Stickney-Forest View Public Library is located at 6800 West 43rd Street in Stickney. The Stickney-Forest View Public Library District serves the towns of Stickney and Forest View, as well as unincorporated Central Stickney, in west suburban Cook County.
The main entrance on 43rd Street faces the compact St. Pius X Parish Church & School. [St. Pius X is the parish for both Stickney and Forest View. Unfortunately, the school closed for financial reasons in 1996.] There are five steps outside the main entrance, so people in wheelchairs, etc. are advised to use the side entrance, which is at street level. The side entrance on Oak Park Avenue faces Mount Auburn Cemetery, which was founded in 1895, and is notable because a “sizable” number of Chinese people were interred there.
In front of the side entrance is a very small plaza between a bicycle rack close to the building and the sidewalk. It consists of two stone pathways, one that is straight, and one that is diagonal. A new park bench stands between the two pathways. The stone path that runs at an angle is interrupted at its center by a brick circle.
Stickney encompasses less than two square miles, and as of 2000 had 6,148 residents most of whom were of Polish, Mexican, German, or Czech ancestry. It is known as a close-knit community, and residents are proud of it. Forest View is one square mile, about 10% of which is zoned for residential use, and as of 2000 it had 778 residents, most of whom were Polish, Czech, or German.
Before 1900, most of the land now occupied by the Village of Stickney was covered by Mud Lake, which stretched from Chicago to Lyons. A historic portage trail had extended across Mud Lake between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River. The marsh waters began to recede with the construction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal in 1836 and had all but disappeared with the construction of the Sanitary & Ship Canal. It was then that real estate developers moved in.
The Village of Stickney is named for Alpheus B. Stickney, a railroad executive who played a key role in the creation of the Clearing Industrial District. Stickney Township was organized in 1901. Twelve years later, the Village of Stickney was incorporated on Stickney Township land. Official meetings were held in peculiar places: Hawthorne Racetrack and the waiting room of Mount Auburn Cemetery.
As of 1919, most Stickney residents were either truck farmers or worked in the quarries near town. [A truck farmer raises vegetables to sell in town.] Around 1920, the Chicago Outfit established brothels and speakeasies in town. According to Ronald S. Vasile’s profile of the village in The Encyclopedia of Chicago, the tiny suburb’s government must have been compromised by the Outfit, because in 1924, the village police department provided an honor guard at the funeral of a gangster.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) operates the world’s largest wastewater treatment plant in Stickney, the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant. Also known as Stickney WRP, it takes up 40% of the village land and is the village’s largest employer. That may not be glamorous, but it is very important work.
Forest View was founded by lawyer by Joseph Nosek as a place where returning World War I veterans could buy homes. It was named in honor of the vast green space of the Cook County Forest Preserve District visible across Harlem Avenue west of the incorporated town.
Unfortunately, Nosek was run out of town by Al Capone’s elder brother Ralph "Bottles" Capone, who founded the Maple Inn in town as a as a den of prostitution. According to Vasile, the town became known as “Caponeville.” The Chicago Outfit’s influence over the town waned, but it was physically hemmed in by forest preserves and it languished until 1949, when Commonwealth Edison built a huge generating plant that straddled Forest View and Stickney. Further economic development was spurred by the town’s annexation of industrial land that had been part of the Clearing Industrial District.
The Stickney-Forest View Library District evolved from the Stickney Library, which was founded in 1935. The original collection of the Stickney Library began with the inheritance of 1,400 books from a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project located in the Stickney Township building.
A group of Stickney residents formed the Stickney Library Association. The first librarian was Mrs. Helen Earl. In 1940, the library moved from cramped space at Pershing Road and Scoville Avenue to a store building at 4204 South Oak Park Avenue.
In 1942, Stickney Library had 1,958 books on the shelves. Four years later, in 1946, the number of books in the Stickney Library doubled as a result of both purchases and donations. One notable donor was Harry Sklenar, a member of the United States Armed Services, who brought books back with him to Stickney whenever he would come home on leave.
