Парк Ридж: Тарихы, географиясы және демографиясы

Marty Maloney
| leader title1 = Budget
| leader name1 = $76,960,156 (fiscal year: 2022)
| unit pref = Imperial
| area footnotes =
| area urban footnotes = <! It is located 15 mile (24 km) northwest of downtown Chicago. It is close to O'Hare International Airport, major expressways, and rail transportation. It is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area, bordering three official neighborhoods on Chicago's Far Northwest Side (Edison Park, Norwood Park, and O'Hare.) The soil is abundant with clay deposits, which made it a brick making center for the developing city of Chicago. Park Ridge was originally called Pennyville to honor George Penny, the businessman who owned the local brickyard along with Robert Meacham. Later it was named Brickton. The Des Plaines River divides Park Ridge from neighboring Des Plaines, Illinois, which is west of Park Ridge. Chicago is south and east of Park Ridge, and Niles and unincorporated Maine Township are to its north.

The area of Park Ridge was inhabited by the Potawatomie until they were removed in 1833. The area was a convenient portage between the Des Plaines and Chicago rivers for the French explorers and in the early 1830s, the first settlers arrived from New England and New York. In 1854 George Penny established a brickworks in the area. Due to the brickwork and the abundance of clay, Park Ridge was nicknamed "Brickton" by locals. In 1910 Park Ridge had a population of 2,009. In 1930 the population was 10,417. In 1950 the population was 16,602. In 1960 the population was 32,625, with 99.9% of the population white. There were five African Americans and 31 people classed other than black or white. By 1970, the population had risen to 42,466. In 2016, graduate of the first class of Park Ridge's Maine Township High School South (1965) former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, campaigned as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Park Ridge has a total area of 7.14 square miles (18 km2), of which 7.09 square miles (18 km2) (or 99.34%) is land and 0.05 square miles (0 km2) (or 0.66%) is water.

Park Ridge falls under the USDA 5b Plant Hardiness zone.

Park Ridge is served by the Park Ridge Niles School District 64, which has its headquarters in the Raymond E. Hendee Educational Service Center in Park Ridge. Area middle schools include Lincoln Middle School and Emerson Middle School in Niles. At one point there were nine public K–6 elementary schools: Oakton, Madison, Edison, Merrill, Carpenter, Field, Franklin, Roosevelt, and Washington. Only the latter five remain today, and all are in Park Ridge. Jefferson School is also part of the district and houses the special needs preschool for children ages 3 and 4. K 5 after school programs are hosted by the Park Ridge Park District. St. Paul of the Cross and Mary Seat of Wisdom are the two Catholic elementary schools. St. Andrews is a Lutheran elementary school. The town is served by Maine Township High School District 207, which includes Maine South High School, and Maine East High School. Students who live in northern Park Ridge have the option of attending either Maine East or Maine South. Maine West High School is located to the west in Des Plaines. Maine North High School was a school in unincorporated Maine Township and part of Maine Township High School District 207. It closed in 1981 as the student population of Maine Township shrank. District 207 shares student run radio and television stations operating with the call letters WMTH FM (W Maine Township High). Actor Harrison Ford, known for his roles in the Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Blade Runner movies, went to Maine East, and has been credited as being the radio station's first sports announcer. Since 2007, WMTH Radio can be heard live on any of the district high school homepage. The town is a part of the Oakton Community College district.

The Park Ridge station and Dee Road station provide Metra commuter rail service along the Union Pacific Northwest Line. Trains travel southeast to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, and northwest to either Harvard station or McHenry station. Pace provides bus service on multiple routes connecting Park Ridge to destinations across the region. Additionally, CTA operates the Route 68 bus to Chicago.

The 1980 film The Blues Brothers had some scenes filmed in Park Ridge, including the scene in which the brothers are first pulled over by the state police and the beginning of the subsequent chase. The Nelson Funeral Home and Shell gas station which the brothers drive past as the police pull out to intercept them are still in business at the intersection of Talcott and Cumberland avenues. The brothers are pulled over at the intersection of Cumberland and Gillick. As the chase progresses, a trooper radios that the chase is "proceeding on Courtland Avenue"; the subsequent scene in which the Blues Brothers and the police spin out in a three way intersection occurs at the intersection of Devon Avenue, Talcott Road, and Courtland Avenue. In the 1990 film Home Alone, Buzz McCallister wears a Maine South High School letterman's jacket.

A curved shaped house on Dee Road, near Murphy Lake, appears several times in the TV police drama Crime Story, in which it is owned by crime boss Phil Bartoli (played by Jon Polito). In one episode, while driving away from the house, Pauli Taglia (John Santucci) says, "We're in Park Ridge; nothing happens in Park Ridge." In the Route 66 episode "Voice at the End of the Line" (season 3, episode 5), Todd Stiles (Martin Milner) and Buzz Murdock (George Maharis) are seen exiting a building labeled Park Ridge Medical Center, which was located at the southwest corner of Talcott and Canfield. The scene continues as they walk toward the corner of Yost and Canfield, where several Park Ridge houses on Yost are in view. Later in the episode, Todd and Buzz park in front of a white house located at the northeast corner of Prospect and Stewart Avenues, which was used as a boarding house in the episode. A later camera angle shows the house in the background as Todd and Buzz talk to a cab driver. In 2022, the Pickwick Theatre was featured in an episode of NBC's Chicago Fire (TV series).