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Rating: 
Summary: Park Forest, Illinois: An American Original
Review: This is a planner's history of this unique American village, located about thirty miles South of Chicago. Gregory Randall has the advantage of growing up in Park Forest, which gives him some insight into the community that an outside observer might miss. He also has the training and experience as an urban planner to understand and appreciate the complexities of creating a new town.Randall places Park Forest in the contex of planned communities in England and the United States. His discussion of Riverside, Illinois, is good; but he ignores Pullman, Illinois, and Marktown, Indiana, as earlier planned communities in the Chicago area. His treatment of Harvey, Illinois, includes the minor error of listing the Chicago lumberman, Turlington W. Harvey, as an evangelist, although he was associated with the evangelist, Dwight Moody. He also does not deal with the demogragrahic changes that been pronounced on the South Side of Chicago and the South Suburbs. This racial and ethic movement has affected the developments that the planners did not anticipate. Perhaps, this is beyond the scope Randall's book, and deserves a monograph of its own. As a resident of Park Forest for twenty-six years I learned much about the origins and development of my town. I was especially interested in the how the lack of cooperation from the Illinois Central Railroad, forced the planners to drop their first chice for the location of the Park Forest Plaza. Thus, many of Park Forest's problems with a declining downtown area can be understood. I recommend this book to all who have an interest in the post-World War II period, and especially to all those who live Chicago area.
Rating:
Summary: Park Forest, Illinois: An American Original
Review: This is a planner's history of this unique American village, located about thirty miles South of Chicago. Gregory Randall has the advantage of growing up in Park Forest, which gives him some insight into the community that an outside observer might miss. He also has the training and experience as an urban planner to understand and appreciate the complexities of creating a new town. Randall places Park Forest in the contex of planned communities in England and the United States. His discussion of Riverside, Illinois, is good; but he ignores Pullman, Illinois, and Marktown, Indiana, as earlier planned communities in the Chicago area. His treatment of Harvey, Illinois, includes the minor error of listing the Chicago lumberman, Turlington W. Harvey, as an evangelist, although he was associated with the evangelist, Dwight Moody. He also does not deal with the demogragrahic changes that been pronounced on the South Side of Chicago and the South Suburbs. This racial and ethic movement has affected the developments that the planners did not anticipate. Perhaps, this is beyond the scope Randall's book, and deserves a monograph of its own. As a resident of Park Forest for twenty-six years I learned much about the origins and development of my town. I was especially interested in the how the lack of cooperation from the Illinois Central Railroad, forced the planners to drop their first chice for the location of the Park Forest Plaza. Thus, many of Park Forest's problems with a declining downtown area can be understood. I recommend this book to all who have an interest in the post-World War II period, and especially to all those who live Chicago area.
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