Library booklet celebrating 30 years of service, 1996

              CHICAGO RIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY
The first painting of the series was
of the current library building, be-fore
the decision was made to try to
picture some of the old Chicago Ridge
buildings. The artist has stated
that the project would have badly
floundered in recreating some of the
older and/ or non- existent buildings
without the help of long- time Chicago
Ridge resident Mary Demchuk. Credit
for help in researching should also
go to the staff of the library,
especially Mrs. Livingstone, the
archives of the Worth- Palos Reporter
and the Chicago Archdiocese, the Oak
Lawn Public Library, and a number of
residents who shared their recol-lections.
CHICAGO RIDGE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Pictured is Station No. 2, located on
Southwest Highway, just past the bridge
over the Belt Line railroad tracks.
The original station, on 107th Street
east of the Village Hall, is inadequate
to house the equipment needed to fight
fires in the higher- rise buildings now
allowed in the Village. Fire Lt. Becker
provided a walk- through, describing the
fire and paramedic vehicles. Startling
to learn was the extraordinary cost of
replacing any of these vehicles, all
of which have already given many years
of service. The Fire Department par-ticipates
in a coalition of departments
of other nearby suburbs in assisting
each other as needs arise.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The only source material available
was this photo from the Worth- Palos
Reporter. Following abandonment as a
church, the building was once con-sidered
as a location for the growing
Chicago Ridge Public Library but it
was determined not to be a dependable
structure. The library then moved
from its small quarters in the Village
Hall to a cleverly redesigned in-dustrial
building at its current
location on Birmingham Avenue. The
vacant church building was-- finally
destroyed in a controlled- burn
exercise for the then- volunteer fire
department.
Celebrating 30 years of service
1966 1996