Sat., July 9: Field Trip. Members will travel to the Park Forest House and the Monee Creamery. Our first stop will be the Park Forest House Museum, located at 227 Monee Road, Park Forest, Illinois, and inside St. Mary’s Catholic Church (former school building; photo at left). Bring $5 and a mask. If you plan on carpooling, you may call a fellow member and meet at our library at 9:30 a.m. or just go to Park Forest directly. The tour begins at 10 a.m.

Since the 1950 U.S. Census was recently released, this is the perfect time to visit the 1950s Park Forest House Museum. Whether you found yourself or your parents in the census, this nostalgic look at Park Forest’s unique history as the fully planned post-World War II suburb is sure to bring back memories.

Our second stop will be the Monee Creamery. We heard about its renovation earlier this year. The old creamery, built in the 1870s, is the only remaining limestone structure in Monee and is Monee’s first designated historic landmark. The preservation effort was launched by Christi Holsten, a Monee native, who spoke to our group in March. Her ancestor was one of the village founders and briefly owned the creamery property back in the 1870s. The “Save the Creamery Foundation” evolved into the Monee Historical Society in 2013. The Creamery building has been nicely restored and is now the Monee Heritage Center.

If you are hungry after these two stops, there is a new Polish-American restaurant called Nad Tatrami (which means “over the Tatra Mountains”) at the stoplight at 25812 South Governors Highway in Monee, Illinois. (Details and menu are at https://www.nadtatrami.net/) Lunch is not part of the tour, but feel free to make your own arrangements. We hope you will enjoy this fun and educational field trip.