A Member of the First 4-Year Graduating Class of Rich Township High School Remembers the Beginning of Park Forest and the First Year of Classes by Elaine Umland-Brownlee: September 15, 2001
Born in 1938, I grew up in the area surrounding Park Forest before there was a Park Forest. My family owned 5 acres in what is now the Lincolnwood section of Park Forest. Sauk Trail was a dirt road then with a few farms dotting its skinny shoulders. Lincoln Highway was paved but was only a two-lane road. It was the route to Chicago Heights for shopping and Saturday afternoon movies. Western Avenue was also paved; it led us to the city of Chicago with a frequent stop in Blue Island for White Castle hamburgers. My father and brother hunted pheasants and trapped muskrats for their pelts in the marshy fields and bogs. We raised turkeys and chickens for sale. Cornfields and daisy-strewn prairies were my playgrounds.
When I was 10 years old, I became conscious of the constant sound of heavy-duty building equipment to the south-east of us. People in the surrounding areas were not happy the land had been sold to "the developers." Change is hard to accept. In 1949, my father sold our 5 acres to the Lions' Club International who planned an international headquarters near the Illinois Central Railroad Station at 211th street. Surrounding neighbors did the same. We then moved, first to Monee briefly, and then into the town of Matteson.
In 1952, I was thrilled to find out that I would be attending this new high school called Rich Township High School, and that it would be MY class that would be the first complete 4-year graduating class! That meant that I would not have to ride a bus all the way to Bloom or Thornton high schools. But Rich High School was not ready to open its doors in the autumn of 1952, so we started classes at Faith United Protestant Church in Park Forest. It was my class of 1956 that chose the name of the high schoo'sl athletic teams, "The Rockets," and the school's colors, green and gold. History in the making! It was a joy to meet my "Park Forester" classmates-how nice they were, so bright, witty and vibrant. And the teachers were the cream of the crop.
There was a lunchroom but no cafeteria so we were permitted to leave our Faith U.P. classrooms at lunchtime to have a hot dog or hamburger at Kresge's dime store, or The Park Forest Grill. The shopping center was not yet completed, and I remember navigating muddy wooden platforms instead of sidewalks. Mr. Raymond Janota, Rich Township High School's first biology teacher, sent us on forays into the boggy fields to find frogs to dissect, or wildflowers to examine under a microscope. (We did not have the resources to have our own yearbook that first year, but many of the photos in the Yearbook of 1954 were gleaned from that first school year of 1952-53 when we were freshmen.)
The next autumn, in 1953, Rich High School opened its brand new doors to all classes, and what a high school it was! It was a "model" high school, and, as students, we were always conscious of the many visitors who had come to see what these visionaries in Park Forest had created, both as a remarkable new community and for its high school of academic excellence. Naturally, we sometimes balked that we were "on display" and compelled to be on our "best behavior" often because well-known national dignitaries visited frequently. Their arrival was announced over the public speaker, usually a few moments before they arrived! But we were also consumed with pride, a pride that has endured among all my classmates throughout the years.
Hail to thee Rich High, all hail. We still sing your praise! Happy 50th Anniversary.
