Oak Park, Illinois
Encyclopedia
Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 bordering the west side of the city of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 (the Chicago Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...

) due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L'
Chicago 'L'
The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...

 Blue and Green lines, CTA
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....

 buses, and Metra
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail division of the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority. The system serves Chicago and its metropolitan area through 240 stations on 11 different rail lines. Throughout the 21st century, Metra has been the second busiest commuter rail system in the United States by...

 commuter rail. The 2000 census showed that the area had a total population of 52,524. As of the 2010 census, the population had dropped by 1.2 percent to 51,878.

History

In 1837, Joseph Kettlestrings purchased 172 acres of land just west of Chicago. By 1850, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad
Galena and Chicago Union Railroad
The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was a railroad running west from Chicago to Clinton, Iowa and Freeport, Illinois, never reaching Galena, Illinois...

 was constructed as far as Elgin, Illinois
Elgin, Illinois
Elgin is a city in northern Illinois located roughly northwest of Chicago on the Fox River. Most of Elgin lies within Kane County, Illinois, with a portion in Cook County, Illinois...

, and passed through what would later become Oak Park. In the 1850s the land on which Oak Park sits was part of the new Chicago suburb of Cicero, Illinois
Cicero, Illinois
Cicero is an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 83,891 at the 2010 census. Cicero is named for the town of Cicero, New York, which in turn was named for Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman and orator....

. The population of the area boomed during the 1870s, with Chicago residents resettling in Cicero following the Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S...

 of 1871.

The Village of Oak Park was formally established in 1902, disengaging from Cicero following a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

.

Oak Park has a history of alcohol prohibition. When the village was incorporated, no alcohol was allowed to be sold within its village limits. This law was relaxed in 1973, when restaurants and hotels were allowed to serve alcohol, and was further loosened in 2002, when select grocery stores received governmental permission to sell packaged liquor.

Oak Park's enviable location as the closest suburb to downtown Chicago, the availability of multiple modes of high-speed transportation to downtown Chicago, and its location between the Loyola Medical Center to the west and the University of Illinois at Chicago and multiple medical centers to the east attract university, legal, and health-care professionals to its aging housing stock.

Oak Park attracts architecture buffs and others to view the many Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

 buildings found in the village. The largest collection of Wright-designed residential properties in the world is in Oak Park. Other attractions include Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

's birthplace home and his boyhood home, the Ernest Hemingway Museum, and the three Oak Park homes of Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...

 creator Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

.

Oak Park is home to the well-regarded Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200....

, which is also the public high school for the bordering village of River Forest
River Forest, Illinois
River Forest is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Two universities make their home in River Forest, Dominican University and Concordia University Chicago. The village is closely tied to the larger neighboring community of Oak Park, Illinois. There are significant...

. A comprehensive college preparatory school, Oak Park-River Forest High School has had a long history of not only turning out alumni who have made contributions in a wide variety of fields, but have been notable in their fields. Among these are Pulitizer Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

, football hall-of-famer George Trafton
George Trafton
George Edward Trafton , was an American football player. He played as a center for the Decatur Staleys of the National Football League from 1920 to 1921 and 1923–1932. He is credited as being the first center to snap the ball with one hand...

, McDonalds founder Ray Kroc, city planner Walter Burley Griffin, comedian Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin is an American actress, stand-up comedienne, television personality, New York Times best-selling author and an LGBT rights advocate. Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld, and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom...

, and the voice of iconic cartoon character Homer Simpson, Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...

.

Geography

Oak Park is located immediately west of the city of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. The boundary between the two municipalities is Austin Boulevard on the east side of Oak Park and North Avenue on the village's north side. Oak Park also borders Cicero
Cicero, Illinois
Cicero is an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 83,891 at the 2010 census. Cicero is named for the town of Cicero, New York, which in turn was named for Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman and orator....

 along its southern border, Roosevelt Road
Roosevelt Road
Roosevelt Road is a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only one mile south of Madison Street...

, from Austin to Lombard; and Berwyn
Berwyn, Illinois
Berwyn is a city in Cook County, Illinois, co-existent with Berwyn Township, which was formed in 1908 after breaking off from Cicero Township. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 54,016.-Demographics:...

 from Lombard to Harlem. Harlem also serves as its western border, where between Roosevelt and South Blvd, it borders Forest Park
Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in the United States. The population was 15,688 at the 2000 census...

 and between North Blvd and North Ave to the west it borders River Forest
River Forest, Illinois
River Forest is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Two universities make their home in River Forest, Dominican University and Concordia University Chicago. The village is closely tied to the larger neighboring community of Oak Park, Illinois. There are significant...

.

The entire village of Oak Park lies on the shore of ancient Lake Chicago
Lake Chicago
This article is about the prehistoric lake, For other geographic features with this name, see ChicagoLake Chicago was a prehistoric proglacial lake that is the ancestor of what is now known as Lake Michigan, one of North America's five Great Lakes....

, which covered most of the city of Chicago during the last Ice Age and is today called Lake Michigan. Ridgeland Avenue in eastern Oak Park marks the shoreline of the lake, and was once an actual ridge. One of North America's four continental divide
Continental divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea...

s runs through Oak Park. This divide, a slight rise running north-south through the village, separates the St. Lawrence River watershed from the Mississippi River watershed, and is marked by a plaque on Lake Street at Forest Avenue.

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the village has a total area of 4.7 square miles (12.2 km²). None of it is covered by water.

Transportation

Oak Park is accessible from Chicago by both Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....

