Oak Park is a suburban village adjacent to the West Side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the 29th largest municipality in Illinois as measured by population in the 2010 US Census, and has easy access to downtown Chicago (the Chicago Loop) via public transportation including the CTA Blue and Green lines, buses, and Metra commuter rail. Pace buses serve the Village for travel within its borders and connecting to neighboring suburbs. As of the 2010 United States Census the Village had a total population of 51,878.

Oak Park was settled beginning in the 1830s, with rapid growth later in the 19th century and early 20th century. It incorporated in 1902, breaking off from Cicero. Development was spurred by railroads and street cars connecting the village to jobs in Chicago. Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his wife settled here in 1889. Population peaked at 66,015 in 1940. Smaller families led to falling population in the same number of homes and apartments. In the 1960s, Oak Park faced the challenge of racial integration, devising many strategies to integrate rather than re-segregate the village, which so far are successful. Oak Park includes three historic districts for the historic homes: Ridgeland, Frank Lloyd Wright and Seward Gunderson, reflecting the focus on historic preservation. Many people of national fame have been born here, or lived here while building their own families and careers, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Ernest Hemingway, Ray Kroc, Bob Newhart, Betty White and Dan Castellaneta.

Oak Park or Oaks Park is the name of some places around the world.

in the United States of America:

In Australia:

Oak Park is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system situated between the Ridgeland and Harlem stations on the Green Line. It is located at Oak Park Avenue and South Boulevard in the village of Oak Park, Illinois and is the closest station to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio.

History

Oak Park station was opened on January 25, 1901, by the Lake Street Elevated Railroad as a surface-level station on the line that ran parallel to the former Chicago and Northwestern Railway line (today's Union Pacific / West Line). Both lines created an unsafe grade crossing, especially as the community moved from horse-powered vehicles to the automobile. When the C&NW elevated its line between 1908 and 1909, it created a blind spot for traffic trying to cross the Lake Street Line.

On October 28, 1962, the station was elevated on an embankment and the main entrance was rebuilt by taking advantage of the small space along the road to include a ticket window and enclosed waiting rooms. When the Green Line was closed for a renovation project in 1994, the CTA had planned to permanently close the Oak Park station along with four other stations (Austin, Laramie, Homan and Halsted). However, due to the political pressure and complaints of residents, the station was retained without being rebuilt and reopened with the Green Line on May 12, 1996. When it reopened, the committee of disabled residents of Oak Park strongly protested it as one of the few stations of the Green Line that is inaccessible to persons with disabilities.

Oak Park is a neighborhood within the city limits of Tampa, in the U.S. state of Florida. The ZIP Code which serves the neighborhood is 33605. The neighborhood is part of the East Tampa region and is located within District Five of the Tampa City Council.

Geography

Oak Park is located at latitude 27.969 North, and longitude 82.399 West. The elevation is 36 feet above sea level. Boundaries are roughly Columbus Drive to the north, Broadway to the south and 50th Street to the west.

Education

Oak Park is served by Hillsborough County Public Schools, which serves the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County. Oak Park Elementary, Franklin Middle School, and Middleton High School all serve the neighborhood

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Illinois (ⁱ/ˌɪlᵻˈnɔɪ/ IL-i-NOY) is a state in the midwestern region of the United States. It is the 5th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base and is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics.

Although today the state's largest population center is around Chicago in the northern part of the state, the state's European population grew first in the west, with French Canadians who settled along the Mississippi River, and gave the area the name, Illinois. After the American Revolutionary War established the United States, American settlers began arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s via the Ohio River, and the population grew from south to north. In 1818, Illinois achieved statehood. After construction of the Erie Canal increased traffic and trade through the Great Lakes, Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, at one of the few natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan.John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. Railroads carried immigrants to new homes, as well as being used to ship their commodity crops out to markets.

SS Illinois was an iron passenger-cargo steamship built by William Cramp & Sons in 1873. The last of a series of four Pennsylvania-class vessels, Illinois and her three sister ships—Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana—were the largest iron ships ever built in the United States at the time of their construction, and amongst the first to be fitted with compound steam engines. They were also the first ships to challenge British dominance of the transatlantic trade since the American Civil War.

Though soon outclassed by newer and larger vessels, Illinois was destined to enjoy a long and distinguished career, first as a transatlantic passenger liner and later as the U.S. Navy's auxiliary vessel USS Supply. In the 1870s, Illinois may have been the first ship to successfully transport a shipment of fresh meat from the United States to Europe, twenty years before the introduction of refrigeration. As USS Supply, the ship served in both the Spanish–American War and the First World War, and crew members may have been the first United States personnel to fire a hostile shot in the latter. Illinois was scrapped in 1928.

"Illinois" is the official state song of the U.S. state of Illinois. Written by Charles H. Chamberlain (1841–1894, also spelled Chamberlin) and composed by Archibald Johnston (died 1887), "Illinois" became the state song by an act of the 54th Illinois General Assembly (1925).

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