U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 04-10-2010, 04:44 PM
 
18 posts, read 55,867 times
Reputation: 14

Advertisements

We are most likely relocating to Chicago and have been focusing our preliminary search on Oak Park. But I was wondering what folks would say about River Forest. I know it's smaller than Oak Park and they share a high school. What else can you tell me about how River Forest compares to Oak Park and which you would choose??
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-10-2010, 05:16 PM
 
1,728 posts, read 4,646,717 times
Reputation: 487
River Forest is more suburban. Although Chicagoans consider Oak Park suburban with an urban feel, most in the country would say its pretty urban. Oak Park has a large downtown for a suburb. River Forest has the leafy tree lined streets (as do parts of Oak Park). There are also not so nice areas of Oak Park. In reality, not much difference.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2010, 05:21 PM
 
12,971 posts, read 18,481,283 times
Reputation: 9157
Not as diverse as Oak Park. In between the two is Forest Park, which is "more dead than alive," as most of the village is cemeteries. Also the terminal for the CTA blue line.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2010, 05:33 PM
 
342 posts, read 1,212,707 times
Reputation: 82
Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55 View Post
Not as diverse as Oak Park. In between the two is Forest Park, which is "more dead than alive," as most of the village is cemeteries. Also the terminal for the CTA blue line.
forest park is not in between river forest and oak park. and forest park has a lot going on there, so i dont know what you're talking about. forest park has 1 cemetary, and it probably dosen't cover even 25% of the city.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2010, 05:51 PM
 
12,971 posts, read 18,481,283 times
Reputation: 9157
I maybe wrong about how much of it is cemetery. But I have heard the term. I don't mean the whole town is dead! But I maintain that if you drive down Madison St, you exit Oak Park, enter Forest Park, then River Forest. In my book, that places it between the two.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2010, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Oak Park, IL
5,523 posts, read 13,722,026 times
Reputation: 3906
River Forest has a lower percentage of rentals compared to OP, and the SFH tend to be larger and more expensive than OP. Otherwise, the two share the same business district and the same high school.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2010, 10:45 PM
 
Location: Not where you ever lived
11,537 posts, read 29,722,982 times
Reputation: 6420
Oak Park Tourist - Touring, Living and Working in Oak Park, Illinois
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-11-2010, 08:42 AM
 
374 posts, read 1,017,481 times
Reputation: 131
Lots are bigger in River Forest. Different vibe overall, probably more stay at home moms. A lot of people look in both RF and OP, and pick based on housing stock at the time.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-11-2010, 05:14 PM
 
18 posts, read 55,867 times
Reputation: 14
Thanks. We will probably look in both to see what's available in our price range at the time.

Kindrakindra, you seems to have the lowdown on the schools. Are the OP and RF elementary schools comparable? RF seems to have great test scores, but I don't believe test scores are everything (in fact, sometimes they're not worth much).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-11-2010, 07:59 PM
 
374 posts, read 1,017,481 times
Reputation: 131
RF schools are obviously awesome, with great parental involvement. A few annoying things. No full day kindergarten. I know a couple of families that stay in private for full day kinder or do a half day at St. Luke's and a half in public school. No spanish class in the lower grades including kindergarten. Those are usually the only negatives you hear.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2023, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top