Orland Park Public Library

History

The Orland Park Public Library was formed in 1937 when the Orland Park Women's Club decided to make the founding of a public library its major activity for the year. Partial funding was provided by a WPA library project through the Illinois State Library Extension board in Springfield. Mr. Roy Loebe donated the Purple Candle Building to use rent-free. Many other donors contributed to the fledging library.

In 1940 the population of Orland Park was 631. In 1941 the Village Board passed an ordinance establishing a free public library operated by volunteers and stocked by donations. In 1943 a referendum was passed allowing taxes to be levied for the operation of the library.

By 1960 the population had grown to 2,592 and the library began receiving a new state library service, a bookmobile. This service continued until 1967 when the library joined the Suburban Library System. The population in 1970 was 6,391 and the Purple Candle Building simply could not hold another thing—records were even stacked in a bathtub. Plans were made to move the library into a larger building.

Expansion came in the form of a gift. As the Orland Park Herald reported in January 1975, "In an unprecedented gesture of largesse Andrew Corporation gave a gift of a new Library Building to the community of Orland Park at the Village Board meeting on January 13." The 7,000 square foot building, the Aileen S. Andrew Memorial, at 14760 Park Lane was dedicated on November 14, 1976.

The Village of Orland Park kept growing; the population for 1980 was 23,045. The Andrew Foundation once again donated the needed money, providing an addition to the library building, which increased its size to almost 18,500 square feet. Besides the addition completed in August 1983, the library began contracting for bookmobile service from the Frankfort Public Library during the summer.

The 1990 census reported 35,720 residents and the library was again in need of space. The Library Board purchased a bookmobile and an expansion of the building was approved. The second addition added the bookmobile garage, meeting room, boardroom, and Technical Services area. There was also a small remodeling project to add shelves for the public where the old Technical Services area had been. Financing, for the first time, was through a municipal bond issue.

In 2002, the Board of Trustees placed a referendum on the ballot to build a new facility to be located on 149th and Ravinia Avenue, replacing the current facility. The referendum passed with two-thirds of the votes in favor of the proposed building. Michael Barnes, an architect from Lohan Anderson, designed the 93,000 square foot building and W.E. O'Neil was chosen as the General Contractor. The new facility officially opened at 14921 Ravinia Avenue on September 12, 2004 and has won numerous awards for its building design.

Library Programs

Orland Park Public Library offers a variety of programming for all age groups.

Special programs for babies and toddlers including storytime, crafts, and playtime are scheduled regularly.

Smaller children are invited to Discovery Depot, Family Dance Parties, Board Game Fun, educational reviews of states and countries, holiday programming, and more. Some events require that residents sign up early in order to let staff know how many will be in attendance.

Children of all ages have enjoyed visits from puppeteers, presenters, and super heroes.

Older children can come in for science experiments and clubs based around being conscious of people’s impact on the environment.

Teens have their own separate section with an iMac, an iPad, computers, appropriate books, and a cool hang-out area. Teen programs encourage youth to take charge and help out by becoming a discovery guide, a techie, or by joining on a variety of service projects.

Teens also are invited to book clubs, crafting events, movies, and more.

Adult programming has a little bit for everyone. Adults can come and do genealogy, learn to use a computer, learn various social media, learn a new language, read the newspaper, and more.

Adult writers groups, book clubs, and classes are all available.

Programming for older adults is also available. Presenters have come in to talk about understanding Medicare and reminiscing about U.S.O. events from World War II.

Special events including singers, artists, historians, chefs, and decorators have also been scheduled.

Americans with Disabilities Act Statement The Orland Park Public Library is subject to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Individuals who require an accommodation for a disability for any of the library presentations should contact the library at 708-428-5100 at least five working days prior to the event.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census,[7] there were 51,077 people, 18,675 households, and 14,361 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,668.4 people per square mile (1,030.4/km²). There were 19,045 housing units at an average density of 995.0 per square mile (384.2/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 93.53% White, 0.73% African American, 0.07% Native American, 3.47% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.04% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.67% of the population. The top five ancestries reported in Orland Park as of the 2000 census were Irish (26.5%), German (19.5%), Polish (18.5%), Italian (14.8%) and English (5.1%).[8] There were 18,675 households out of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 66.3% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.1% were non-families. 20.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.16. In the village, the population was spread out with 24.4% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males. The median income for a household in the village was $67,574, and the median income for a family was $77,507 (these figures had risen to $76,760 and $95,405 respectively as of a 2007 estimate[9]). Males had a median income of $57,275 versus $34,763 for females. The per capita income for the village was $30,467. About 2.1% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over. Since 2000, the average household income in the Orland Park area has risen substantially to an estimated $90,917 in 2006.

Education

Orland Park is served by four grammar school districts, Orland School District #135, Community Consolidated School District #146, Palos School District #118 and Kirby School District #140. A majority of Orland Park is within Orland School District #135.

St. Michael School is located within Orland Park. A number of other parochial schools in the region provide bus service for Orland Park students.

Because of Orland Park's large population, one of the major high school's in District 230 is Carl Sandburg High School, along with Victor J. Andrew High School and Amos Alonzo Stagg High School. CSHS has a little less than 4,000 students. Sandburg is known for its great sports teams because of the number of Regional, Sectional, and State titles it has accumulated over the years.

Orland Park is located within Consolidated High School District #230 and high school students attend Orland Park’s Carl Sandburg High School, with a small portion of the village attending A.A. Stagg High School in nearby Palos Hills. Sandburg’s ACT composite score for 2007/08 was 22.7 with SAT scores averaging 635, 644 and 630 for Critical Reading, Math and Writing, respectively.

Along with being within driving distance to the many colleges and universities in the Chicago area, a number of higher education facilities are located within the village. St. Xavier University, a longtime Chicago institution, operates a satellite campus in Orland Park, as does the ITT Technical Institute. Robert Morris University (Illinois) has both an Orland Park campus as well as a second facility in the village, the college's culinary arts school. A community college education is offered at Moraine Valley Community College, in nearby Palos Hills.

Sixty percent of Orland Park households have someone with at least a bachelor's degree, with a significant number of residents having completed postgraduate work.

Awards

Hours

9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday

1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday