Chances are if you attended a Dist. 123 school in 1984, you sang in the Covington Elementary School Christmas concert. This week, it looks like some students from the old Dearborn Junior High School also participated in the holiday show. The picture is a little distorted but the sound is great and the children sing like angels. WATCH PART 1 of the 1984 Covington School Christmas Concert Again, bucking the trend of today's "winter" concerts, the public school students perform "Do You Hear What I Hear," "Go Telll It 'Round the Mountain" and "What Child Is This." The video, shot with an early-…

The camcorders weighed 10 pounds and shot beta, but in 1984 they were considered state-of-the-art and just hitting the market. Fortunately for us, some proud parent snagged one of the world’s first consumer video cameras and shot footage of Covington Elementary School’s holiday concert. In this segment, Covington’s kindergarten and first grade classes rip through the holiday classics—“Jingle Bells,”  “I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”—dropping red noses and missing cues, all to the thundering applause of their parents and grandparents. Did you attend or …

During the 1950s, TV westerns like Gunsmoke, the Lone Ranger and Davy Crockett were all the rage. It wasn't unusual to see Oak Lawn kids outside playing cowboys and Indians. Taking advantage of the Western craze, the Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce hosted an annual cowboy-themed weekend where local merchants staged fake gunfights on 95th Street. The Western weekends were designed to lure new residents into moving to Oak Lawn in the post-World War II years. 'Round-Up Days' always featured a parade full of riders on horseback, high school marching bands, and floats. READ LOST OAK LAWN Cowboys, …

Organized in 1939, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church began its first year with just 40 members. By the time this groundbreaking ceremony was filmed in 1957, a growing congregation, along with a fire which damaged the church several years before, necessitated a new building. The church would be completed the following year, and continues to serve Oak Lawn residents into the present day.       Watch more 'Lost Oak Lawn' VIDEO FLASHABCKS: Green Oaks Kiddieland Roller Coaster 1966 Cruising Down 95th Street in 1940 Round-Up Days Parade 1952 Kevin Korst is the local history coordinator for the Oak …

Filmed around 1940 when the village was home to just 3,500 residents, a segment of this footage was taken from a car headed west down 95th Street.  Several former Oak Lawn landmarks are visible, including the train depot, water tower and Behrend’s Hardware Store. Most of the buildings that appear in the film do not survive into the present day.   READ MORE "Lost Oak Lawn." VIDEO FLASHBACK: Green Oaks Kiddieland Roller Coaster 1966 Voices from the Past: Fred Dumke '50 Years and Going Strong:' Scenes from a Jubilee Kevin Korst is the local history coordinator for the Oak Lawn Public Library. …

For 25 years Mickey Doolan's Kiddieland put the "see in summer" at 95th Street and Pulaski Road. Green Oaks Kiddyland sat on twenty-one acres and was the largest entertainment venue in Oak Lawn. This footage was taken in 1966 from the front car of the roller coaster as it made its way around the track. The park would remain open until 1971, when it was torn down and replaced by a Venture.  READ more about this nostaligic children's amusement park in "LOST OAK LAWN Putting the 'See' in Summer." Kevin Korst is the local history coordinator for the Oak Lawn Public Library. Visit the library's …

Bob and Rita Olsen have met them all. From Chinese doctors training at Advocate Christ Medical Center, to South American tourists traveling through the heartland, the third generation owners of the Gateway Motel could entertain visitors with stories of former guests for hours. “Back during the 1950’s and 1960’s, we had a lot of comedians and musicians stay here after performing at the Martinique restaurant downtown,” Bob told Oak Lawn Patch. When Oscar Vallera, Olsen’s grandfather, arrived from Italy in the 1920’s, he could never have imagined meeting the likes of R&B singer Bo Diddley or …

By the early 1950s, Oak Lawns' village leaders, encouraged by the massive population boom after World War II, realized that a modern library was needed for their ever-growing community.  Originally housed in a one-room barn along 95th Street, the town’s collection of books and magazines soon outgrew the building that came to be known by locals as “The Little Red Library." When it was temporarily relocated to a vacant farmhouse on resident Charles Wertz’s property, village officials decided that a new, permanent library would help bring together neighbors and friends. READ MORE about the Oak …

It was a revolutionary idea that Ed Barcus, a practicing pharmacist in Chicago, came up with back in the 1950s.  After relocating to the growing suburb of Oak Lawn, Barcus began to notice a troubling trend among his competitors. If a patient was discharged from the hospital during the early hours of the morning, they needed to wait until the store's regular hours to fill their prescriptions. This frequently left the patients waiting, in pain, for their pharmacist to arrive for work. Barcus, distraught at the thought of making customers wait longer than necessary, started the first 24-hour …

In 1993, the Chicago Tribune noted the passing of an elderly Northbrook resident. While the name of Stanford S. Kohlberg may have been overlooked on the obituaries page, the Nebraska native and entrepreneur spent much of his life bringing joy and entertainment to the Chicago area. As one of the first local businessmen to understand the rising popularity of movies during the 1950s, he founded one of Oak Lawn’s most cherished landmarks: the Starlite Drive-In. When returning servicemen started buying homes and cars in suburbia, new fathers looked for weekend destinations to entertain their …

