quick and his son John Henry, curmud- geonly co-owners of most of this land for almost half a century, development might have occurred more than a cen- tury earlier. The Quicks arrived here in the 1850s
from Harlem, New York and proceeded to buy most of the land on the southeast end of River Forest and the north end of Forest Park. As the only landlords for miles around, father and son exercised complete control over the area and their arbitrary methods and manners earned them the enmity of their neighbors. Amos Squire Pack was another River
Forest pioneer who had a more posi- tive impact on the community. He ran a general store, but he is best known as one of three men appointed by a Cook County judge to conduct the 1880 election in which River Forest residents voted to establish a self-governing mu- nicipality. The election was a preemptive strike to defeat a move by neighboring Harlem (Forest Park) to open saloons in the community. In recent years there have been many changes in the Lake St. commercial cor- ridor. In 1993, the Wieboldts building at Harlem Ave. and Lake St. was demol-
ished and replaced by River Forest Town Center. Town Center II, a continuation of the first shopping center was devel- oped west of Bonnie Brae and opened in 2002. Other improvements within the past de- cade include renovation of the Laidlaw warehouse at 8020 Madison St. for use as the River Forest Community Center and construction of a new Village Hall/ Police Department complex after the former municipal building was heavily damaged by fire in 1994. The new po- lice facility also houses the West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center, a single state-of-the-art facility that provides 9-1-1 emergency services for River Forest, Oak Park and Elmwood Park. -Jean Guarino
Read more about the area’s rich history in Jean Guarino’s book “YES- TERDAY: A Historical View of Oak Park, Illinois; Vol. I” This hardcover book, handsomely illustrated with many never-before-published pho- tographs, is a fact-filled and entertaining history of Oak Park and sur- rounding communities from the 1820s to World War I. It is available through Oak Ridge Press, Oak Park, IL. For information call 848-7175.
• PreK - 6th grade Montessori • Dual language Montessori programs in Spanish/English, Japanese/English, and Chinese/English
• Committed to academic excellence and community diversity
TWO LOCATIONS: 301 S. Ridgeland Ave Oak Park, IL 60302
AND OUR WEST LOOP LOCATION! 114 S. Racine Chicago, IL 60607
CALL US TO SCHEDULE A TOUR!
E-mail:
info@interculturalmontessori.org Visit:
www.interculturalmontessori.org
For Details contact us at
(708) 848-6626/Oak Park or (312) 265-1514/Chicago
www.oprfchamber.org
OFFERING THE BEST VALUE IN RETIREMENT LIVING.
2011-2012 Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce Community Guide 19
RIVER FOREST: AT A GLANCE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80