To the casual observer, it may appear that the comprehensive but compact campus of Oak Park and River Forest High School sprang whole from the ground as Athena from the head of Zeus. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our community stands on the shoulders of the generations that came before us, and nowhere in our villages is this more apparent than in the facilities of OPRF.
A brief review of history is necessary to remind us that our beloved high school was pieced together and paid for by generation after generation of our predecessors, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude — a debt we must pay if it is to continue for the generations to come.
Oak Park and River Forest High School owes its birth to a referendum of our two villages, held on April 8, 1899. At the time, school was taught in a building on the southwest corner of Lake Street and East Avenue originally built as an elementary school. It quickly became apparent that the limited space of this building and its proximity to the railroad tracks (which disrupted classes) would not serve the community’s needs for long.
A referendum passed in 1905 moved the school from the Lake Street building to a new facility north of Ontario Street. This original bud of the campus was first ready to receive classes on Sept. 8, 1907. For some time thereafter, improvements to the facilities were continuous. A wing was added in 1910 with science labs considered to be outstanding at the time. An auditorium was built.
Our communities then expanded their support to athletics. In 1914, negotiations were begun to purchase a field on Lake Street between East and Linden Avenues. The school attorney advised that public funds could not be used for this purpose, so a Board of Education member drafted a bill that passed the state legislature permitting this expenditure.
In 1924, in the wake of successful athletic campaigns and equally apparent advances to the character of the students, the stadium was built from privately raised funds. That stadium still embodies the civic pride of our communities. In 1928, OPRF added the first modern fieldhouse in the nation to its facilities, along with a girls’ gymnasium. These facilities included the swimming pools used to this day.
The fields comprising the northwest part of the campus were acquired in the 1960s, including the Erie Street tennis courts. These facilities have hosted generation after generation of athletes and scholars. The building of these facilities reflects the character and priorities of the early generations of our community.
Between 1965 and 1971, the communities supported further facility expansion efforts, a project focused primarily on classrooms and the arts. The project added 300,000 square feet to the existing facilities, including the 1,700 seat auditorium and the 400 seat Little Theater. New classrooms, music facilities and a 1,150-seat lunchroom connected the Ontario Street building to the fieldhouse. In the end, the project increased the student capacity of the school by 50 percent.
Oak Park and River Forest residents, from the turn of the century, the 1920s, ’30s and ’60s invested in the future of our villages, investments which our generation has enjoyed the fruits of. For the last 45 years, our community has utilized the facilities provided by our forward-thinking predecessors, paying only to maintain what our mothers and fathers built to ensure a bright future for their children.
Today, it is again time to make an investment in our community — for the benefit of our children and the generation that will come next. That investment is a significant renovation to the south side of the main campus, including a parking garage, swimming pool, locker rooms and performing arts facilities.
The generations before us voted to support our high school, our community and our children. I wholeheartedly support this effort that has been vetted for years. I hope you will join me as part of another forward-thinking generation in our community.
John Phelan, a River Forest resident, formerly served as president of the District 200 Board of Education. He owes his own debt of gratitude to the Historical Society of Oak Park-River Forest for their loan of “Oak Park and River Forest High School 1873-1976,” an invaluable source for this piece.
