Library Needs Help Collecting Images for Oak Lawn Tornado History Book

Sunday marks the 46th anniversary of the 1967 Oak Lawn Tornado. Oak Lawn Library exhibits and historic archive will be open throughout the weekend.

It was the definitive moment in Oak Lawn’s history, and now Oak Lawn Library historian Kevin Korst is collecting those moments in a new local history book due out in 2014. Korst has been working on the book about the 1967 Oak Lawn Tornado, whose 46th anniversary falls on Sunday, for the past several months. The local history book is a follow up to another from Arcadia Publishing’s Images in America series, tracing Oak Lawn’s history from sleepy prairie town to a bustling, post-World War II suburb through historic documents and photos. “After we finished the Oak Lawn history book it was on our radar to do another one,” Korst said. “The topic that immediately came to mind was the 1967 tornado. People have an emotional tie to it.” Read Patch'…

•  8 Comments
• Photos (6)

Oak Lawn Library Board

Here are the candidates for the uncontested Oak Lawn Library Board race.

Three seats are open and three candidates are on the ballot to serve on the Oak Lawn Library Board.

Banned Books Week: What You Need to Know

Censorship is alive and well, as highlighted by Banned Books Week—and you might be surprised by who the most vocal challengers of books are.

The importance of the First Amendment and the concept of "intellectual freedom" might not always be readily apparent to most kids, but Banned Books Week is a great opportunity to make those lessons come alive for children—and adults. Banned Books Week is held annually during the last week of Sept. (Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2012). The week is an occasion for libraries and bookstores across the U.S. to help folks realize just how real and ongoing a problem censorship is. Visit the Oak Lawn Library's Banned Books display near the elevator on the first floor throughout the week. The display focuses on remaining vigilant to ensure that access to this material is preserved, "even if well intentioned, censors try to limit the freedom of others to choose …

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

Lorraine Swanson

8:01 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012

My favorite banned book is "The Catcher in the Rye."   more ›

Story Hour With Oak Lawn Patch

Southland Patch editors will be reading stories to 2 to 6-year-olds at the Oak Lawn Library as they spread good will and volunteerism throughout the village on June 27.

As part of our "peace, love and understanding" tour of Oak Lawn, our Southland Patch editors will be reading stories to children ages 2 through 6 at the Oak Lawn Library starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 27. Read 'Tour de Patch Heads to Oak Lawn. We hear the library's summer reading theme is food, so expect something delicious. It's just one of  our stops on Tour de Patch, where we'll be blitzing Oak Lawn with random acts of kindness, volunteerism and a lot of free stuff. Stop by and see us at the Oak Lawn Farmers' Market, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Cook and Dumke north of the library, or at Deja Brew. This is your Oak Lawn Patch editor's way of thanking my readers--the best and smartest readers of all the Patches in America.

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

Lorraine Swanson

2:12 pm on Monday, June 25, 2012

P.S. I'll reserve a T-shirt just for you, CYO. Email me at lorraine.swanson@patch.com. I don't reveal commenters' identities and I know most of those who comment on Patch.   more ›

Business Comings & Goings: Call for Vendors for 'Shop Oak Lawn' Sale

Oak Lawn Chamber seeks vendors for sixth annual Spring into Summer event on June 15 featuring a 'Shop Oak Lawn' sale.

The Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce invite vendors to participate in the sixth annual Spring into Summer event featuring the Pet Parade, Vendor Fair and New Car Show on June 15 through June 17. Vendors are invited to sell their wares at the 'Shop Oak Lawn' Sale taking place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at the Metra Station and Museum Drive. Proceeds from the event will be going to the Children's Museum "We the People" exhibit and applying the finishing touches to the 9-11 First Responders Monument. For more information or to register your business visit the Oak Lawn Chamber website or contact the chamber office at 708-424-8300 Marquette Bank has launched its fifth annual Neighborhood Food Drive and is collecting donations at all …

• Photos (2)

Trains, Planes and Legos

Run--don't walk--to the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club's show at the Oak Lawn Library. The last day is Sunday (Feb. 19) from 1 to 5 p.m.

Hundreds turned out Saturday to catch the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club’s display at the Oak Lawn Library. The wall-to-wall vignettes took up the entire downstairs meeting room and offered something for everyone. Trains raced through miniature Legos worlds from small town scenes and pirate ship harbors to Star Wars and Harry Potter. Club president Jamie LeBlanc said most members arrived on Friday to set up the display, which took about nine hours. “Most of the people in the club have a really mundane day job,” LeBlanc said, whose mundane day job is a production planner for an engineering company. “This allows that other side of the brain to be creative do stupid stuff and make people laugh.” Visiting the show with her grandsons, Andrew…

• Photos (1)
• Videos (1)

Have A 'Mad Men' New Year

Inspiring cocktail recipes from the mothers of Oak Lawn.

Planning a New Year’s Eve house party? How about a swinging 1960s party complete with slinky dresses, suits and classic cocktail recipes that would send even Don Draper staggering for the door. Once again Patch dips into Oak Lawn’s vintage community cookbooks available in the Oak Lawn Library’s Local History Room for festive libations that will have your friends talking about your party until next New Year’s Eve. So get out the old Sinatra albums and have yourself a ring-a-ding-ding good time. Dolores Trezise Happiness is Homemade (1988) Pilgrim Faith United Church of Christ 2 tea bags 1 (6 oz.) frozen orange 1 c. boiling water juice 1 c. sugar 1 c. bourbon 1 (6 oz.) frozen lemonade 3 1/2 c. water Steep tea bags in boiling· water. Mix all …

• Photos (1)

Lost Oak Lawn

VIDEO FLASHBACK: Covington School Christmas Concert 1984, Part 2

In 1984, the hottest ticket in Oak Lawn was the Christmas show at Covington School.

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-1980s camcorder, was donated to the Oak Lawn Library's community archive of historic photos, video and documents from the village's colorful past. If …

• Videos (1)

Lost Oak Lawn

VIDEO FLASHBACK: Covington School Christmas Concert 1984

Were you singing "Rudolph" in the Covington Elementary School Christmas concert in 1984?

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 sing in the 1984 Covington School Christmas concert? Tell us in the comments. And, something you probably wouldn't see at a public school "winter" …

• Videos (1)

Lost Oak Lawn

VIDEO FLASHBACK: 'Round-Up Days' Parade 1957

Time to enter the time-machine and travel back to 1957 for the Oak Lawn 'Round-Up' Days parade.

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, Posses and Sheriffs Roamed Oak Lawn’s Streets 'Round-Up Days' had their desired effect. In its first three years, Oak Lawn's population grew from 9,000 …

• Videos (1)