Thorn Creek Nature Center and Preserve

University Park is a village in Will County with a small portion in Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a south suburb of Chicago. The village is one of the region's few planned communities; it was developed in the 1960s as Wood Hill, then Park Forest South, and finally University Park. Governors State University was established in the village in 1969. The village population was 7,145 at the 2020 census.

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.

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

Governors State University (Governors State, GSU, GovState, or GOVST) is a public university in University Park, Illinois. The 750 acres (3.0 km2) campus is located 30 miles (48 km) south of Chicago, Illinois. GSU was founded in 1969. It is a public university offering degree programs at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. GSU has four colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Education, and the College of Health and Human Services.

Richton Park is the penultimate station along the main branch of the Metra Electric line, in Richton Park, Illinois. It is located on Sauk Trail, east of Governor's Highway, and is 29.3 miles (47.2 km) away from the northern terminus at Millennium Station. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Richton Park is in zone F. As of 2018, Richton Park is the 47th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 1,059 weekday boardings. The station has two tracks and one island platform, with one of the tracks ending at the station. Richton Park was originally built by the Illinois Central Railroad in 1946, in order to be in close proximity to the south end of the "IC Electric" coach storage yard. It served as the terminus of the line until 1977, when the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority funded the construction of University Park station. Today, Richton Park station is a far more modern-looking structure. Parking is available on Sauk Trail between Governor's Highway and Richton Square Road, on Richton Road, Mill Drive, and along Tower Road.

University Park is a station on Metra's Metra Electric District line located in University Park, Illinois. University Park is the southern terminus of the Metra Electric main line and is 31.5 miles (50.7 km) away from the northern terminus at Millennium Station. The station is located on South Governor's Highway near West Stuenkel Road. In Metra's zone-based fare system, University Park is in zone G. As of 2018, University Park is the 64th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 808 weekday boardings.University Park station is located at grade level. The station consists of one island platform which serves two tracks; Canadian National tracks (ex-Illinois Central) parallel the Metra Electric tracks. The station has an unstaffed waiting room with a ticket vending machine. Parking is available at the station. University Park opened in 1977; Metra Electric service (then part of the Illinois Central Railroad) previously had terminated at Richton Park, the first stop after University Park.

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.

Sauk Trail Woods are located within the Cook County Forest Preserves in Park Forest and Chicago Heights, Illinois. They are part of the Thorn Creek Trail System. They contain miles of paved bike trails and off-trail dirt paths. Sauk Trail Woods contains Sauk Lake and Thorn Creek. The topography is fairly hilly, featuring ravines and steep, eroded hillsides. The elevation is the highest on the outskirts of the preserve. Then, as one goes into the Thorn Creek River Valley, you descend steep hills and sandy bluffs. There is an abundance of ravines that have been cut by creeks flowing into the valley. Many of the ravines are surprisingly deep near the bottom of the valley. Most of the Sauk Trail Woods Preserve is covered by dense woods, however there are some open prairie areas. In the northwest section of the woods, there is a fairly large marsh, that is surrounded by thick pampas grass and shallow bogs. The woods are located on the Valparaiso Moraine, which accounts for the hilliness of the area. There are many parking lots with pavilions situated throughout the preserve.

Matteson is one of two commuter rail stations along the Main Branch of the Metra Electric line which serve Matteson, Illinois. It is located at 215th and Main Streets, and is 28.2 miles (45.4 km) away from the northern terminus at Millennium Station. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Matteson station is in zone F. As of 2018, Matteson is the 86th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 591 weekday boardings.Matteson station was the terminus of the IC Electric line until 1946, when it was extended to Richton Park, in order to bring the cars closer to the south end of the "IC Electric" coach storage yard. Originally built in 1863, and rebuilt in 1912, it was the southernmost station to be built before the line was electrified in 1926. Matteson is built on elevated tracks near the embankment of a bridge over Front Street. This bridge also carries the Amtrak line that runs parallel to it, carrying the City of New Orleans, Illini, and Saluki trains. Parking is available on both sides of the tracks on the south side of Front Street and a parallel bicycle path. The west side parking lot is along Main Street between the Front Street and Main Street bridges, while the larger east side parking lot is within the Village of Matteson but is actually operated by the Village of Park Forest and located on the corner of North Street, Homan Avenue, and Front Street. A pedestrian tunnel which runs beneath the tracks, is also elevated and has staircases on each end connects the two parking lots. No bus connections are available at this station, but the Old Plank Road Trail offers a human-powered right-of-way going east and west. There is evidence of another island platform to the east of the current platform. This served the IC long-distance trains on a non-electrified double track line—the same tracks used by Amtrak today.

Richton Park is a village and a southern suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,775 at the 2020 census. The community was named after a Richton in Vermont, the native home of a first settler.

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.

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%.