Norridge celebrated its 75th birthday with a four-day anniversary celebration starting on Thursday, Aug. 24 when the heat topped 100 degrees.
Yet people showed up at the former The Catholic Community of Divine Savior site in Norridge at 7740 N. Montrose Ave. Attendees could enjoy a carnival and Saturday night fireworks, especially as the weekend cooled down.
The Saturday late morning community parade stepped off just south of Lawrence Avenue on Thatcher Avenue and continued to Montrose Avenue to the Ozanam Avenue corner where the Divine Savior church building still stands.
Norridge Village President Dan Tannhauser, of the Ridgewood High School Class of 1985, said the village purchased an east lawn section of the Divine Savior property in 2019 and hopes to buy the rest of the corner property for a municipal complex and downtown center.
“That’s what our plan is, yes,” Tannhauser said.
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With the latest Archdiocese of Chicago additional land purchase deal, “We’re in the negotiations right now,” Tannhauser said.
“We don’t have a downtown area in Norridge, so we want to make room. My idea is to make it a downtown area,” Tannhauser added, of combining senior services with a municipal facility plus an entertainment courtyard for live music and community gatherings such as a festival.
“And maybe some retail businesses on the first floor and some condos or apartments up above,” Tannhauser said.
“Hopefully we could do it pretty soon (with a developer and citizens group input) because this is our last piece of property.”
The Divine Savior church building would have to be razed, Tannhauser said. “The way they built it, it’s angled…it’d cost too much to try to renovate it.
“LIke they always say, we’re in the bubble, Norridge, everybody here is in the bubble,” Tannhauser added about Norridge’s quality of life.
“Hopefully, we’ll keep growing as a community, keep the taxes low,” he added.
Looking ahead to the future of Norridge was parade grand marshal Myron Petrakis of Carol Stream, a former Norridge resident of nearly 60 years, and renowned Norridge village historian.
Joanna Skupien, Norridge village administrator and of the Ridgewood High School Class of 1998, said about Petrakis, “He built Norridge. He was involved in so many aspects of building this town that to have him here with us for the 75th is amazing.
“We are honored,” Skupien said.
Petrakis, 101, was in the United States Navy during World War II. “What an honor,” he said in response to being selected as grand marshal.
Norridge, “had a good foundation, we really worked hard,” Petrakis said, “But I’m thinking farther than that.
“With the state absorbing small communities, joining them with larger communities, Harwood Heights and Norridge have to join and make one city so they can’t be absorbed,” Petrakis said, urging both municipalities that to become one city, “They’ve got to work on it ahead of time, they can’t do it at the last minute.”
To that suggestion by Petrakis, Tannhauser said, “I’d have to think about that, it would have to be a citizen idea to do that, type of merge everything.”
Harwood Heights Mayor Arlene Jezierny wished to make no comment about the suggestion by Petrakis except to note that it was brought up many years ago.
Among elected officials in attendance for the parade were Rosemont Mayor Bradley A. Stephens, who is also a state representative, and Schiller Park Mayor Nick Caiafa.
Norridge Village Trustee Jack Bielak, chairperson of the parade committee, was upbeat on an overcast morning with a lineup of nearly 20 parade entries.
“As the Village of Norridge celebrates 75 years of incorporation, the parade is a great way to celebrate the entire community by involving all the other local bodies of government in the celebration and inviting those who played prominent roles in the Village throughout the years,” Bielak said.