Memories Announcements
"Grew Up in Park Forest" group formed on Facebook
We are on Facebook! Become a fan of "Park Forest Historical Society" and of "1950s Park Forest House Museum!" We have joined Facebook (like us!) and have a Facebook page for the museum (like our museum page!). (Active links are further down the page.) There is a Facebook group, "Grew up in Park Forest". It formerly had some wonderful memory streams going, but that changed with Facebook's new format. It is still a place to reconnect with people who grew up here. We still accept memoirs sent to us via email. We hope to get a "Park Forest Memories " group started sometime to capture those entries, but are looking at other social networking sites. If you are interested in helping with that, contact us. We have joined Facebook (like us!) and have a Facebook page for the museum (like our museum page!).
Remember to make a copy of your memory and submit it to us, too. And, you will notice, you can write a much longer memoir to be put on our website to share with people.
If you see a topic there and want to expand on it, please share it with us! Remember, many people are not on Facebook and don't read memories, there. We may know something about your question.
Have you tried to contact our email and not received an answer?
I think the absence of emails to us is a result of the Facebook page, BUT if you have tried and we have not answered your email, please try again and put something in the subject line to draw attention to the fact. I have gotten some legitimate messages but a fraction of what I formerly received. I receive a lot of spam messages. I worry that I am missing some that don't come through as legitimate.
Thanks to all of you who have been submitting memories!
I will be adding the memoirs and sending you emails to let you know that yours is online. Hopefully this will go smoothly. When you get your email, please be sure to notify friends and relatives to come look at our site.
Let us hear from YOU!!
If you are reading and enjoying these memories, (and I can tell that you are by the web statistics) send yours along. You do not need to add your contact information for the website. Please let us know what information you want to include. Your memory can be a few sentences or an essay. Our Memories stay up for years to come.
Exploring the Park Forest Area Farm History
Be sure to read our story on this year-long project with South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society. Our program on September 20 will be on this. Read more in News and Programs. Be sure to contact SSGHS or PFHS if you have any information on farms in the Park Forest area.
St. Irenaeus School
Do you have photos of St. Irenaeus School or your class photos from your time there? Please contact us through our link. The Class of 1959 recenetly had a reunion in Chicago and we discovered St. Irenaeus School history files at the church had inadvertently been thrown out. Please help us and St. I's reconstruct the files.
St. Anne's Catholic Church Sauk Trail and Westwood Drive
Did you or your family attend St. Anne's Catholic Church before St. Irenaeus was built? We have people looking for history and photographs of the church. Do you know what happened to the original building? The museum has a lovely painting of the church hanging in the bedroom, donated by Terry Ruehl who moved to PF in October 1948 and attended the church. Terry has since moved and passed on. If any of you can help reconstruct the history of St. Anne's please contact us.
Rich High Class of 1959 Tour
On June 13, 2009 thirty-nine or more people came through the museum on a special tour arranged by Jack and Becky Black. The reunion first went on a tour of Rich East High School, then came to the museum on a bus provided by the high school. Everyone enjoyed sharing memories of their years growing up in Park Forest.
We have since had tours for the Classes of 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, and 1967.
Having a reunion? Be sure to book your tour of the museum as part of your activities!
1950s Museum in the News
The 1950s Museum is in GroupTour eMagazine, Spring 2013 issue, page 26. You can download the issue here.
The 1950s Museum was in the Chicago Tribune Metro section on Sunday February 3, 2008. We had a color photo and text on the front page and more photos and text on page 5. If you go to chicagotribune.com, put "1950s Museum" in the search box, and you can go to the article, but now you have to pay to read it there. If you Search the internet for "1950s Museum" the article should come up in another site where you can read it for free.
A Little Park Forest History
From Gus and Marcia Wiebers submitted January 13, 2008
I just reread a copy I have of "The Spirit," published by the Park Forest Historical Society, v.2, No. 3, Spring, 2007. It reminded me that I have intended to write for some time. The years our family spent living in Park Forest comprised a very special chapter in our lives. My parents, not long out of college (he after time overseas in the European Theater in WWII), bought a house on Cherry St. the spring of 1951. Six years later toward the end of May, 1957, we moved on to Lincoln, Nebraska, where my father took a job with an insurance company, leaving a financial position at the Harris Bank in downtown Chicago. Thus it was 6 years that we spent in Park Forest.
Even though just in their mid-20s when we moved to the "village" and with a young family, both my father and mother, Herman and Helen Wiebers, were active in the community, at Sauk Trail School and Faith United Protestant Church. A couple of years after we arrived my father was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Village Board when Ed Kern resigned, then was elected to a 2-year term on the Board in 1954. During that period he was Chair of Finance, Vice Chair of Public Safety, President pro tem of the Board and City Treasurer for a time. He was good friends with Bob Dinerstein, Village Board President at that time, my parents are still in contact with the Dinersteins.
Now early in 2008 my father is approaching age 83 but still is blessed with a tremendous memory. I have taken it upon myself the past couple of years to audio tape my parents (...as I have a substantial interest in family history/genealogy) reminiscing about their pasts, from childhood up through the periods we spent as a family living in various locations. Much time on those tapes was devoted to a discussion regarding Park Forest memories. I did not know how much of a response I would get when our topic turned to Park Forest but both parents, certainly my father, just kept talking and with great detail. He has a phenomenal recollection of names and events, who did and said what, and when. He talks a good deal about those who were "the founding fathers" of the village, Philip Klutznick, Henry Dietch, Mr. Dinerstein, Pastor Gerson Engelmann, those representing the American Community Builders, those on the Village Board, the Homesteaders, and much more.
I do not know if his memories would be of interest to you. The time we lived in Park Forest was relatively short, however he remembers a good deal which is probably of significance from that period and may not have been covered by others. I have copied and my parents and I have read several of the oral histories you have made available. Let me know if there is some way we can make a contribution of some type to this archive.
[The society is interested in oral histories done by others which relate stories about Park Forest. We can accept audiotapes, CDs, DVDs, even videotape if that is how you have it. It is optimal if you have made a transcript, or can convert the older formats to the newer ones before sending them to us. If you write a memoir about your time here, we will also copy it for our paper memoir files. Many people regard their time in Park Forest as the "Golden Time" of their lives. We want to hear about those years--even if you did not find them that special! Where did you live, what did you do, what did your parent's do for a living and what organizations were they in. What was school like? What was your neighborhood like? JN]
Gus Wiebers This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade at Sauk Trail School
Fall, 1954--Spring, 1957
Now approaching age 59
Lincoln, Nebraska