River Forest at a Glance
General InformationPopulation:11,635(based on 2000 census) History River Forest today is a community of comfortable homes, excellent schools, an abundance of churches and no industry to mar its residential character. But it was the Village's location in a "beautiful woodland skirting the shores of the river of the plains" that encouraged George Bickerdike and Mark Noble, to establish River Forest's first, and only, "industry". In 1828, the two Yorkshiremen built a sawmill on the east bank of the Des Plaines River, just north of Lake Street, that provided sawn lumber for the homes and businesses of early settlers until after the Civil War. One of those pioneers was Ashbel Steele, River Forest's first permanent settler who purchased 117-acres on both sides of the Des Plaines River in 1830. Steele built a substantial home for his wife Harriet and their nine children in 1836 in an area bounded by what is today Thatcher Ave. and the River, Madison St. and the Metra tracks. Ashbel Steele, a mason and builder by trade, was responsible for many early buildings in River Forest including Harlem School at Lake Street and Park Ave. Today the landmark red brick building serves as the administrative office for Elementary School District 90. Steele held two elective offices in Cook County. In 1834 he was elected coroner and in 1840 he won a race for sheriff. But it was the many services he provided other homesteaders that made Ashbel Steele such as important figure. In 1846 Steele built Montezuma Hall on the southeast corner of Lake St. and Thatcher, a public house that served as an inn, tavern, post office, general store and stagecoach stop. Steele's land remained in his family until 1917 when his heirs sold the site to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Beginning in 1857, River Forest was governed by the Proviso Township Board. Augustin Porter, an early homesteader who was considered "an intelligent and enterprising gentleman"was made Township Assessor and also named Justice of the Peace in River Forest. Porter held court in a small building he added at the rear of the fine brick house he built at the corner of Railroad Ave. and John St. (now Central and Bonnie Brae). "Thatcher" is one of the most recognizable family name in River Forest - and also one of the most confusing. It is the surname of two unrelated families who arrived in the community at approximately the same time and whose children intermarried, creating an even greater genealogical maze! |
David Cunningham Thatcher, a wealthy merchant who owned an arms and ammunition store in Chicago, purchased 640-acres on both sides of the Des Plaines River in 1854. He built a large home facing Lake St. to house his 13 children. The two Solomon Thatchers, senior and junior, came to River Forest in 1860. The father was not active locally, but Solomon Jr., like David Thatcher, was an important Church of River Forest. Solomon Thatcher Jr. married Clara Thatcher, David Thatcher's daughter, and purchased a tract of land west of Lathrop Ave. between Chicago Ave. and Lake St., from his father-in-law that he divided into lots. He donated lots to both the Methodist Church and the Catholic Church and set an example by building an elegant home for himself at 518 Keystone that is still standing. Commercial development has grown at a phenomenal rate along Lake St. between Harlem Ave. and Lathrop in recent years. But for the reluctance of Henry Quick and his son John Henry, curmudgeonly co-owners of most of this land for almost half a century, development might have occurred more than a century earlier. The Quicks arrived here in the 1850s from Harlem, New York and proceeded to buy most of the land on the southeast end of River Forest and the north end of Forest Park. As the only landlords for miles around, father and son exercised complete control over the area and their arbitrary methods and manners earned them the animosity of their neighbors. Amos Squire Pack was another River Forest pioneer who had a more positive impact on the community. He ran a general store, but he is best known as one of three men appointed by a Cook County judge to conduct the 1880 election at which River Forest residents voted to remove themselves from Proviso Township government and establish a self-governing municipality. The election was a preemptive strike to defeat a move by neighboring Harlem (Forest Park) to open saloons in their community. In recent years there have been many changes in the Lake St. commercial corridor. In 1993 the Wieboldts building at Harlem Ave. and Lake Street was replaced by River Forest Town Center. Plans are now on the drawing board for Town Center II, a continuation of the original shopping center to be developed west of Bonnie Brae. Other improvements within the past decade include renovation of the Laidlaw warehouse at 8020 Madison St. for use as the River Forest Community Center and construction of a new Village Hall/Police Department complex after the former municipal building was heavily damaged by fire in 1994. -Jean Guarino |
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Read more about the area's rich history in Jean Guarino's book "YESTERDAY: A Historical View of Oak Park, Illinois; Vol. I"This hardcover book, handsomely illustrated with many never-before-published photographs, is a fact-filled and entertaining history of Oak Park and surrounding communities from the 1820s to World War I. | |
