VIDEO FLASHBACK: 'Round-Up Days' Parade 1952

Believe it or not, Oak Lawn once recruited new residents by "rounding them up."

Before Fall on the Green, there was "Round-Up Days," an annual parade from 1949 through 1958 that celebrated local businesses and the good life in Oak Lawn. Civic leaders took advantage of the TV western craze by hosting a cowboy-themed weekend designed to lure people into moving to Oak Lawn in the post-World War II years. READ LOST OAK LAWN 'Cowboys, Posses and Sheriffs Roamed Oak Lawn’s Streets.' Members of the Oak Lawn Village Board and Chamber of Commerce adopt the roles of horse thieves, gold diggers and cowboys staging mock gunfights and trials in the center of 95th Street. In 1957, a record-breaking 100,000 visitors attended 'Round-Up Days.' Sadly, the last round-up was held a year later, a victim rising costs and residents …

•  4 Comments
• Videos (1)

Jim Vondracek

9:41 am on Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Thanks for an interesting article! We moved to Oak Lawn 8 years ago and its always interesting to learn more about its past. The 'round-up' sounds like it was in the period before Oak Lawn's big growth in the late 50s and into the 60s, with the changing south and southwest Chicago neighborhoods and people moving from those neighborhoods to OL. Thanks again!   more ›

Lost Oak Lawn

VIDEO FLASHBACK: Cruising Down 95th Street in 1940

Do you remember when 95th Street was just two lanes?

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. Visit the library's second floor and explore the exhibits, archives or just ask Kevin an obscure history question about the village. Editor's note: In …

•  3 Comments
• Videos (1)

John Hurlock

8:38 am on Friday, December 28, 2012

The hood ornament on the car appears to be a Dodge Ram. Occasionally the water tower, which was on the North side of 95th street, appears on the left side indicating that the car was traveling east not west at that time.   more ›

Lost Oak Lawn

Library Celebrates 75 Years of Oak Lawn’s Progress

Patch looks back on the story of the Oak Lawn Public Library.

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 Lawn Library. After an extensive search, Chicago architect Ralph Ernst’s sleek and elegant design was selected by the Oak Lawn Board of Trustees. As …

• Photos (4)