 Green
Green Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
The Green Line is part of the CTA rapid transit system known as the Chicago 'L'. It is the only completely elevated route in the 'L' system. It utilizes the system's oldest segments , extending with 29 stops between Forest Park and Oak Park , through Chicago's Loop, to the South Side and Englewood...

 and Blue
Blue Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
The Blue Line consists of a long trunk line in the Chicago Transit Authority's rapid transit system which extends through Chicago's Loop from O'Hare International Airport at the far northwest end of the city, through downtown via the Milwaukee-Dearborn subway, and across the West Side to its...

 line trains as well as Metra
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail division of the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority. The system serves Chicago and its metropolitan area through 240 stations on 11 different rail lines. Throughout the 21st century, Metra has been the second busiest commuter rail system in the United States by...

 UP-West Line trains at Oak Park station
Oak Park (Metra)
Oak Park is a Metra commuter railroad station in Oak Park, Illinois, just west of Chicago. It is served by Metra's Union Pacific/West Line, with service east to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago and as far west as Elburn, Illinois. Travel time to Chicago is 16 to 20 minutes...

. Service within Oak Park and to other suburbs is also provided by the suburban bus system Pace
Pace (transit)
Pace is the suburban bus division of the Regional Transportation Authority in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to CTA, Metra and Pace. In 2010, Pace had 35.077 million riders. Pace's headquarters are in...

. It is also one of over 20 neighborhoods served by I-GO
I-GO
I-GO is a Chicago-based not-for-profit car sharing organization.- Overview :I-GO is an independent 501 established in 2002 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating and implementing new strategies that make urban communities more livable and...

 Cars.

The Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate-290)--formerly the Congress Expressway—is the primary highway between Chicago and Oak Park. Oak Park has its own street numbering system that is similar to, but distinct from, Chicago's system
Streets and highways of Chicago
Roads and freeways in Chicago summarizes the main thoroughfares and the numbering system used in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.-Street layout:...

, due to the fact that Oak Park is in the Chicago grid system of streets.

Although Oak Park has been fully developed for more than sixty years and possesses no nature trails, hills, prairie, bodies of water, which would also be conducive to bike paths, or forests or wooded areas, it is home to numerous bicyclists. Augusta Boulevard through the village is part of the Grand Illinois Trail
Grand Illinois Trail
The Grand Illinois Trail is a multipurpose recreational trail in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois...

; the trailhead of the Illinois Prairie Path
Illinois Prairie Path
The Illinois Prairie Path is a network of of bicycle trails, mostly in DuPage County, Illinois. Portions of the trail extend west to Kane County and east to Cook County. Most of the trail is categorized as rail-to-trail, meaning that the bicycle path is built atop an old railroad right of way...

 is less than a mile from Oak Park. With several cycle clubs and groups, Oak Park is considered a bicycle-friendly
Bicycle-friendly
The term bicycle-friendly describes policies and practices which may help some people feel more comfortable about traveling by bicycle with other traffic...

 community and the tree-lined streets of the community as well as its proximity to trails in nearly communities attract cyclists to Oak Park, easily accessed by the Green Line, Blue Line, or Metra. Oak Park also has a small pedicab business, owned and operated by a local who provides guided tours and a taxi service with his bicycle pedicabs or rickshaws.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 51,878 people, 22,670 households, and 13,037 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 11,037.9 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 67.7% White American, 21.7% African American, 0.2% American Indian, 4.8% Asian, 2.0% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.8% of the population. 12.7% spoke a language other than English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 at home.

According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the village was $74,614, and the median income for a family was $103,840. Males had a median income of $51,807 versus $40,847 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the village was $36,340. About 3.6% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.8% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

In the 1960s Oak Parkers began a concerted effort to avoid the destructive racial housing practices occurring in nearby communities. Steering and block-by-block panic peddling caused rapid racial change on Chicago’s west side, including the Austin Community Area adjacent to Oak Park. Whites fled west side neighborhoods based on concerns of property value losses and crime increases. Businesses fled as well. The Village of Oak Park passed a fair housing ordinance in 1968 (in the same year as the federal Fair Housing Act) to ensure equal access to housing in the community. In 1972,the Oak Park Housing Center was founded by Roberta (Bobbie) Raymond to promote integration in the community by ensuring equal access and discouraging white flight.

Ever since, Oak Park has encouraged integrated racial and ethnic diversity. The village operates a Diversity Assurance Program within its housing programs department to ensure a stable, diverse, and integrated population. Years ago, Oak Park eliminated the use of "For Sale" signs in front of houses, widely considered one of the keys of success to maintaining the high diversity. This law was declared unconstitutional, being overturned by the Supreme Court's
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 1977 decision in the Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro
Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro
Linmark Associates, Inc., v. Township of Willingboro, 431 U.S. 85 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States found that an ordinance prohibiting the posting of "for sale" and "sold" signs on real estate within the town violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution...

 case, but is still widely observed by local realtors.

Oak Park public officials publicize the village as an integrated community, but de facto integration has been difficult to achieve. Although African-Americans live in neighborhoods throughout the village, most in the community live either in apartment buildings, notably along the Washington Blvd. corridor, or in homes on the east side of the village near the Austin neighborhood of Chicago.

Combating crime and providing safety programs in the community, Oak Park's police department is the third largest in the state. In 2011, crime had dropped 16 percent on average in Oak Park, according to data released at a community forum.

