Western Springs 2011 in Review

Happy New Year 2012! As we kick off another 365 days of serving the Village, we thought it appropriate to take a look back at the timeline of critical stories that impacted the Village of Western Springs over the course of 2011.

Here's what we saw over the last year, the stories that were popular and critically important, both the good and the bad. If you think there's something we missed, please let us know about it! 

Jan. 2: Three masked gunmen in an apparent home robbery in a La Grange Highlands home just two blocks east of Ridgewood.

Jan. 14: We learn that a local 64-year-old man, who asked to remain unidentified, purchased at the Western Springs 7-Eleven.

Jan. 28: Michigan State gymnast and Western Springs resident after a serious training injury a month earlier.

Jan. 30: Western Springs  with a huge festival at McClure Junior High School.

Jan 31: Village Municipal Services Director William Nelson is in an incident ruled an accident but still under investigation.

Feb. 2:  as a massive blizzard felt across the Midwest dumps two feet of snow on the Village and closes schools.

Feb. 9: LTHS volleyball coach Joann Pyritz after the team won the state championship in the fall.

Feb 21: New downtown staple restaurant Mécénat .

Feb. 25: An LTHS gym teacher is from the Garden Market Dominick's.

Mar. 2: Henry Hillgamyer, the builder of a Franklin Avenue townhome, .

Mar. 2: Over an extremely rare "no" vote from Trustee James Maragos, the Village .

Mar. 9: The Western Springs Business Association .

Mar. 19: Owner Barbara Rozner announces that .

Mar. 24: The former Vaughn's building at the entrance to Commonwealth is .

Apr. 2: Used-book store Book Rack .

Apr. 3: A house fire on Grove Avenue is , potentially avoiding signifigant danger to the home and residents.

Apr. 5: Local voters to build a $1 million turf field in Spring Rock Park.

Apr. 8: Federal regulators ; it is acquired by Heartland National.

Apr. 14: After 25 years, the .

May 11: LTHS students to Washington D.C.

May 16: A and detonated by a Cook County bomb disposal squad.

May 16: A rare coin sold at auction for $379,500 is mailed to a Western Springs address, but despite having been traced to the Western Springs post office.

May 23: Three new Trustees, Sheila Hansen, Edward Tymick and Patrick Word .

May 25: A new self-defense seminar for middle-school girls and funded by the WSFEE .

May 31: Although controversial among residents due to concerns about traffic congestion, a .

Jun. 11: The LTHS baseball team , beating Providence 8-3.

Jun. 15: Design Studio .

Jun. 22: A massive wind and thunderstorm throughout the Village.

Jun. 28: After a long development process, the .

Jul. 5: The Village's only registered sex-offender resident, Tate Madler, .

Jul. 11: A second ferocious storm .

Jul. 21: St. John of the Cross , reputedly the largest such event in the Village's history.

Jul. 23: Four WSFD firefighters , who had stopped breathing; they would later recieve lifesaving commendations.

Jul. 31: Tish Rothschild, owner of downtown staple Stems and Twigs, .

Aug. 19: The multi-talented Patrick Godon .

Aug. 22: Fire Chief Tony Bednarz .

Sep. 2: We at Western Springs Patch .

Sep. 6: St. John of the Cross Parish School with a cake party, cake courtesy of Kirschbaum's.

Sep. 8: Beginning with The Melville Boys, the .

Sep. 9: Contagion, a star-studded wide-release film with scenes shot in Western Springs, to generally positive reviews.

Sep. 14: WSPD officers after chasing him through Field Park residential yards.

Sep. 17: The  just over a year after breaking ground.

Sep. 22: Part-time LTHS employee Nathan Arger .

Oct. 1: A , prompting a full-scale WSFD alarm to extinguish the flames, but not before the living room is left charred black.

Oct. 7: LTHS placekicker Jake Elliott by delivering a miraculous long-distance, last-second game-saving field goal for the second week in a row.

Oct. 13: Western Springs SJC parishoners for two weeks.

Oct. 13: The Avakian family gifted to them by the Oprah Winfrey Show for their work with Western Springs Safety Village.

Oct. 19: McClure principal Dan Chick alerts parents that there have been reputable reports of multiple eighth-graders .

Oct. 24: The Board of Trustees despite eleventh-hour protests from Woodland Avenue residents fearing increased traffic.

Oct. 27: The Spangler family's 55-foot-tall blue spruce .

Oct. 27: LTHS freshman Kelli O'Laughlin, 14, is , setting off a community-wide wave of grief and sorrow along with a massive police effort to locate her killer.

Nov. 4: After an agonizingly tense week, of how they believe the murder unfolded.

Nov. 5: The Historical Society's .

Nov. 7: The Western Springs Police Department reports , an extemely high amount for the Village.

Nov. 7: The Board of Trustees announce that and may kill up to 40 percent of parkway trees.

Nov. 16: The second edition of the Chicago Michelin Guide .

Nov. 18: The Perona family's 40-foot blue spruce .

Dec. 1: Incoming fire chief Patrick Kenny, a veteran of the WSFD, for a one-month transition period.

Dec. 14: LTHS volleyball star Alexis Viliunas is

Dec. 21: John L. Wilson, Jr. to the murder of Kelli O'Laughlin.