Oak Lawn, Illinois
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| Incorporated | Village in 1909. | |||||||||||||||
| County, State | Cook County, Illinois | |||||||||||||||
| Township | Worth Township | |||||||||||||||
| Government | Council-manager | |||||||||||||||
| President | Dave Heilmann | |||||||||||||||
| Population (2000) | 55,245 (down 1.70% from 1990) | |||||||||||||||
| Pop. density | 2,480.3/km² (6,427.3/mi²) | |||||||||||||||
| Zip code(s) | 60453, 60454 | |||||||||||||||
| Area code | 708 | |||||||||||||||
| Land Area | 22.3 km² (8.6 mi²) | |||||||||||||||
| Lat. / long. | ||||||||||||||||
| Income | Per capita: $23,877 Household: ${{{mhi}}} | |||||||||||||||
| Home value | Mean: $157,000 (2000) Median: ${{{mnhv}}} | |||||||||||||||
| Website | www.oaklawn-il.gov | |||||||||||||||
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Oak Lawn is a village in Cook County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 55,245.
Oak Lawn is a suburb of the city of Chicago, located southwest of the city. It shares borders with the city in two areas, but is surrounded mostly by other suburbs independent of Chicago.
The village government is comprised of the Mayor and six Village Trustees. The six Trustees represent the six districts within the Village and are elected to four-year terms by the voters in each of their respective districts. The current mayor of Oak Lawn is Dave Heilmann, elected in 2005 with the Unity Party, which he led. He defeated members of the Village Vision Party, which held a majority on the village board for nearly 40 years. Heilmann is an Oak Lawn native who attended St. Linus Elementary School in Oak Lawn and Brother Rice High School in Chicago.
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[edit] Geography
Oak Lawn is located at (41.715082, -87.753401)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 22.3 km² (8.6 mi²), all land.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 55,245 people, 22,220 households, and 14,554 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,480.3/km² (6,427.3/mi²). There were 22,846 housing units at an average density of 1,025.7/km² (2,657.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 93.35% White, 1.22% African American, 0.17% Native American, 1.73% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.64% from other races, and 1.90% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.33% of the population.
There were 22,220 households out of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the village the population was spread out with 21.9% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 88.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $47,585, and the median income for a family was $60,057. Males had a median income of $44,954 versus $30,646 for females. The per capita income for the village was $23,877. About 3.9% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.7% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] History
[edit] 1967 Tornado
On April 21, 1967 a devastating tornado struck Oak Lawn. At 5:30 p.m., an F4-estimated tornado touched down near Palos Hills. It strengthened and in the space of six minutes, tore a 16.2-mile (65 mph ground speed) swath of destruction through Oak Lawn, Hometown, Evergreen Park, and devastated the south side of Chicago before moving offshore to Lake Michigan as people were stuck in traffic during Friday rush hour. For that reason, this tornado ended up being the deadliest in the outbreak.Thirty-three people were killed and 1000 were injured, including 16 deaths alone at the intersection of Southwest Highway and W. 95th St. in Oak Lawn. It destroyed 152 homes and damaged 900, causing $50 million in damage.
[edit] Healthcare and public education
Oak Lawn is known for its community hospital, which serves the residents of Chicago and its suburbs. Christ Community Hospital (now known as Advocate Christ Medical Center) was built in Oak Lawn in 1960 and has expanded with the development of Hope Children's Hospital, along with becoming a part of Advocate Health Care. Christ Hospital also has a state of the art Level 1 trauma center, providing trauma patients with advanced emergency medical care. The emergency department treats more patients than any other hospital in Illinois.
Oak Lawn has public education schooling children from K-6 in its many elementary schools including Covington, Hannum, Hometown, Kolmar, and Sward. Oak Lawn has one public middle school, Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School, which replaced Douglas A. McGugan Middle School. There are only two public high schools, Oak Lawn Community and HL Richards High School. The two high schools enroll students mostly from Oak Lawn, Hometown, Burbank, Chicago Ridge, Calumet Park, and Robbins. The 2006 NBA Finals MVP, Dwyane Wade, attended HL Richards High School.
[edit] External links
- Oak Lawn Official Site
- Oak Lawn Community High School
- Oak Lawn Public Library
- Playboy Magazine and the Oak Lawn, Illinois Public Library, independent survey by Laura Rizzardini, M.A., Oct. 2, 2005.
- Town Leaders Reopen Playboy Decision, by the ALA, American Libraries, Oct. 28, 2005.
- Oak Lawn Park District
- Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce
- The Children's Museum in Oak Lawn
- Ridgeland Public School District 122
- Advocate Christ Medical Center
Oak Lawn Tornado - 1967
- The 1967 Oak Lawn Tornado Oak Lawn Public Library
- Oak Lawn Community High School tornado project
- The Oak Lawn, Illinois Tornado (Stormtrack)
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
