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The Holabird & Roche Connection
The architect on record for the facility is Holabird & Root/Roche (check timing). This downtown Chicago architect firm already had in finished form a variety of ground-breaking buildings in the downtown Chicago area, so one might expect advanced and innovative features in their design. However, reports issued a few years later mention scant hygiene facilities, including toilets and showers, which was contrary to the efforts of the hygiene movement being driven in many ways by the frequent outbreaks and spread of tuberculousis. With friendly historical connections to Ossian Cole Simonds, who left the firm in 1883 to go on to focus on the now famous Graceland Cemetary, amongst other notable landscapes and golf courses, little care and concern seems to have gone into the blending of the architectural needs of such a facility with the need for pleasant landscape as a worthwhile investment of resources. In addition, this firm was operating quite successfully in an era when Daniel Hudson Burnham was busy sculpting his visions for Chicago, including the 1893 World Columbian Exposition.

The buildings designed for the Oak Forest Infirmary were not very notable on many levels, from function to facade and elements in between.

The Oak Forest Infirmary Train "Station"
It is believed the Oak Forest Infirmary had a spur built off of the Chicago, Rock Island Railroad so that there were two separate train stations serving passengers within a small vicinity. One was apparently a whistle-stop for passengers not necessarily of the Oak Forest Infirmary while the other stop led up to the entrance of the facility, i.e. the station. There is no evidence as to the pick-up and drop-off station(s) and schedule of such specific transportation demands, however it is clear there was intent to have access to the entrance of the facility via the railroad. In estimating such logistics, there is the matter of the Blue Island-Midlothian Railroad operating not much of a distance from the Oak Forest Infirmary Station. It is not unreasonable to consider some sort of arrangement for the Blue Island-Midlothian Railroad to provide direct-connect service to and from the train station known as "Midlothian," although one question is whether or not any railway cars were dedicated to bringing a passenger to the entrance of the Oak Forest Infirmary. It was also not lost on some the irony of having advertisements for funeral services right at the entrance to the grounds at what is now the intersection of 159th and Cicero Avenue. Some were offended, as noted in _____________, however one funeral home was physically across the street on the Cicero side where the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve is now situated and one funeral home was located __________________.

Indian Remains Discovered
With no records of any archeological discoveries during the original digging of the Oak Forest Infirmary property, in ____ construction began on a driveway(?) portion of the property and was quickly brought to a halt. The __________ was contacted and eventually led to many new questions about the first settlers of the Bremen Township area. It was initially thought that ____________, however it was eventually determined that the _______ tribe was at least busy building items pirmarily out of clay. The most confusing for archeologists was the question of whether or not a burial ground ever existed in some capacity nearby the excavation site, to which there is no concrete evidence at this point, despite limited extended exploration.

There is the possibility that such a site was removed during the original construction phase of the Oak Forest Infirmary in 1908 and perhaps never noted or even noticed. There is equal possibility that a discovery had been made and either dismissed or even privately excavated.

Alternate Identities
Referenced in 1911 County meeting minutes as the Cook County Poor Farm or the Poor Farm at Oak Forest, Illinois.(2) Although there may have been a state-level government act to codify the area as "Oak Forest" in a topographical manner similar to the act passed naming an area "Blue Island" over "Portland" on maps, the City of Oak Forest was not formally incorporated until 1947.(3)  It was common for small geographical areas to adopt a name for their territory, although the roots to where it came from are unclear. While it could have been a community-driven identity or one adopted by government record-keepers for specific codification purposes.

Other known identities are The Cook County Almshouse, Cook County Poorhouse, Cook County Infirmary, Oak Forest Infirmary, Cook County Old-Age Home, and Oak Forest Tuberculosis Hospital

Despite its adoption of "Oak Forest" in its name over the decades, the property has always resided outside of the city's jurisdiction and never was annexed to the city.

Opening Activities
Some form of fund raising was engaged in, whether it was soliciting funds from

Potters Field at Oak Forest Hospital
The label of "Potters Field" was derived from __________ and representative of a final act of perhaps dignity or even mercy upon the physical existence of a fellow human being having once taken their last breath before ceasing all recognizable biological activity.

Mixed Reviews
Although there are reports of impropriety and dysfunction inside the governance of the facility over the decades, there are others that remember the area with fondness, especially the naturally rolling landscape and opportunity for picnics, as well as the economic development around the 159th and Cicero Avenue intersection. Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve hosts picnic areas and a bike path on the north side of 159th, along with ____________. Combined with the hills on the Oak Forest Hospital property on the south side of 159th, it can be a pleasant stretch of roadway for drivers. Despite battles over parking availability for commuters using the Metra line, a CVS took over a swath of what was once a part of the parking area for the Oak Forest train station and the station itself just underwent a major renovation. A variety of businesses decorate the west side of Cicero Avenue and the south side of 159th, along with a commercial landmark of a tin man over a heating and air service company at the southwest corner of the intersection. The care and condition of the two cemeteries has deteriorated over the years and a reservoir was eventually built around the intersection of 167th and Cicero.