Park Forest Historical Society

05/15/2026

Our Ice Cream Social scheduled for Sunday 5/17 is postponed due to our recent move.
Sorry for any inconvenience!
More info soon!

05/05/2026

Just a friendly reminder that we're temporarily closed while we transition to our new home! This includes our Archive Office as well as the 1950s Park Forest House Museum.

Want to volunteer or donate? Visit parkforesthistory.org today to learn more!

03/29/2026

Today is the day! Park Forest Hall of Fame!
3 p.m. Freedom Hall, 410 Lakewood Blvd.
Free and open to the public! Come celebrate and show your appreciation for 7 people who have made Park Forest a special place to live.

03/11/2026

See the Hall of Fame 2026 invitation and read about our upcoming move. https://conta.cc/4sD9kKK

Email from Park Forest Historical Society Open This Email! Hall of Fame Invitation for March 29!! News about our move to Village Hall. Volume 20 No.4 | March 2026 Park Forest Hall of Fame 2026 Invitat

02/20/2026

Join us for this program this Sunday, February 22, 2:30 p.m. in the Village Hall Board meeting Room. Free and open to the general public.

02/07/2026

"The Spirit" Feb. 2026 covers "Revisiting Utopia" showing, our 41st Anniversary, Our future new home, and February 22 Underground Railroad program with Dr. Larry A. McClellan. Read it and Join Us!

01/31/2026

January 30th marked the 41st Anniversary of the formation of the Park Forest Historical Society. We will celebrate it by co-sponsoring the viewing of "Revisiting Utopia" at Freedom Hall tonight with 250 friends new and old. Sold out.
Thank you to Library Director Neal Ney for his support of the Society when it began, and to the late Judge Henry X. Dietch for coming to the library with the idea to start a society, and serving as its first president.
Thank you to all past and present PFHS Board Officers and Directors who have helped to build the Society and to keep it going this long.
Thank you to all the volunteers who have helped build and record the collection since 1981.
Thank you to Jane Nicoll, co-founder, archivist and museum director for working with the archive collection since 1981, serving on the board since 1985 and for running the museum as a volunteer director since 1998.
Join us to help us save YOUR history.

01/20/2026

We extend condolences to family friends and former students of D. Stanley "Stan" Moore who passed away on January 5, 2026. Our hearts are with daughter Barb Moore Bryant and Doug Moore and their families. Stan and Jan Moore were inducted into our Park Forest Hall of Fame in 2000. Both were friends and fellow members of Grace United Protestant Church. Stan worked for a year on a set of lesson plans on Park Forest history for Jane at the library prior to the 50th Anniversary of Park Forest. It is on the Illinois Digital Archives as "Park Forest History Packet" and is in our Local History Files. We have missed Jan and know they are reunited now.

12/31/2025

It is not too late to submit a Hall of Fame Nomination!
Postmark date is today, or you can drop it off at St. Mary's for us to find Friday.

We also now have an online form you can fill out and submit on the spot. You can find that here: https://parkforesthistory.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/parkforesthistory/survey.jsp?surveyId=1&

The accompanying details are very important to the selection committee in deciding who gets inducted. Check our website for who is already in the Hall of Fame.

Park Forest Hall of Fame is a permanent way to preserve a longtime contribution by an individual or couple to make Park Forest a special place to live. Guidelines are on our website.

Hall of Fame recipients' names are added to a plaque currently kept in the 1950s Park Forest House Museum. The programs with their brief biographies are kept both in a binder in the museum and in the Local History files. The full nominations are filed in the Archive collection.

The form is copied in below.

PARK FOREST HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PARK FOREST HALL OF FAME NOMINATION FORM

To nominate a Park Forester for possible induction into the Hall of Fame, complete this form and submit it as indicated above. Guidelines are available through the Society. You may make only one nomination each year. A list of those already inducted into the Hall of Fame is on our website www.parkforesthistory.org

To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, persons nominated must have made substantial, beneficial, and consistent contributions to the life and well-being of Park Forest over a considerable span of time. Nominees may now live elsewhere, or be deceased. Individuals or couples may be nominated. Inductees will be chosen from among the eligible nominees by the Park Forest Historical Society and announced publicly early in 2026.
The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Reception will be held March 29, 2026.

Nominee: Address:
Phone: Email:

Nominated by: Address:
Phone: Email:

Note: This is an important tool for the committee to use in making the selection. Please be thorough and neat when preparing the qualifications portion of your nomination.

On a separate sheet(s), indicate why this nomination is being made, and in convincing and thorough detail, describe the nominee’s qualifications and contributions as referred to above. Securely attach any additional sheets to this form. Call Chris Janota with any questions, at 815-922-7743, or email the society through the website at www.parkforesthistory.org. The website has a Hall of Fame section.

Date of submission:

12/31/2025

The museum will be open New Year's Eve and Saturday January 3 from 1-3:30 p.m. We then close through January for regular hours. It may be possible to set up an appointment, but we will soon be packing up the Holiday exhibit. Plenty of cool stuff to see and you can always hear the story of how Park Forest came to be.
We will be moving in the next few months and it will take some time to get the museum set up again. It will not look like this. Come see it now!