Forest Park, IL

Forest Park (formerly Harlem) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was  15,688 at the 2000 census. The Forest Park train stop on the CTA Blue Line is the line's western terminus, located on the Eisenhower Expressway at Desplaines Avenue.

Government
Forest Park is divided between three congressional districts. The area east of the Des Plaines River and south of Harrison Street is in Illinois' 3rd congressional district, except for the area northeast of Elgin Avenue and 13th Street; the area north of the Eisenhower Expressway and east of Van Buren Street is in the 7th district; the area in between (primarily consisting of Concordia and Forest Home cemeteries and a city park) is part of the 4th district.

Landmarks
St. Bernardine, built in a Spanish Mission style was designed by McCarthy, Smith, and Eppig. The firm worked extensively with George Cardinal Mundelein and produced numerous Chicago area Catholic churches during the Great Depression era, including St. Wenceslaus in Chicago, as well as St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier churches in Wilmette.The Ferrara Pan Candy factory also is in Forest Park.

Village life
The Park District of Forest Park, located near the center of the village, has a 15-acre park, with an aquatic center. Shopping is mostly located on Madison Street, a narrow street with turn of the century gaslights. Previously known for dominance of bars, it now also features antique merchants, boutiques, and eating establishments.

Every summer, in the last few days of July and first few of August, Forest Park's Park District plays host to the Forest Park No Glove National Invitational Softball Tournament. This is an invitational to all the best 16-inch softball teams in Chicagoland (and sometimes from other regions). The game is slow-pitch softball played without gloves, a favorite in Chicagoland.

The city has several industries, but two of the prominent ones are Mohr Oil and Ferrara Pan Candy Co. The candy factory can be seen and smelled from the Harlem Blue Line stop. Mohr Oil can only be seen from there.

The town is served by a weekly newspaper, the Forest Park Review, coming out every Wednesday. It is printed by Wednesday Journal, Inc.

History
For much of its history, Forest Park was known as a "city of cemeteries," with more dead "residents" than living ones; some figures estimate the ratio at 30:1, dead to alive. Forest Park cemeteries include: Altenheim, German Waldheim (now merged into Forest Home), Jewish Waldheim, Woodlawn (including Showmen's Rest), and Concordia. Forest Home cemetery is home to the famous Haymarket Riot monument.

Forest Park was also once host to the Forest Park Amusement Park, a small but popular amusement park at the end of the trainlines. Prohibition, however, hurt it enough to force it to close. Its former location is now around the Desplaines Avenue Blue Line stop (Forest Park).

The community (formerly part of a larger town called Harlem) officially took the name Forest Park on August 12, 1907. The town held a summer-long centennial celebration. Forest Park has also held two other centennial celebrations, one in 1956 for when the first settlers came and one in 1984 for when the town of Harlem was created.[2]

On March 26, 2003, Olympia Fields and Forest Park were hit by a large meteorite shower, "the first time that a meteorite shower has hit such a populated area," according to Field Museum curator Meenakshi Wadhwa.[3] The museum spent about $30,000 to acquire about six pounds of meteorites that fell, and other meteorites were also recovered.

Noted personalities

KJ (singer and actor) was born and raised in Forest Park, attending both Grant White school and Forest Park Middle School.

Stephen Euin Cobb (author, futurist and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You) attended Grant White and Field Stevenson grade schools; graduated from Proviso East High School in the class of 1974; flew model rockets at Miller's Meadow; had summer passes to the Forest Park Public Pool in the 1960s and '70s; marched in the Oktoberfest Parade as a Cub Scout.

Darius Brooks, a Grammy-winning gospel singer, recently opened a record label, Journey Music Group, in the town on Madison Street.

William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., biological father of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, briefly resided in Forest Park with his wife, Clinton's mother Virginia Blythe (née Cassidy), shortly before his death.

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