23027 Oak Brook Drive
In 1965 Jack and Lois Haloupek and their 3 kids moved into 23027 Oak Brook Drive, Chicago Heights, IL. I know because I was one of the kids.
We had 3.5 acres, in two sections. The section with the house on it was 1.5 acres, and we let the neighbors graze their cattle on the other 2 acres. That way we only had to mow 1.5 acres.
There was one really nice picture taken of the property. I have a low resolution copy of it here:
23027 Oak Brook Drive, Chicago Heights, IL
This is a color picture; the small tree on the left is reddish brown, and if you zoom in, you can see a lot of reds and blues near the house.
Our house was at the end of Oak Brook Drive, which actually formed a loop around the house. The house is on the left, the shed is in the middle and the garage is on the right. The garage had an upstairs apartment, which we never made use of. The house was built around an old log house, and the walls were 18 inches thick, in some places. It was in the SE corner of Cook County, IL, about 200 yards N of Steger Road, which formed the border between Cook and Will County, and a mile or two west of the IL/IN state line.
I have a few other pictures, mainly taken soon after we moved there.
The front patio. There has to be at least one of those white, adirondack style chairs in any Haloupek yard.
Someone's climbing out the upstairs window!
The gate to the pasture.
The garage in winter.
The lane in late fall.
These 4 trees grew in a square pattern - perfect for building a treehouse. Which I did. Three levels.
The balcony overlooking the living room.
In 1972 we were forced to sell the property to the state. It was to become part of the Plum Creek Forest Preserve. Last I heard it was infested with gangs, and not a safe place for recreation. I went there in the mid 1980's, and could not even find where my treehouse had been. The forest preserve demolished all the buildings. And my 4 trees, it seems.
Updated 3 Jan 2021 by William Haloupek. Contact haloupek at gmail dot com.