Village

Oak Park since 1951 has been organized under the village manager form of municipal government. Coterminous with the Village of Oak Park are five additional governments each of which levy real estate taxes. These include the Oak Park Township
Oak Park Township, Cook County, Illinois
Oak Park Township is a civil township located in Cook County, Illinois, coexistent with the Village of Oak Park. The population was 52,524 at the 2000 census.- External links :***...

, the high school district, the elementary school district, a library district, and a park district. Periodically, each unit of government presents to the residents tax-increase referenda or fee increases. The passing of such, along with the lack of any significant tax-generating industry, has led to Oak Park being one of the most highly taxed municipalities in the state of Illinois.

The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 operates the Oak Park Post Office at 901 Lake Street and the Oak Park South Post Office at 1116 Garfield Street
.

The village government comprises an elected village board who hires a village manager to conduct the day-to-day affairs of the village administration.

School districts

The public primary schools (Lincoln, Mann, Longfellow, Beye, Holmes, Whittier, Irving, and Hatch) and the middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

s, Percy Julian Middle School
Percy Julian Middle School
Percy Julian Middle School is one of two public middle schools in Oak Park, Illinois, and operated by District 97. It serves grades 6 through 8, and currently serves 802 students.The 8th grade is divided into three big groups, the jocks, geeks, and populars, although those three groups have...

 (formerly Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...

), and Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985.-Biography:...

 Middle School (formerly Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

), are operated by the Oak Park Elementary School District
Oak Park Elementary School District
The Oak Park Elementary School District operates eight elementary schools and two middle schools in Oak Park, Illinois, USA. The district has 376 teachers serving 4,923 students....

. These schools are part of elementary school District 97, which regularly adopts medium-term strategic plans.

The renaming of the two junior high schools, now middle schools, after prominent African-Americans rather than giant American literary figures was motivated in part by the desire to motivate minority students in their educational pursuits. A severe grade gap, referred to as “this intolerable and persistent inequity,” however, remains.
Oak Park is the home of two high schools: Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200....

, the sole school in educational District 200, and Fenwick High School. Oak Park and River Forest High School is a public school which is jointly run by Oak Park and neighboring village River Forest, and Fenwick High School is a Catholic college preparatory school run by the Dominicans
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

. Both high schools have a long history of high academic standards. Oak Park and River Forest High School bestows the Tradition of Excellence Award to distinguished alumni, including Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

, Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc was an American fast food businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime...

, Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...

, football Hall-of-Famer George Trafton
George Trafton
George Edward Trafton , was an American football player. He played as a center for the Decatur Staleys of the National Football League from 1920 to 1921 and 1923–1932. He is credited as being the first center to snap the ball with one hand...

, actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is an American actress and singer known for her role as Carmen in The Color of Money, as well as for her roles as Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss, Gina Montana in Scarface, and Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.-Personal life:Mastrantonio was born in Lombard,...

, astronomer Chad Trujillo
Chad Trujillo
Chadwick A. "Chad" Trujillo is an astronomer and the co-discoverer of the dwarf planet Eris.Trujillo works with computer software and has examined the orbits of the numerous trans-Neptunian objects , which is the outer area of the solar system that he specialized in. In late August 2005, it was...

, and geochemist Wally Broecker. Oak Park and River Forest High School is one of seven in Illinois with the ability to induct students into the Cum Laude Society
Cum Laude Society
The Cum Laude Society is an organization that honors scholastic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which honors scholastic achievements at the university level. It was founded in 1906 as the Alpha Delta Tau fraternity and changed its name in the 1950s...

. Fenwick's notable alumni include Heisman winner Johnny Lattner
Johnny Lattner
John Joseph "Johnny" Lattner is a former American football player in the United States. He was a halfback for the University of Notre Dame where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1953, and won the Maxwell Award twice, in 1952 and 1953....

, Pulitzer winner Philip Caputo
Philip Caputo
Philip Caputo is an American author and journalist. He is best-known for A Rumor of War, a best-selling memoir of his experiences during the Vietnam War....

, former Sears CEO Edward Brennan, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...

, Sun-Times general manager John Barron
John Barron
John Barron may refer to:* John Barron , English actor, best known for The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin* John Barron , American journalist who exposed Communist activities* John Barron , Irish sportsman...

, Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....

 CEO A. G. Lafley
A. G. Lafley
Alan George "A.G." Lafley is the former Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Procter & Gamble, retiring from the company in 2010...

 and notable professionals in the NBA, such as Corey Maggette
Corey Maggette
Corey Antoine Maggette is an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association, for the Charlotte Bobcats. He excelled at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where he was an All-American in basketball and also an Illinois high school state track finalist in long...

, as well as NFL and NHL players.

Park district

Oak Park is home to a park district, first organized in 1912 as the Recreation Department of the Village of Oak Park. Under the direction of Josephine Blackstock and her successor Lilly Ruth Hanson, it embarked on a vigorous program of recreation for villagers. The playgrounds were named by Blackstock after famous children’s writers.

In the late 1980s the Recreation Department was dissolved and the Oak Park Park District, a separate tax-levying body, was created.
It comprises thirteen parks scattered throughout the village, for a total of 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) of parkland, two historic houses, the Oak Park Conservatory
Oak Park Conservatory
Oak Park Conservatory is a conservatory and botanical garden located at 615 Garfield Street in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. It is open daily with restricted hours; a donation is suggested. The conservatory started in 1914 as a community effort to house exotic plants...

, two outdoor pools, a gymnastics center, and a seasonal ice rink. These facilities as well as climate-controlled buildings, or "centers," at many of the parks host programs and events for all ages. The Park District also operates a dog park, where dog owners, with a paid permit, may bring their pets to play off-leash.

