If all goes well, the Park Forest Historical Society, an organization with a long nomadic history, will be installed in the basement of Village Hall early next year in what is hoped to bring to an end to decades of wandering from place to place.
The site, once the home of the village’s now defunct Nurses Plus service, will be home to both the society’s vast archival collection of “Everything Park Forest” as well as its depiction of the paraphernalia of village life in the early years of its existence.
Both the archives and the house museum are stored in the Church of St. Mary on Monee Road, which closed its doors this past May, but an agreement between the church and the society extended that stay.
According to Jane Nicoll, the zealous keeper of the village’s history and artifacts, the agreement between Park Forest and the historical society is a good solution for the future of the collection.
Nicoll says the downtown site could bring more traffic to the society’s offerings and hopefully more volunteers will be available to guide visitors to the museum as well as being able to publicize the museum through what she said were “signs bigger than a stamp.”
The large archives collection was started in 1981 as a function of the local public library. A museum started in 1998 as part of the village’s 50th anniversary was housed in a rent-free apartment in the village for nine years, before being moved into storage, then to another apartment for seven years before moving into two rooms at the Church of St. Mary.
From the starting point in the local library to a space in Village Hall is important, said Nicoll, who has been the keeper of the flame for the village’s history for more than 40 years.
“That we are coming back to a tax-supported facility is a big deal for us,” she said.
Right now, Nicoll is working with graph paper in siting and setting plans for the museum.
The yearly rent to the society is $7,600, but deducted from that will be the $5,000 annual sipend the village has given the historical society when it meets membership goals.
Village Manager Jon Kindseth said that leaves the society with a yearly payment of $2,600.
Edgar Redux
We must thank former Park Forest Mayor John Ostenburg for setting us straight about former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar’s time in the village.
When we last met, I wrote that shortly after Edgar’s death, Park Forest village trustee John Moore mentioned that for a short time Edgar lived in the village. Moore thought it was around 1968.
“He walked to the gas station where he caught a bus, which took him to the train station, taking a train downtown, Moore recalled. “The train took him downtown and he would walk a mile or two to get to (Illnois Senate Presidenet Russell) Arrington’s office.”
Going back and forth took its toll on Edgar. “By the end of the week he was wiped out. He was so tired.”
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Moore said Edgar’s death would be the time to “let Park Forest know he was actually a Park Forester,” but admitted he did not know where Edgar lived.
Ostenburg, who was village mayor for 20 years, wrote that while he was in the state legislature and at a dinner in the Governor’s Mansion, Edgar told him he and his wife, Brenda, once lived in a co-op unit. Edgar also admitted they still used the washing machine purchased at Sears in Park Forest Plaza.
Based on sketchy details supplied by Edgar as to where he lived, Ostenburg asked staff member Luciana Jackson at the Birch Street Townhomes to delve into the records. She found documentation the Edgars lived at 2731 Western Ave., from 1969 to 1970.
At some point, wrote Ostenburg, the cooperative will place a small nameplate at that residence as well as the first Park Forest residence of village founder Philip Klutznick, also within the Birch Street Townhomes cooperative.
There we go, John Moore.
Now we know.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.