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Park Ridge is a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 37,775 at the 2000 census. It is about 27 km northwest of downtown Chicago.
Park Ridge is the hometown of Hillary Clinton (then Hillary Rodham), though she has not lived there for decades. When she visited Park Ridge on the occasion of her 50th birthday in 1997, the city renamed the southeast corner of the intersection of Elm and Wisner Streets, next to her girlhood home, "Rodham Corner."
Park Ridge lies on the highest ridge in Cook County, hence the name "Park Ridge." The soil is abundant with clay deposits, which made it a brick-making center for the developing city of Chicago. Park Ridge was originally called Pennyville to honor George Penny, the businessman who owned the local brickyard along with Robert Meacham. Later it was named Brickton. The Des Plaines River divides Park Ridge from neighboring Des Plaines, Illinois.
Scenes from the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers were filmed in Park Ridge including the scene where Jake and Elwood go through the red light that starts the police chase.
Landmarks
Easily Park Ridge's most recognizable feature is the Pickwick Theater, an art deco building dating from 1928 which is still an active movie theater today. In 1975, the theater was named to the National Register of Historic Places. Although smaller theaters have been added to the rear of the building, the main auditorium theater remains intact in its original large four-aisle state. In the 1980s, The Pickwick's facade was used as the backdrop for the opening credits of Siskel and Ebert's "At the Movies."
Park Ridge has its own public skate park which was added to the town a couple of years ago. It attracts many teenage skaters from all around Chicagoland. The skatepark is located at Hinkley Park which is on Busse Hwy right off of Touhy Ave.
Geography
Park Ridge is located at (42.011830, -87.841587).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.3 km² (7.1 mi²). 18.2 km² (7.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.57%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 37,775 people, 14,219 households, and 10,465 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,074.7/km² (5,374.6/mi²). There were 14,646 housing units at an average density of 804.4/km² (2,083.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.38% White, 0.24% African American, 0.06% Native American, 2.66% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.87% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.95% of the population.
There were 14,219 households out of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.4% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 24.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.13.The median cost of a house is $394,248.
The City's population consists of 24.5% persons under the age of 18, 5.5% aged 18 to 24, 24.5% aged 25 to 44, 25.8% aged 45 to 64, and 19.6% age 65 or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $73,302, and the median income for a family was $88,066. Males had a median income of $61,959 versus $39,794 for females. The per capita income for the city was $36,646. About 1.7% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.1% of those under age 18 and 3.1% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Park Ridge is served by elementary and middle school District 64; high school District 207 has the nationally acclaimed/successful Maine South High School and the slightly less acclaimed Maine East High School. Students who live in northern Park Ridge have the option of attending either Maine East or Maine South. While the demographics of Maine South match that of the city, Maine East is more racially diverse.
The Maine Township school district shares student run radio and television stations operating with the call letters WMTH. (W Maine Township High) Actor Harrison Ford has been credited as being the radio station's first sports announcer.
Maine Township High Schools District 207
Famous residents
Past and Present
- Hillary Clinton - Former First Lady, Senator from New York
- Grant Wood - Painter, most famous for painting American Gothic
- Vincent A. Mahler - Prominent Political Science Professor
- Melissa Elias - Former Bassist for The Ponys
- Gary Cole - Actor
- Karen Black - Actress
- Steve Wilkos - Security guard for the The Jerry Springer Show
- Ron Santo - Professional baseball player
- Ted Ansani - Former Bassist for Material Issue
- Harrison Ford- Actor
- Danny Corkill - Child actor
- Adam Jones - Guitarist for the rock band TOOL
- Mike North - Radio Personality
- Mark Main - Prominent Intellectual
- Andrew Cisco - Professional Golfer
- Rick Hader - aka Myron Noodleman, "The Clown Prince of Baseball"
- Ray Ozzie - Prominent software engineer, now Chief Software Architect at Microsoft
- Dave Butz - NFL player for the Washington Redskins
- Rob Kleiner - Keyboardist for Tub Ring
External links
- http://www.parkridge.us/
"Park Ridge, Illinois"