Libraries

The Oak Park public library has its main branch in the Oak Park Avenue-Lake Street central district as well as two small branch libraries.

Arts and culture

Oak Park has an active arts community, the result of its favorable location as the closest suburb to Chicago, leading to it being the home of numerous theater, music, dance, and fine arts professionals. The fledgling arts district on Harrison, bounded by Austin Avenue to the east and Ridgeland Avenue to the west, is currently experiencing a revival with boutique galleries, shops and two restaurants providing shopping and nightlife. Oak Park is home to several professional dance and theatre companies, including Circle Theater, Oak Park Festival Theatre
Oak Park Festival Theatre
Oak Park Festival Theatre is a professional theatre company in Oak Park, Illinois, under contract with Actors' Equity Association. The company was founded in 1975 by Marion Kaczmar, an Oak Park resident and arts patron, and performed Renaissance works, almost exclusively by William Shakespeare,...

, and Momenta. Oak Park, with neighboring River Forest, also plays host to the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2009. Oak Park is also home to WPNA
WPNA
WPNA is a radio station licensed to Oak Park, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Alliance Communications...

, broadcasting from the former Oak Park Arms Hotel at 1490 on the AM dial since 1951. Run by the Polish National Alliance
Polish National Alliance
The Polish National Alliance is the largest and one of the oldest Polish fraternal organizations in the United States, founded on 15 February 1880 in Philadelphia under the influence of Polish patriot Agaton Giller. Its first president was Juliusz Andrzejkowicz.The PNA founded a number of...

, the station's programming serves the diverse linguistic and cultural communities in the Chicago metropolitan area (in the late-1960s WPNA had the only "underground" disc jockey in Chicago, Scorpio). There is also the Oak Park Art League (OPAL), which is a nonprofit community-based visual arts center providing classes, workshops, lectures, demonstrations, and exhibitions. Since 1921, OPAL has been providing innovative opportunities for arts engagement and cultural enrichment. Over 4,500 artists participate in OPAL’s events each year.

Oak Park has been home to numerous festivals and holiday observances. The July 4th celebration featuring fireworks draws thousands from not only Oak Park but also neighboring communities to the Oak Park-River Forest High School football stadium. A Day in Our Village held in June allows local groups to set up tables to seek members.

Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

 spent the first 20 years of his 70-year career in Oak Park, building numerous homes in the community, including his own. He lived and worked in the area between 1889 and 1909. One can find Wright's earliest work here, like the Winslow House in neighboring River Forest, Illinois
River Forest, Illinois
River Forest is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Two universities make their home in River Forest, Dominican University and Concordia University Chicago. The village is closely tied to the larger neighboring community of Oak Park, Illinois. There are significant...

. There are also examples of the first prairie-style houses in Oak Park. He also designed Unity Temple
Unity Temple
Unity Temple is a Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Park, Illinois, and the home of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It was designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and built between 1905 and 1908. Unity Temple is considered to be one of Wright's most important...

, a Unitarian-Universalist church, which was built between 1905 and 1908. There were several well-known architects and artists that worked in Wright's Oak Park Studio, including Richard Bock
Richard Bock
Richard W. Bock was an American sculptor and associate of Frank Lloyd Wright.He was particularly known for his sculptural decorations for architecture and military memorials, along with the work he conducted alongside Wright....

, William Eugene Drummond
William Eugene Drummond
William Eugene Drummond was a Chicago Prairie School architect.-Early Years and Education:He was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of carpenter and cabinet maker Eugene Drummond and his wife Ida Marietta Lozier...

, Marion Mahony Griffin
Marion Mahony Griffin
Marion Griffin was an American architect and artist. She was one of the first licenced female architects in the world, and is considered an original member of the Prairie School.-Biography:...

, and Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect, who is best known for his role in designing Canberra, Australia's capital city...

. Many buildings in Oak Park were built by other Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...

 architects such as George W. Maher
George W. Maher
George Washington Maher was a significant contributor to the Prairie School-style of architecture during the first-quarter of the 20th century. He also was known for blending the traditional with the Arts & Crafts-style. According to architectural historian H...

, John Van Bergen, and E.E. Roberts. Additionally, there are various architectural styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries located throughout the town, including the Seward Gunderson Historic District.

Points of interest

  • Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
    Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
    The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio at 951 Chicago Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois, has been restored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust to its appearance in 1909, the last year Frank Lloyd Wright lived there with his family. Frank Lloyd Wright purchased the property and built the home in...

     and his Unity Temple
    Unity Temple
    Unity Temple is a Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Park, Illinois, and the home of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It was designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and built between 1905 and 1908. Unity Temple is considered to be one of Wright's most important...

  • Ernest Hemingway
    Ernest Hemingway
    Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

     homes and museum
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs
    Edgar Rice Burroughs
    Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

     homes
  • Oak Park Conservatory
    Oak Park Conservatory
    Oak Park Conservatory is a conservatory and botanical garden located at 615 Garfield Street in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. It is open daily with restricted hours; a donation is suggested. The conservatory started in 1914 as a community effort to house exotic plants...

  • Oak Park-River Forest Historical Society
  • Oak Park and River Forest High School
    Oak Park and River Forest High School
    Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200....

  • Fenwick High School
    Fenwick High School
    Fenwick High School is a private university-preparatory school located in Oak Park, Illinois, founded in 1929 as part of the Province of St. Albert the Great . It is the only school operated and staffed by the Catholic Order of Dominican friars in the United States. It is named in honor of...


