Oak Park

Oak Park

$24.99

Publication Date: 26th November 2012

When Oak Park became a city in 1945, the community was not much different from the village that was carved out of Royal Oak Township 18 years earlier. Its population had barely increased, and there was just one paved road connecting Oak Park to Detroit; however, big changes were coming. Thousands of veterans returned home after World War II, started families, and bought homes with the assistance of the GI Bill. By 1950, Oak Park was recognized as Detroit's first northwest suburb. The residential character of the community was attractive to families, and in 1956 Oak Park was the nation's fastes... Read More
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When Oak Park became a city in 1945, the community was not much different from the village that was carved out of Royal Oak Township 18 years earlier. Its population had barely increased, and there was just one paved road connecting Oak Park to Detroit; however, big changes were coming. Thousands of veterans returned home after World War II, started families, and bought homes with the assistance of the GI Bill. By 1950, Oak Park was recognized as Detroit's first northwest suburb. The residential character of the community was attractive to families, and in 1956 Oak Park was the nation's fastes... Read More
Description
When Oak Park became a city in 1945, the community was not much different from the village that was carved out of Royal Oak Township 18 years earlier. Its population had barely increased, and there was just one paved road connecting Oak Park to Detroit; however, big changes were coming. Thousands of veterans returned home after World War II, started families, and bought homes with the assistance of the GI Bill. By 1950, Oak Park was recognized as Detroit's first northwest suburb. The residential character of the community was attractive to families, and in 1956 Oak Park was the nation's fastest-growing city. By 1976, the city's demographics were dramatically changing. In the 1980s, media stories focused on its extraordinary ethnic diversity within a population of 31,000. When the I-696 Freeway opened in 1990, what had once been a tiny rural village became the center of the region's network of expressways. Through all the changes, the family quality of Oak Park has endured, as illustrated by seven decades of photographs and personal recollections.
Details
  • Pages: 128
  • Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
  • Imprint: Arcadia Publishing
  • Series: Images of America
  • Publication Date: 26th November 2012
  • State: Michigan
  • Illustration Note: Black and White
  • ISBN: 9780738593883
  • Format: Paperback
  • BISACs:
    HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
    PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Historical
    TRAVEL / Pictorials (see also PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional)
    PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional (see also TRAVEL / Pictorials)
Author Bio
Author Gerald E. “Jerry” Naftaly served as mayor of Oak Park for 20 consecutive years and as councilman for 14 years prior. He is the author of Images of America: Oak Park. Several benchmarks in the history of Northland Mall coincided with important events in Naftaly's life. He was born in 1952, the year of Northland's ground breaking. His family moved to neighboring Oak Park in 1954, just after the mall's grand opening. During his professional career, store owners were his clients. Naftaly's mother, Grace, to whom this book is dedicated, passed away in March 2015 within weeks of Northland's closing.
When Oak Park became a city in 1945, the community was not much different from the village that was carved out of Royal Oak Township 18 years earlier. Its population had barely increased, and there was just one paved road connecting Oak Park to Detroit; however, big changes were coming. Thousands of veterans returned home after World War II, started families, and bought homes with the assistance of the GI Bill. By 1950, Oak Park was recognized as Detroit's first northwest suburb. The residential character of the community was attractive to families, and in 1956 Oak Park was the nation's fastest-growing city. By 1976, the city's demographics were dramatically changing. In the 1980s, media stories focused on its extraordinary ethnic diversity within a population of 31,000. When the I-696 Freeway opened in 1990, what had once been a tiny rural village became the center of the region's network of expressways. Through all the changes, the family quality of Oak Park has endured, as illustrated by seven decades of photographs and personal recollections.
  • Pages: 128
  • Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
  • Imprint: Arcadia Publishing
  • Series: Images of America
  • Publication Date: 26th November 2012
  • State: Michigan
  • Illustrations Note: Black and White
  • ISBN: 9780738593883
  • Format: Paperback
  • BISACs:
    HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
    PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Historical
    TRAVEL / Pictorials (see also PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional)
    PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional (see also TRAVEL / Pictorials)
Author Gerald E. “Jerry” Naftaly served as mayor of Oak Park for 20 consecutive years and as councilman for 14 years prior. He is the author of Images of America: Oak Park. Several benchmarks in the history of Northland Mall coincided with important events in Naftaly's life. He was born in 1952, the year of Northland's ground breaking. His family moved to neighboring Oak Park in 1954, just after the mall's grand opening. During his professional career, store owners were his clients. Naftaly's mother, Grace, to whom this book is dedicated, passed away in March 2015 within weeks of Northland's closing.