Crowded into the meeting room at the Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, Oak Lawn Village President Harvey Wick carefully examined the pile of trinkets and souvenirs gathered before him. Across the hall, Trustee and future mayor Fred Dumke met with reporters from the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, eager to announce his town’s upcoming 50th anniversary celebration.  “The spirit of our Golden Jubilee is not only good for Oak Lawn to stimulate business, but will show our visitors that this is a fine community in which to live,” Dumke told the media.  Since its founding as a farming community on the …

From Rhett Butler’s sharp-witted response to Scarlett O’Hara’s plea, to Steve McQueen’s motorcycle leaping over Nazi soldiers, the Golden Age of Hollywood produced some of the most iconic images captured on film.  It was a time when Marilyn Monroe and Katherine Hepburn’s names covered marquees across the country.  And in a popular theater along 95th Street, residents of Southland came to see their favorites on the big screen. Built in 1942 as one of several cinemas owned by the Lucas Theater Corporation, the Coral Theatre quickly became one of Oak Lawn’s most popular weekend destinations. …

On a cool Chicago summer night, Carol Janc vividly remembered climbing into her father’s massive Plymouth and taking off across town to her favorite weekend destination.  The evening would be filled with games of skill and captivating thrill rides. From roller coasters to ring toss, the Green Oaks Kiddieland, formerly located at 95th Street and Pulaski, had something for everyone.  Of particular fascination to young Carol was “Mr. Ferris Wheel,” as her parents called it. Piercing the suburban night with flashing lights and playful music, the laughter of children and adults alike could be …

We’ve all seen them from our cars, dotting the bountiful cornfields of the state.  If you’ve ever stopped in scenic Moline, IL, you may have caught a glimpse of a massive, multi-million dollar headquarters that provides cutting-edge farming equipment for farmers across the globe.  While we all know that distinctive green John Deere logo, it surprised this writer to find out that one local family’s past was directly connected a dynamic figure. Deere’s patented steel plow revolutionized the way Americans tended their land. But had it not been for John Simpson of Oak Lawn, Deere might not have …

Whether they came through the bustling gates of Ellis Island in New York, or served with distinction in the armed forces, all of our ancestors had a story to tell.  Though it may be difficult to imagine their lives, dominated by back-breaking labor and the ever-present threat of serious illness, they remain an important link to our past. Discovering Your Past: Preserving Family History, a comprehensive look at our communal story, will be featured on the second floor of the Oak Lawn Public Library until early next year.  Addressing not only the stories behind some of the village’s early …

They lay huddled in basements and broom closets across town as the fury of Mother Nature tore through the community. On the other side of the town at Village Hall, they manned switchboards as hundreds of calls flooded in; demanding to know the whereabouts of loved ones. And in the immediate aftermath of the storm, they wielded everything from shovels to their bare hands to help neighbors, friends and complete strangers. Although the destruction caused by the Oak Lawn Tornado of 1967 was truly awe-inspiring, the experiences of those residents that were trapped in their homes and cars reminds …

Recent retiree Charles McNeill awoke on the morning of April 21, 1967 to a daunting list of nearly a dozen household chores at his kitchen table. Never one to grumble about work, he scanned the list quickly and dove straight into his tasks. Wife, Mary, and son, Jack, were busy in the kitchen when Charles announced that he needed to make a short trip to the hardware store. Pausing for a moment late that afternoon, he glanced up and finally noticed the far-from-pleasant weather that was developing in the distance. Although he could have easily used this as an excuse to get out of painting his …

Gripping the brim of his well-worn Chicago Cubs cap, a middle-aged man feebly tried to shield himself against the torrential downpour that had soaked him to the bone. Seeking momentary shelter under a park district pavilion near 95th Street and La Grange Road, he gazed up in horror to see the distinctive shape of a funnel cloud emerge. Speaking with reporters, hours after the cataclysmic storm, he recounted how “his ears popped, buildings shook, and cars in the nearby parking lot lifted off the ground”. Although those fateful 16 minutes were a hectic blur for many Oak Lawn residents, the …

Finally settling into her desk in a frigid one-room schoolhouse, Lettie Kennedy let out a giant sigh as she removed her filthy boots and dropped them to the floor besides a stack of textbooks. Although she drew looks of scorn from her classmates and teacher, Lettie paid no attention to them. After a two-mile journey that took her across the boggy marshes of the Cal-Sag Canal, she felt that a break was well-deserved. Across town, in a diminutive building that served as the office for Worth Township officials, a weathered farmer pleaded with the council members gathered before him. Why, he …

An Oak Lawn police officer quickly held up his hand, halting several lanes of traffic along an ever-busy 95th Street. While the drivers of Ford Fairlanes and Thunderbirds waited impatiently in their idling vehicles, the low rumble of construction equipment was heard in the distance. Curious onlookers watched as a convoy of trucks, bulldozers, and cranes turned off onto Kostner Avenue. Leaving clouds of exhaust in their wake, one could have hardly imagined that a quiet stretch of farmland had been turned overnight into a bustling building site. Three years and tens of thousands of dollars …