Notable people

  • Joseph Aiuppa
    Joseph Aiuppa
    Joseph John Aiuppa , also known as "Doves," "Mourning Doves," "O'Brien," or "Joey Doves," was a Chicago mobster who became a leader of the Chicago Outfit.-Early career:...

    , mafia crime boss
  • Lee Archambault
    Lee Archambault
    Lee Joseph "Bru" Archambault is an American test pilot and NASA astronaut. He has logged over 4250 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. Archambault is married with three children. His hobbies include bicycling, weightlifting, and playing ice hockey. Archambault has received numerous...

    , astronaut
  • A. O. L. Atkin
    A. O. L. Atkin
    Arthur Oliver Lonsdale Atkin , who published under the name A. O. L. Atkin, was a Professor Emeritus of mathematics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. As an undergraduate during World War II, he worked at Bletchley Park cracking German codes. He received his Ph.D...

    , mathematician
  • John Avildsen, film director, Rocky
    Rocky
    Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

    , The Karate Kid
  • David Axelrod
    David Axelrod
    David Axelrod may refer to:* David Axelrod * David Axelrod , Senior Advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama* David B. Axelrod , poet and educator...

    , political strategist and current White House official
  • Richard Bach
    Richard Bach
    Richard David Bach is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely...

    , writer
  • Bruce Barton, author and advertising pioneer
  • William Eugene Blackstone
    William Eugene Blackstone
    William Eugene Blackstone was an American evangelist and Christian Zionist. he was the author of the proto- Zionist Blackstone Memorial of 1891. Blackstone was influenced by Dwight Lyman Moody, James H...

    , 19th century evangelical Christian
    Christian
    A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

     and Zionist.
  • Dmitri Borgmann
    Dmitri Borgmann
    Dmitri A. Borgmann is an author best known for coining the word logology and for writing Language On Vacation: An Olio of Orthographical Oddities, published in 1965. This book led Ross Eckler and Trip Payne to join the National Puzzlers' League...

    , logologist
  • Lane Brody
    Lane Brody
    Lane Brody is an American female singer-songwriter, active since the early 1980s, best known for her 1984 Billboard-topping country hit, "The Yellow Rose" , and for the Oscar nominated song "Over You" from the film "Tender Mercies". She is the first female in country music to have an...

    , musician
  • Wallace Broecker, geochemist
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs
    Edgar Rice Burroughs
    Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

    , author, creator of Tarzan
    Tarzan
    Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...

     and John Carter of Mars
  • Daws Butler
    Daws Butler
    Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...

    , voice artist of animated characters, such as Yogi Bear
    Yogi Bear
    Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...

    , Huckleberry Hound
    Huckleberry Hound
    The Huckleberry Hound Show is a 1958 syndicated animated series and the second from Hanna-Barbera following The Ruff & Reddy Show, sponsored by Kellogg's. Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound; another starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo; and a third...

    , etc.
  • Dan Castellaneta
    Dan Castellaneta
    Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...

    , actor and voice of cartoon character Homer Simpson
    Homer Simpson
    Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...

    .
  • Joe Corvo
    Joe Corvo
    Joseph Corvo is an American professional ice hockey player who plays for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. Corvo was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the 4th round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.-Early career:...

    , NHL defenseman
  • Anna Chlumsky
    Anna Chlumsky
    Anna Chlumsky is an American actress best known for playing Vada Sultenfuss in the 1991 movie My Girl and the 1994 sequel My Girl 2. Her father, Frank Chlumsky, is an instructor in the culinary program at Kendall College in Chicago...

    , actress, My Girl
    My Girl (film)
    My Girl is a 1991 drama film directed by Howard Zieff and written by Laurice Elehwany. The film depicts the coming-of-age of a young girl who faces many different emotional highs and lows and stars Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis in their first film together since 1983's Trading Places. The film...

  • Bruce Davidson
    Bruce Davidson
    Bruce Davidson is the name of:* Bruce Davidson , American equestrian* Bruce Davidson , American photographer* Bruce Davidson , Australian politician* Bruce Davidson -See also:* Bruce Davison, actor...

    , photographer
  • Jon Deak
    Jon Deak
    Jon Deak is a Hungarian American double bassist and composer. He is currently associate principal bass of the New York Philharmonic, a position he's held since 1973 after joining the Philharmonic in 1969 under Pierre Boulez, and a prominent contemporary composer of orchestral and chamber works...

    , New York Philharmonic bassist and composer
  • James Dewar
    James Dewar
    Sir James Dewar FRS was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He is probably best-known today for his invention of the Dewar flask, which he used in conjunction with extensive research into the liquefaction of gases...

    , baker, inventor of the Twinkie—an American junk food
    Junk food
    Junk food is an informal term applied to some foods that are perceived to have little or no nutritional value ; to products with nutritional value, but which also have ingredients considered unhealthy when regularly eaten; or to those considered unhealthy to consume at all...

    .
  • Donald Duncan
    Donald Duncan
    Donald F. Duncan, Sr. was an American entrepreneur and inventor, and founder of the Duncan Toys Company.Donald Duncan is most commonly associated with the Yo-Yo, the commercial success and iconic status they enjoyed during the 20th century in the United States and the world being largely the...

    , Yo-Yo and parking meter manufacturer
  • Edward Egan, retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of the Diocese of New York [City]
  • Rev. William R. Emerson, formerly rock and roll
    Rock and roll
    Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

     singer Billy "The Kid" Emerson
  • Leslie Erganian
    Leslie Erganian
    Leslie Erganian, is an American artist, television correspondent, and arts education advocate. Her multi-disciplinary work is influenced by the Surrealists and often incorporates found objects and photographic images into collage and assemblage constructions and installations...

