will relate how the pool came under Village ownership in March 1983, and how it has been adapted over the years. There will be a display of articles about the early days of the pool, which will include photographs and a copy of an original Aquacenter bond. 

      Visit the Park Forest Historical Society website at www.pfpl.org, under "Historical Society," to see a gallery of photographs from the Aquacenter's early days, (we hope to get this gallery relaunched in 2007).  The society urges people to add Aquacenter memories to the "Memoirs" section of the site by emailing them to parkforesthistory1@yahoo.com. Former pool users from around the country can add memoirs of the pool or other Park Forest memories to the website via email, year-round. Some of the memoirs of the pool sent to the site will be read at the June 26 program.  parkforsthistory1@yahoo.com. 

        The historical society hopes that people who were patrons of the pool in the early days, people who used it then and still do, and new users of the pool complex will come to hear how this wonderful recreational resource came into existence through the volunteer efforts of Park Forest citizens and how it continues to be supported as a recreational facility by the Village of Park Forest.

                                          

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Take a Trip on the Underground Railroad
 
  Sunday, February 1, 2:30 p.m.
at the Park Forest Public Library
The Park Forest Library (400 Lakewood Blvd) and the Park Forest Historical Society will co-host a program on the Underground Railroad with the help of guest speaker Paul Petraitis.  Mr. Petraitis is a co-founder of C/CURE (formerly known as Chicago/Calumet Underground Railroad Effort), and lecturer for the Ridge Historical Society in Beverly-Morgan Park. The lecture is entitled: "The Crossroad to Freedom: Shedding Some Light on the South Suburbs' Role in that Clandestine Activity -- The Underground Railroad".
Mr. Petraits will concentrate his talk on the area directly to the north of Park Forest and routes into and out of the city of Chicago as he tells the stories of the people who ran the local "stations" on the Underground Railroad to freedom.  His special interest is on John Ton who operated a station near Riverdale along the banks of the Little Calumet River.  He is a resident of the Pullman Landmark District and a former employee of the Chicago Historical Society.
UP FRONT AND AT HOME
THE VETERANS STORY
2:30 p.m. SUNDAY, Nov. 9

Join us for an afternoon of reflection and recollection in a Veterans Day program at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, November 9 in the Ringering Room of the Park Forest Public Library as the Park Forest Historical Society pays tribute to the veterans of World War II who helped create this unique community.

Suzanne Brown will discuss her exceptional efforts to record oral histories of veterans who fought in the war and later became part of America's first post-war town - Park Forest.

Speakers will include Dick Humbert, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, who will talk about his experiences crossing the Rhine River into Germany, and former Village Attorney Tony Scariano who worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in northern Italy. With the permission of his widow, a portion of a tape recording made with the late Otho Masterson will be played. In it he talks about his time as a prisoner of war after his B?17 was shot down on his second mission.


Postwar Housing in America and Klutznick Exhibit
Annual Meeting, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2:30 p.m. in Village Hall

Park Forest's housing concepts and development helped create a new way of living and working in America. Join us in seeing how this community's innovative designs were woven into this country's fabric in the postwar era.

The annual meeting will have two offerings. Through words and pictures, Anthony Rubano, a Project Designer at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency will discuss "Through the Picture Window: Housing in the Postwar Era." This is a look at mid-century suburban middle-class housing styles including Park Forest and will touch on Park Forest's place in planning history. A part-time faculty member at the School of the Art Institute, Mr. Rubano has taught the history of American architecture at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. His enthusiasm for Park Forest's design history is refreshing and exemplifies sentiments of scholars around the country.

Following Mr. Rubano's talk, those who wish, can walk to the Tall Grass Arts Assn. Gallery to view the special exhibit, "On Being a Leader: Philip M. Klutznick and the American Experience." This exhibit from the B'nai B'rith Klutznick Museum in Washington, D.C., details the accomplishments of the man who envisioned Park Forest as a new plan for a new age. The Park Forest Public Library contributed images and advice to the show's designers and the Village is proud to be sponsoring the exhibit in its Chicagoland debut.

There will be a brief annual membership meeting that will include an introduction of new members of the Historical Society's Board of Directors for the coming year.

YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL

Your mailing label includes your membership expiration date. If your membership is up for renewal or has a list of zeroes, please take a moment to fill out the application below. We need your support to make sure Park Forest's past has a secure future.
 

The Village of Park Forest,
The Tall Grass Arts Association
and The Park Forest Historical Society
present an exhibit from the
B'nai B'rith Klutznick
National Jewish Museum

On Being a Leader:
Philip M. Klutznick and the American Experience
Sunday, September 28, 2003
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Tall Grass Arts Association Gallery
DownTown Park Forest
367 Artists Walk
Park Forest, Illinois 60466