A fundraiser for the Stickney Library was held in the village hall. Funds from the village hall party helped to pay for electricity and rent, as well as to purchase books. The librarian back then was Mrs. Josephine Filip. Two years later, in 1948, the Stickney Library Association moved into better quarters in the new Stickney Township health building at 6721 West 40th Street.
In 1953, a petition that called for the formation of a library district between Stickney and Forest View began to circulate, and was submitted to a county judge on June 16, 1953. A referendum was held in November of 1953 to create the district. At the time, the population of the proposed library district was approximately 6,000 people. The library district would be funded through a library tax of 6 cents per $100 of assessed real estate value. This first time the decision was put to them, voters rejected the establishment of the proposed library district.
In 1954, a state study recommended that Stickney and Forest View be served by a unified library district. In April of 1954, voters approved the creation of the library district. Miss Mary Tone became the librarian. This is the first library district founded in Cook County since a state law that authorized the foundation of library districts was passed in 1945.
The library board purchased the Faith Community Church, a white frame church building located at 6714 41st Street in Stickney for $6,000 to temporarily house the library. In 1955, the new Stickney-Forest View Public Library opened in the refurbished and repainted church. That same year, the library board acquired the lot on the corner of 43rd Street and Oak Park Avenue, and designated it the future home of the Stickney-Forest View Public Library.
In 1958, construction began for the two-story-tall library building at the corner 43rd Street and Oak Park Avenue with an estimated cost of $175,000, and a projected completion in the year 1963. The building was designed by Eugene Cook.
In 1960, the Stickney-Forest View Library District held a special election to select trustees and endorse or reject a proposed $154,000 general obligation bond issue. The bond proposal was to speed completion of the new $225,000 public library then under construction. With additional revenue, construction of the library would be completed by year's end, which was desirable due to increased use of the existent facility. About 7,000 library district residents used the facility by then.
In 1961, the erection of the permanent library building was completed. This was two years ahead of schedule. On March 28th an open house was held.
In 1966, the Stickney - Forest View Public Library was one of 19 west suburban libraries to join a proposed suburban library system authorized by a new state law. This library system provided inter-library loans, which would allow for the avoidance of unnecessary duplication while allowing certain member libraries to specialize in subject areas.
In 1972, the library had an exhibition of paintings and pen and ink drawings by artist Dorothy Eastline.
By 1985, the library had more than 500 movies on VHS tape. Popular titles included Superman (1978), Norma Rae (1979), and Purple Rain (1984).
In 1993, renovations were completed that included the addition of the Youth Services. The library building had also been made more accessible to physically handicapped visitors.
Eleven years later, in 2004, additional renovations to the building were completed. New desks were installed, new flooring was put down, windows were updated, window shades were installed, and new lights and ceiling fans were installed. The existent washrooms were remodeled and a new family washroom was added. Public access to computers was provided through the addition of desktop personal computers in the Main Room, as well as the establishment of the Computer Lab. In 2007, the North Parking Lot was built.
In 2009, the Stickney-Forest View Library District annexed Central Stickney, an unincorporated part of Cook County, comprised of an 8 block by 4 block residential area, the industrial area between I-55 and 51st Street, and Central Avenue to Harlem Avenue. This year, the library celebrated the 75th anniversary of its foundation as the Stickney Library.
Notary services are provided for free. Photocopies are 10 cents per page, faxes are 50 cents per page for local numbers (area codes of 708, 847, 630, 312, 773) or $1.00 per page for long distance. Computer print-outs are 10 per page for black and white and 50 cents per page for color.
One-on-one computer tutorials are being offered this month on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Stop by the Reference Desk to schedule a lesson.
A short time ago, a book sale brought the library district $400 closer to reaching its goal for a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Matching Grant. Whole Foods Market – Hinsdale provided hotdogs, buns, and condiments. St. Pius X Parish provided tables. Library staff members and patrons provided labor. A Ms. C. Neris was singled out for thanks in the Reading Matters newsletter for making drinks and working at the book sale all day. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant would be used to acquire new technology.
The library is open 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays, and 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays, New Year's Day,
Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve. The phone number there is (708) 749-1050.
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