    , artist
  • Carol Feeney
    Carol Feeney
    Carol Feeney was born October 4, 1964 in Oak Park, Illinois is an American rower who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics.She attended college at the University of Wisconsin where she was on the 1986 Varsity Women's Eight team that won the collegiate national title at the Cincinnati Regatta in...

    , Olympian
  • Matthew
    Matthew Friedberger
    Matthew Friedberger is half of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces. In the band he contributes the majority of the instrumentation, writes most of the songs and lyrics and occasionally sings...

     and Eleanor Friedberger
    Eleanor Friedberger
    Eleanor Friedberger is part of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces with her brother Matthew Friedberger. In the band she contributes the majority of the vocals both on record and during their live performances. Eleanor grew up singing with her grandmother, Olga Sarantos and family in a Greek...

     of the indie rock
    Indie rock
    Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

     band The Fiery Furnaces
    The Fiery Furnaces
    The Fiery Furnaces are a U.S. indie rock band formed in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York. The band's primary members are Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. The siblings are originally from Oak Park, Illinois, a near-western suburb of Chicago.- Band biography :...

  • Johnny Galecki
    Johnny Galecki
    John Mark "Johnny" Galecki is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as David Healy in the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and as Leonard Hofstadter in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Early life:Galecki was born in Bree, Belgium, of...

    , actor, The Big Bang Theory
    The Big Bang Theory
    The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...

    , Roseanne
  • Mason Gamble
    Mason Gamble
    Mason Wilson Gamble is an American actor known for his portrayal of Dennis Mitchell in the 1993 film Dennis the Menace and as Jason Schwartzman's sidekick, Dirk Calloway, in Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson's critically acclaimed 1998 film Rushmore. He also appeared in Anya's Bell with Della Reese,...

    , actor, Dennis the Menace
    Dennis the Menace (film)
    Dennis the Menace is a 1993 live-action American family film based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name....

    , Rushmore
    Rushmore
    Rushmore may refer to:Places:*Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, in the United States*Rushmore, Minnesota, a small city in the United States*Rushmore Cave, southeast of the mountain...

  • Sam Giancana
    Sam Giancana
    Salvatore Giancana , better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-1966...

    , mafia crime boss
  • Les Golden, astronomer, actor, international blackjack writer, The Golden Diagram; musician, a founder of the University of California Jazz Ensembles
    University of California Jazz Ensembles
    The University of California Jazz Ensembles, also known as the UC Jazz Ensembles, UC Jazz, or UCJE, is the student jazz organization founded in 1967 on the University of California, Berkeley, campus. Founded in 1967, it comprises one or more big bands, numerous jazz combos, a vocal jazz ensemble,...

  • Kathy Griffin
    Kathy Griffin
    Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin is an American actress, stand-up comedienne, television personality, New York Times best-selling author and an LGBT rights advocate. Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld, and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom...

    , comedian
  • Gene Ha
    Gene Ha
    Gene Ha is an American comics artist and writer best known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, with Alan Moore and Zander Cannon, for America's Best Comics, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, with Gerard Jones, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, among...

    , comic book artist
  • Adolph Herseth
    Adolph Herseth
    Adolph Sylvester Herseth, was principal trumpet in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1948 until 2001, and served as principal trumpet emeritus from 2001 until his retirement in 2004.-Biography:...

    , principal trumpet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, charter member Trumpet Hall of Fame
  • Ernest Hemingway
    Ernest Hemingway
    Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

    , author, For Whom the Bell Tolls
    For Whom the Bell Tolls
    For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to a republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As an expert in the use of explosives, he is assigned to blow up a...

    , The Old Man and the Sea
    The Old Man and the Sea
    The Old Man and the Sea is a novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an aging fisherman who...

  • Leicester Hemingway
    Leicester Hemingway
    Leicester C. Hemingway , was an American writer. He was the younger brother of writer Ernest Hemingway, and authored six books, including a first novel entitled The Sound of the Trumpet , which was based on Leicester's experiences in France and Germany during World War II...

    , writer, younger brother of Ernest Hemingway
  • Doris Humphrey
    Doris Humphrey
    Doris Batcheller Humphrey was a dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Humphrey was born in Oak Park, Illinois but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She was the daughter of Horace Buckingham Humphrey and Julia Ellen Wells and was a descendant of pilgrim William Brewster...

    , internationally acclaimed choreographer and dancer
  • Steve James
    Steve James (producer)
    Steve James is an American film producer and director of several documentaries, including the award-winning Hoop Dreams and Stevie. He is also the director of the 1997 feature film Prefontaine...

    , documentary filmmaker
  • Percy Julian, chemist
  • Joseph Kerwin, astronaut
  • E. E. Knight
    E. E. Knight
    E. E. Knight is the pen name for a science fiction and fantasy writer, born in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota and now resides in Oak Park, Illinois with his wife, newborn daughter and young son....

    , writer
  • Alex Kotlowitz
    Alex Kotlowitz
    -Biography:Kotlowitz received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and is an alumnus of the Ragdale Foundation. He currently lives with his family just outside Chicago in the suburb of Oak Park.-Writing:...

    , journalist and writer
  • John Frush Knox
    John Frush Knox
    John Frush Knox served as secretary and law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice James Clark McReynolds from 1936 to 1937. He is chiefly known for his memoir of that experience.- Early life :...

