History 101 Traditional Cache

I want to share historic places throughout Oak Forest in order to gain a better appreciation of where we've come from.  Having been a resident for less than five years, I realized there was very little I knew about the town I'm living in.

The origins of present day Oak Forest begins with a railroad whistle stop on the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railroad near the present day intersection of 159^th Street (US Route 6) and Cicero Avenue (Illinois Route 50) which primarily served area dairy farmers.  This stop was located in a largely forested area of what was previously known as the Cooper’s Grove Stand of Timber.  By the 1880’s this particular area of timber was being referred to as the “Oak Forest” due to its abundance of oak trees.  In 1938 Oak Forest held a street festival in honor of the Cicero Avenue viaduct’s construction and of the street’s expansion to four lanes.