Sauk Trail Woods

Sauk Lake (also known as Sauk Trail Lake) is a small, freshwater lake located in Cook County, Illinois, between the municipalities of Park Forest, Illinois and Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is an enlarged portion of Thorn Creek created by a dam on the south side of 26th Street, which borders the lake to the north. It is surrounded by steep, sandy bluffs on the east and west sides. It lies within the Sauk Trail Woods Forest Preserve. Fish in this lake include yellow and black bullhead, bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass, channel catfish and common carp. Ice fishing is not allowed on the lake.

Park Forest is a village located south of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, with a small southern portion in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village was originally designed by Loebl Schlossman & Bennett as a planned community for veterans returning from World War II. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 21,687. Park Forest has multiple public and private schools. In addition to the arts and culture scene including Tall Grass Arts Association and the Illinois Theatre Center, residents also have access to a myriad of recreational opportunities for both children and adults such as the Park Forest Aqua Center. Notable people from Park Forest include the former artistic director of the Illinois Theatre Center, Etel Billig. Park Forest is bordered by Olympia Fields to the north, Chicago Heights to the east, University Park to the south, and Richton Park and Matteson to the west.

Park Forest is an L5 chondrite meteorite that fell on 26 March 2003 in Illinois, United States.

Park Forest Plaza was a shopping center located in the planned community of Park Forest, Illinois, United States, that opened in 1949. The center was developed by Philip M. Klutznick, (1907-1999), who was also a prominent leader in the national Jewish community and later served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under 39th President Jimmy Carter. The architects were Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett.Park Forest Plaza was one of the first major regional shopping centers in the United States of the post-World War II era and it served as the downtown to the adjacent village. Klutznick followed many of same principles and concepts in architecture, land use and design espoused by nationally famous developer James W. Rouse (1914-1996) of Baltimore. The distinctive clock tower in the open courtyard became the symbol of both the shopping center and the village. The grass and tree-lined courtyard gave the center an airy attractiveness which was popular much of the year. The mall was anchored by a Marshall Field's, Sears, and Goldblatt's department storesCompetition from a new larger indoor mall in nearby Matteson, Illinois three decades later in the early 1970s ultimately doomed Park Forest Plaza. The mall did survive until 1996 when Field's closed and Sears moved to nearby Lincoln Mall. The village has now converted what was left to a "regular" downtown area with local services, including retail stores, a banquet hall, a cultural arts center, a dance studio, a movie theater, a senior residential community and the Village Hall. Single-family homes are also being built on the outskirts of the downtown area.

South Chicago Heights is a village and a south suburb in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,026 at the 2020 census.

Area codes 708 and 464 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southern and western suburbs of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. The numbering plan area comprises most of western and southern Cook County, and eastern and southern Will County. Area code 708 was created on November 11, 1989, in a split of area code 312. It once served almost all of Chicago's suburbs in Illinois. In 1996, its numbering plan area was reduced in a three-way area code split. The northern suburbs received area code 847, while the western suburbs were assigned area code 630. Area code 708 was Illinois' first new area code since 309 had been created in 1957, and the second new code for the state since the announcement of the original North American area codes in 1947, when the state was divided into four numbering plan areas (217, 312, 618, and 815). The Illinois side of the Chicago area–312/773/872, 708/464, 847/224, 630/331, and portions of 815/779–is one of the largest local calling areas in the United States; with few exceptions, no long-distance charges are levied from one portion of the metro area to another.Prior to October 2021, area code 708 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, 988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.On June 30, 1999, area code 464 was reserved for future relief in 708. Implementation was held off for over two decades until it became clear in 2021 that relief would be necessary. Area code 464 went into effect on January 21, 2022.

The Flat Iron Building in Chicago Heights, Illinois, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. It was torn down in 2009.

Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,480 at the 2020 census. Its nicknames include "The Crossroads of the Nation" and "The Heights".

Bloom High School is a public school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is part of Bloom Township High School District 206. The school was founded in 1900. A second Chicago Heights high school, Bloom Trail, was established in 1976 to offset overcrowding. Since 1995, however, Bloom and Bloom Trail have shared the same sports programs, drawing from over 3,000 students in grades 9 to 12. The present Bloom High School building, erected during the Great Depression, was named to the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1982. It is an Art Deco structure with six WPA murals. The frescoes were created by Edgar Britton in 1935. The two limestone sculptures were designed by Curtis Drewes. The main structure of the high school was designed by the architectural firm of Royer, Danley, and Smith of Urbana, Illinois. Major additions were finished in 1956 and 1976. In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, Bloom High School was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois).

Marian Catholic High School is a co-educational secondary school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.

Thorn Creek Woods Nature Center and Preserve is located in Will County, Illinois, near the municipality of Park Forest, Illinois. It is part of the Forest Preserve District of Will County. The entranceway to Thorn Creek Woods Nature Preserve is located at 247 Monee Road, approximately 0.25-mile (400 m) north of Stunkel Road, in Park Forest. The preserve is open 8:00 a.m. - dusk daily; the Nature Center is open 12:00 - 4:00 p.m. Friday- Sunday. At 830 acres (3.4 km2), Thorn Creek Nature Preserve lies at the headwaters of Thorn Creek and consists of bottomlands, ravines, and white-oak forests interspersed with marsh and meadows. The actual nature center is located inside of an old church right off Monee Road. It is two stories and contains a nature library and nature exhibits. The trail starts behind the church and heads east into the woods. The topography varies. The trail starts off on high land before dropping down into the Thorn Creek River Valley. It then crosses the creek and goes up and out of the valley, again. The terrain is pretty rugged, especially near the river and its tributaries, because they have cut many gorges and ravines.

Crete-Monee High School (CMHS) is a comprehensive public high school located in Crete, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago, in the United States. Known colloquially as Crete, the high school houses students representing the surrounding communities of Crete, Monee, University Park, and portions of Park Forest. The student body as of 2020 was 66.0% black, 16.6% white, 13.3% Hispanic, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% American Indian, and 3.6% of two or more races. As of 2016 the 4-year graduation rate was 89%, a full three percentage points higher than the Illinois state average of 86%.