Forest Elementary Was Expansion School, Now A Cornerstone of District 62

Des Plaines' rapid expansion in the 1950s - coupled with the Baby Boom - meant a big growth in the demand for schools. In 1952, Manilow Homes, the developer of the Des Plaines Villas subdivision, purchased a 20 acre plot between Forest Avenue, Fifth Street, and Algonquin Avenue for use as a school.

Earlier:

First, was built, opening in 1954 and serving Kindergarten through Eighth Grades. This was always meant as a temporary condition, however, and the second phase, Forest Elementary School, was planned and opened in 1956.

Forest would be the second "expansion" elementary school added after the early , , and Schools, which all opened before World War II at their original sites, the two annexed schools, South (Riverview) and Orchard Place school, and , which opened in 1954.

The architects for the new school were Cone & Dornbusch, a firm which also designed Maple, Chippewa, and Central Schools. When it opened, the $525,000 school contained 14 rooms, a kindergarden, multipurpose cafeteria/gym with a stage, arts and crafts room, music room, audio-visual room, counseling offices, and an administrative suite. These features, and an artistic tile mosaic at the entrance, would earn it an architectural Citation of Merit.

Two years later, a new wing was added with 6 classrooms, plus an additional kindergarten and classroom on the original wing. A 1970 addition remodeled two of those classrooms into an Instructional Materials Center (library), and added two classrooms, an art room, and a gym.

In the 1990s, LICA (Low Incidence Cooperative Agreement), a program for hearing impaired children, established facilities at Forest. Soon after, a new 12-classroom wing - half of it dedicated to the LICA program - was added and one older classroom was removed, opening in 1997. I remember my 5th grade classroom moving into the new wing after winter break; the new classrooms were square and included sinks, counters and carpeting. The rest of the school was carpeted too, the library enlarged, and the teachers' lounge expanded. The next year would feature the school's last Grade 6 class (mine), as the District's Junior High Schools changed to Middle Schools.

This year brought the biggest changes to Forest, as an Early Learning Center addition transformed the school. The original Kindergarten and 1958 Kindergarten and classroom wing were demolished, and the massive new addition has provided space to consolidate the district's existing pre-Kindergarten and after school programs, while the rest of the school was remodeled, including a relocated administrative suite, reconfigured parking areas, and room for the District 62 Administrative Offices while the Leon Smaage Administration Center is remodeled in coming months.

Today, Forest School does not feel like the school I attended, but it has an increased role in Des Plaines as a whole. It will continue shaping our community's children for years to come.

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