About Historic Oak Park

Oak Park is considered 'a living museum':

• Oak Park host's American architecture containing the work of more than 125 architects over the last hundred years.
• From 1890-1920, the distinctive style "Prairie School" came into practice in architecture. The largest concentration of residential examples of this architecture exists in Oak Park.
• The birthplace of the Prairie School of architecture continues to inspire contemporary architects. Studied by historians, scholars and tourists in great numbers.

Demographics & Geography

• The Village of Oak Park, home to some 52,000 people.
• Is eleven miles directly west of downtown Chicago, a twenty minute train or car drive away.
• It borders Chicago on the east; Chicago and Elmwoodpark to the north; Cicero and Berwyn at its south end; Forest Park and River Forest to the west.
• Oak Park is equi-distant between Chicago's O'Hare and Midway Airports and is centrally-located to downtown Chicago and outlying business centers such as Oak Brook and Schaumburg.

Two local trains and numerous bus routes connect Oak Park to downtown Chicago and many suburbs farther west...making access easy to two of the finest zoos and many of the finest museums in the world including:

• The Brookfield Zoo
• The Lincoln Park Zoo
• The Art Institute of Chicago
• The Field Museum of Natural History
• The Shedd Aquarium
• The Adler Planetarium
• The Museum of Science and Industry
• The Museum of Contemporary Art
• Throughout the summer, free festivals on the Lakefront include, jazz, gospel and classical music and the eating fest, Taste of Chicago, in Chicago's Grant Park.

In addition, there are numerous festivals all year long in the many ethically diverse neighborhoods of Chicago where more than fifty-five languages are spoken.

Events

Oak Park has many cultural offerings including:

• Concerts in Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple and Shakespeare in Austin Gardens in the summer.
• Throughout the year there are several outdoor art fairs and public concerts.
• Exhibitions on a variety of themes can be seen at the Oak Park Art League.
• Once a year, local organizations throughout the Village host "A Day in Our Village".
• In the Fall, there is a mini-Octoberfest with live musical performances.
• Live theater includes Village Players in Oak Park and Circle Theater in Forest Park, next door.

Medical Facilities

There are two well-respected hospitals in Oak Park:

• West Suburban and Oak Park Hospitals with staffs that include many of the finest physicians in the nation.
• Other surronding hospitals - Gottlieb, Westlake, MacNeal, and Loyola Hospital in Maywood.
• These facilities provide opportunities for the best comprehensive medical care available anywhere in the world.
• The diversity of the population of physicians is such that many ethnic experiences are appreciated and understood and many languages are spoken.
• Completing the extraordinary opportunity for outstanding medical care in Chicago are: Presbyterian-St Lukes, the University of Illinois, Children's Memorial and Northwestern Hospitals in downtown Chicago, within twenty minutes away by car and the University of Chicago Hospitals on the near South Side.

Elementary - High Schools

The Village's excellent schools include:

• Six grammar schools.
• Four Catholic grammar schools.
• Two public junior high schools.

Two high schools:

• Oak Park-River Forest High School.
• Fenwick High School - a Catholic college preparatory school.

All of these schools have with many distinguished alumni.

Colleges and Universities

Among the many colleges and universities in the Chicago area:

• World renowned University of Chicago, home to many Nobel Prize winners
• University of Illinois at Chicago Circle whose students comprise the most diverse student population in North America
• De Paul University, found in a recent survey to have a population of the most content college students in the United States

Other outstanding schools include:

• Dominican and Concordia Universities in River Forest
• Elmhurst College, Wheaton College, Roosevelt University, Northeastern Illinois University, and Loyola and Northwestern Universities on the North Shore