First Park Forest School
in 1950s Park Forest House Museum

The first elementary school opened in one of the rental units in Park Forest.

Schools

There was one other major drawback to coming to Park Forest. No schools had been built. All of these baby
boomers and no schools! ACB contracted with Chicago Heights to bus kids to Roosevelt School and
to Bloom Township High School. Parents paid out-of-district tuition for Bloom. The influx of children
overwhelmed everyone. Parents objected to sending their small children that far by bus. In bad winter storms,
Chicago Heights bus drivers would not drive children home to Park Forest because Western Avenue was just a
 two-lane road with deep ditches. If the temperature was high enough, there would be terrible mud to contend with.

For the 1950 school year, ACB turned an 8-unit rental into classroom space and the newly reorganized
School District 163 hired a superintendent, a principal and teachers for what was called Forest Boulevard
School. The actual buildings used were 323-337 Forest, beginning just one court away from this unit.
397 itself has been used in the past as a rental office for the townhomes. In the actual school units
the walls were removed so each floor was a full classroom. Still desks filled the rooms and classrooms
overflowed with the never-ending stream of new students. Another school was set up called Juniper School
and we believe one existed on Ash Street. Later, when District 201-U was deciding to build Talala, small
houses were used as temporary schools in that district.

The blackboard in the school was probably mounted for lack of floor space. [Note on blackboard --
Children had to be reminded to learn their "ABC's" not their "ACB's."]  Teachers fresh out of school found the
superintendent, Dr. Anderson, open to all sorts of innovative teaching methods. Duckboards still led up to the
school doors and much time was spent in the morning pulling children out of their shoes and boots when
boots got stuck in the mud. (Boots required shoes inside them then). The school unit porch was lined with
muddy boots drying out before dismissal time. Many children spent part of the school day in stocking feet until
teachers had time to pull the boots out of the mud and retrieve the shoes.

The teachers association had to provide "teacher housing" which were furnished rental units rented out to
teachers, who often boarded with each other. To prevent any temptations, young, single teachers were strongly
discouraged from living alone. When the first librarian, Leona Ringering, moved to town, ACB made an exception
for her to have her own place. Married teachers rented spare bedrooms to other teachers until their families expanded.

The school had scaffolding outside for fire escapes. School supplies were kept in the kitchen and the linen closet.
A large board was placed over the bathtub so no students would fall in. The bathtub could be used as a table or for storage.

We have a large scrapbook from School District 163 which has photographs and newspaper stories. Teachers’
photos appear in it. Please feel free to take time to flip through the exhibits and scrapbooks in this room.
Remember that the scrapbooks are temporary at the House Museurn, but this and more is available all the
time in the Local History collection. Stories like the ones I've been telling are available in the Oral History
collection at the Park Forest Public Library. -- Jane Nicoll