    , memoirist
  • Iris Krasnow
    Iris Krasnow
    Iris Krasnow is an American author, journalism professor, and keynote speaker who specializes in relationships and personal growth. She is the author of Surrendering to Motherhood , the New York Times bestseller Surrendering to Marriage , Surrendering to Yourself , and I Am My Mother's Daughter...

     journalism professor and best-selling author specializing in relationships and personal growth
  • Ray Kroc
    Ray Kroc
    Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc was an American fast food businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime...

    , founder of McDonald's
    McDonald's
    McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

  • Johnny Lattner
    Johnny Lattner
    John Joseph "Johnny" Lattner is a former American football player in the United States. He was a halfback for the University of Notre Dame where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1953, and won the Maxwell Award twice, in 1952 and 1953....

    , Notre Dame football player, 1953 Heisman Trophy
    Heisman Trophy
    The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

     winner
  • Thomas Lennon, actor
  • Steven Levitt
    Steven Levitt
    Steven David "Steve" Levitt is an American economist known for his work in the field of crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. Winner of the 2004 John Bates Clark Medal, he is currently the William B...

    , author of Freakonomics
    Freakonomics
    Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a 2005 non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. The book has been described as melding pop culture with economics, but has also been described as...

  • Ludacris
    Ludacris
    Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...

    , rapper
  • Charles MacArthur
    Charles MacArthur
    Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright and screenwriter.-Biography:Charles MacArthur was the second youngest of seven children born to stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. He early developed a passion for reading...

    , journalist and filmwriter
  • Corey Maggette
    Corey Maggette
    Corey Antoine Maggette is an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association, for the Charlotte Bobcats. He excelled at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where he was an All-American in basketball and also an Illinois high school state track finalist in long...

    , basketball player
  • John Mahoney
    John Mahoney
    John Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer, father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...

    , actor, Frasier
    Frasier
    Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...

    co-star
  • Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
    Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
    Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is an American actress and singer known for her role as Carmen in The Color of Money, as well as for her roles as Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss, Gina Montana in Scarface, and Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.-Personal life:Mastrantonio was born in Lombard,...

    , actress, Scarface
    Scarface (1983 film)
    Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana...

    , The Color of Money
    The Color of Money
    The Color of Money is a 1986 film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Richard Price, based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis....

  • Edith Nash
    Edith Nash
    Edith Nash was an educator and poet.Edith Henriet Nash was born in Oak Park, Illinois, where she was a childhood friend of a sister of Ernest Hemingway. She met her future husband, Wisconsin anthropologist and politician Philleo Nash, while in college in Chicago. On November 2, 1935, they married...

    , writer
  • Lois Nettleton
    Lois Nettleton
    Lois June Nettleton was an American actress of film, stage, and television. She was Miss Chicago of 1948 as well as a semifinalist at that year's Miss America Pageant.-Early years:...

    , actress
  • George Robert "Bob" Newhart
    Bob Newhart
    George Robert Newhart , known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide...

    , comedian and actor, The Bob Newhart Show
    The Bob Newhart Show
    The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...

  • Agnes Newton Keith
    Agnes Newton Keith
    Agnes Jones Goodwillie Newton Keith was an American author best known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in North Borneo before, during, and after the Second World War...

    , writer
  • Caroline Myss
    Caroline Myss
    Caroline Myss is an American medical intuitive and mystic as well as the author of numerous books and audio tapes, including five New York Times Best Sellers: Anatomy of the Spirit , Why People Don't Heal and How They Can , Sacred Contracts , "Invisible Acts of Power" , and Entering The Castle...

    , author
  • Marc Okubo, musician
  • Martin Pearlman
    Martin Pearlman
    Martin Pearlman is an American conductor, harpsichordist, composer, and early-music specialist. In the1973-74 season, he founded Boston Baroque , the first permanent period-instrument orchestra in North America...

    , classical musician and composer
  • Landon Pigg
    Landon Pigg
    Landon Pigg is a singer-songwriter, musician, and actor from Nashville, Tennessee.- Early years :Pigg was born in Nashville, Tennessee. When Pigg was a child, his family moved to Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and he and two of his siblings, Cari-Ann and Gabriel, sang commercial jingles...

    , singer/songwriter
  • Pat Quinn
    Pat Quinn (politician)
    Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...

    , Governor of Illinois
  • Carl Rogers
    Carl Rogers
    Carl Ransom Rogers was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology...

    , psychologist, author and researcher
  • Peter Sagal
    Peter Sagal
    Peter Sagal is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and host of the National Public Radio game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He is originally from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, although he currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois. Sagal attended Harvard University in Cambridge,...

    , host of NPR's "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!"
  • George Schaefer
    George Schaefer (director)
    George Louis Schaefer was a director of television and Broadway theatre from the 1950s to the 1990s.-Life and career:...

    , television director, most honored in television history
  • Bruce Schneier
    Bruce Schneier
    Bruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...

    , cryptographer
  • Richard Sears, businessman
  • Mike Shanahan
    Mike Shanahan
    Michael Edward "Mike" Shanahan is the 28th and current head coach of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. Shanahan also holds the title of Vice President of Football Operations with the Redskins, giving him full control over player personnel with the team. Shanahan previously...

    , NFL head coach, Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins
  • Carol Shields
    Carol Shields
    Carol Ann Shields, CC, OM, FRSC, MA was an American-born Canadian author. She is best known for her 1993 novel The Stone Diaries, which won the U.S. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Governor General's Award in Canada.-Biography:Shields was born in Oak Park, Illinois...

