OLYMPIA FIELDS, IL

Olympia Fields is a village and a south suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,988 at the 2010 census. The municipality grew up around the prestigious Olympia Fields Country Club, originally established in 1915.

Olympia Fields is noteworthy as one of the wealthiest and best educated, majority African-American communities in the United States. The village's zip code (60461) is one of three majority African American communities which rank among the top five percent in the U.S. for median household income and share of adults with college degrees, and Olympia Fields also has the highest black homeownership rate in the country among majority-black municipalities.

History

The area that comprises the village today was once farmland managed by immigrant families during the 1830s. The Illinois Central Railroad began serving the area in the 1850s, which fostered population and economic growth during that era.

In 1893, the Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago, and southern Cook County became an increasingly popular retreat for busy Chicagoans. By 1913, the area's lush woodlands and rolling terrain convinced a group of investors led by Charles Beach to establish a golf course catering to Chicago's wealthy elite. Beach and his friend James Gardner developed a magnificent 72-hole golf course and country club, chartered in 1915 as Olympia Fields Country Club. Amos Alonzo Stagg, the famed football coach of the University of Chicago, became the Club's first president. The name "Olympia" was proposed by Stagg. The word "Fields" was added because it aptly described the young community's pastoral terrain.

In the early 20th century, golf and the resort atmosphere in the area south of Chicago because so popular that some families lived in canvas-covered "cottages" during the summer months, while others built more permanent homes on the western side of the railroad tracks beginning as early as 1919. The clubhouse, built in 1924, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The golf course is considered one of the finest in the nation. It was home to the 1928 and 2003 U.S. Open, the 1925 and 1961 PGA Championship, the 1997 U.S. Senior Open, the 1927, 1933 and 1968 Western Open, the 2015 U.S. Amateur Championship, the 2017 Women's PGA Championship and the 2020 BMW Championship.

The country club's founder, Charles Beach, organized the effort to incorporate the residential areas around the Country Club as a municipality, and in 1927, the Village of Olympia Fields was created with Beach as its first president. His home, built to reflect the design and character of the Country Club, still stands at the southwest corner of Kedzie Avenue and 203rd Street. Today, the grounds of the Country Club remain unincorporated, outside the jurisdiction of the Olympia Fields village government.

Olympia Fields has received the Tree City USA award for many years of having demonstrated a commitment to caring for and managing the village's public trees.

Geography

Olympia Fields is located at (41.518290, -87.692744).

According to the 2010 census, Olympia Fields has a total area of , of which (or 99.86%) is land and (or 0.14%) is water.

Demographics

2020 census

Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race

As of the 2015 ACS 5-Year census estimate of 2015, there were 4,836 people, 1,860 households, and 1,339 families residing in the village.

There were 1,860 households, out of which 22.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them. The average household size was 2.57, and the average family size was 3.09.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 15.5% under the age of 18, 15.6% from 19 to 40, 39.2% from 41 to 64, and 29.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 53.3 years.

Government

Olympia Fields is in Illinois's 2nd congressional district. The current president is Sterling M. Burke.

Transportation

The Village of Olympia Fields is located between Vollmer Road and US Route 30 (Lincoln Highway), two miles east of Interstate 57.

Two stations on the Metra Electric Main Line are located in Olympia Fields, providing easy access to the Chicago Loop and the University of Chicago. The Olympia Fields station is located on 203rd St., two blocks east of Kedzie Avenue, in the northern part of the village while the 211th Street (Lincoln Highway) station is in the southern part. Express trains from these stations reach the Randolph Street Station on Michigan Avenue in approximately 40 minutes. Both stations have daily parking facilities.

Education

While the majority of the village is served by Arcadia Elementary School in Olympia Fields, a small portion of the village is served by Western Avenue Elementary School in Flossmoor.

Although most of Olympia Fields' students attend Arcadia (K-3) through third grade, school assignments get confusing from there. The Arcadia students head to Indiana School (grades 4-6) in Park Forest, O.W. Huth Middle School (grades 7-8) in Matteson, then back to Olympia Fields for high school. Students from "Graymoor" and "The Greens" neighborhoods go to school in Flossmoor. Students who live in the Greens attend Flossmoor schools until eighth grade, then attend Rich Central for High School. Students who live in Graymoor attend Flossmoor schools from kindergarten until twelfth grade. The "Wysteria" neighborhood students study in Chicago Heights.

Students from Olympia Fields attend six different public school districts: Elementary Districts 161, 162 and 170 and High School Districts 206, 227 and 233.

Nearby Private Schools

Colleges & Universities

The METRA train service has two stations in the Village which makes for easy access to many universities located in Chicago. The average commute to downtown Chicago from Olympia Fields is 45 minutes. From there, bus service is available to most locations.

Notable people