    , author
  • Charles Simic
    Charles Simic
    Dušan "Charles" Simić is a Serbian-American poet, and was co-Poetry Editor of the Paris Review. He was appointed the fifteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2007.-Early years:...

    , Poet Laureate of the United States
    Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
    The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the nation's official poet. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of...

  • John C. Slater
    John C. Slater
    John Clarke Slater was a noted American physicist who made major contributions to the theory of the electronic structure of atoms, molecules and solids. This work is of ongoing importance in chemistry, as well as in many areas of physics. He also made major contributions to microwave electronics....

    , American pioneer in quantum theory
  • Marv Staehle
    Marv Staehle
    Marvin Gustave Staehle is an American former Major League Baseball second baseman. He played for the Chicago White Sox , Montréal Expos , and the Atlanta Braves . He stood tall and weighed .Staehle attended Western Illinois University and originally signed with his hometown White Sox...

    , major league baseball 2nd baseman, 1964–1971
  • Tony Spilotro, alleged mafia enforcer
  • Hannah Storm
    Hannah Storm
    Hannah Storm is an American television sports journalist, serving as co-anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter Monday–Thursday mornings, and is also host of the NBA Countdown pregame show on ABC as part of the network's NBA Sunday game coverage.-Early life and career:Storm was born in Oak Park, Illinois,...

    , sports journalist, ESPN
  • John Sturges
    John Sturges
    John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...

    , filmmaker, The Magnificent Seven
    The Magnificent Seven
    The Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...

    , The Great Escape
    The Great Escape (film)
    The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...

  • Judy Tenuta
    Judy Tenuta
    Judy Tenuta is an American entertainer, actress, comedienne, author, producer and accordionist.-Early life:...

    , comedian
  • Dorothy Thompson
    Dorothy Thompson
    Dorothy Thompson was an American journalist and radio broadcaster, who in 1939 was recognized by Time magazine as the second most influential women in America next to Eleanor Roosevelt...

    , journalist
  • Joe Tinker
    Joe Tinker
    Joseph Bert Tinker was a Major League Baseball player and manager. He is best known for his years with the Chicago Cubs dynasty which won four pennants between 1906 and 1910; and for his feud with double play partner Johnny Evers. Tinker was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in...

    , Baseball Hall of Fame member
  • George Trafton
    George Trafton
    George Edward Trafton , was an American football player. He played as a center for the Decatur Staleys of the National Football League from 1920 to 1921 and 1923–1932. He is credited as being the first center to snap the ball with one hand...

    , Football Hall of Fame
    Pro Football Hall of Fame
    The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...

     member
  • Chad Trujillo
    Chad Trujillo
    Chadwick A. "Chad" Trujillo is an astronomer and the co-discoverer of the dwarf planet Eris.Trujillo works with computer software and has examined the orbits of the numerous trans-Neptunian objects , which is the outer area of the solar system that he specialized in. In late August 2005, it was...

    , astronomer
  • Evan Turner
    Evan Turner
    Evan Marcel Turner , nicknamed The Villain, is an American basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers. Turner was drafted 2nd overall by the 76ers in the 2010 NBA draft. Turner plays the point guard, shooting guard and small forward positions. Turner is a first-team 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball...

    , basketball player
  • Norm Van Lier
    Norm Van Lier
    Norman Allen Van Lier III was an NBA basketball player and television broadcaster who spent the majority of his career with the Chicago Bulls.-Biography:...

    , professional basketball player (Chicago Bulls) and sports radio personality
  • Marjorie Vincent, 1991 Miss America
    Miss America
    The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

  • Edward Wagenknecht
    Edward Wagenknecht
    Edward Wagenknecht was an American literary critic and teacher, who specialized in 19th century American literature. He wrote and edited many books on literature and movies, and taught for many years at various universities, including the University of Chicago and Boston University...

    , author and educator
  • Robert Wahl
    Robert Wahl
    Robert Allen "Al" Wahl , nicknamed "Brick" Wahl, is a former football player who was a two-time All-American for the University of Michigan Wolverines in 1949 and 1950. Wahl is also a former U.S...

    , two-time All-American and former president of Valmont Industries
    Valmont Industries
    Valmont Industries, Inc. is a large, publicly-held American manufacturer of Valley center pivot and linear irrigation equipment, windmill support structures, lighting & traffic poles and steel utility poles....

  • Chris Ware
    Chris Ware
    Franklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...

    , cartoonist
  • Frank Lloyd Wright
    Frank Lloyd Wright
    Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

    , architect and writer
  • Felix Wurman
    Felix Wurman
    Felix Wurman was an American cellist and composer.-Early years:Wurman was the son of Hans Wurman, a Jewish composer and pianist who had escaped from Austria during the Anschluss period of Nazi rule....

    , classical musician
  • Mary Agnes Yerkes
    Mary Agnes Yerkes
    Mary Agnes Yerkes, , , was an American Impressionist painter, photographer and artisan. She was skilled in the mediums of oil, pastel and watercolor. Her professional career was cut short by the Great Depression, but she still continued to paint well into her nineties with a passion for her craft...

    , American Impressionist painter
  • Bob Zuppke, head football coach, University of Illinois
  • Milo Smith Hascall
    Milo Smith Hascall
    Milo Smith Hascall was an American soldier, banker, and real estate executive who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...

    , Union general in the Civil War
  • Betty White
    Betty White
    Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...

    , actress, comedian

External links

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