South Cook News

Flossmoor was once richer than tony North Shore suburbs like Winnetka and Glencoe.

And Olympia Fields was richer than Lake Forest and River Forest.

On June 11, 1969-- 55 years ago today-- the Chicago Tribune reported on a DePaul University study ranking the "wealthiest Chicago suburbs" with Flossmoor ranking third and Olympia Fields, sixth.

In 1969, Flossmoor's median home value ($406,252 in 2024 dollars) was higher than Winnetka's ($394,129). 

The median home value in Olympia Fields ($394,174) in 1969 topped Lake Forest ($385,121).

Over the past five plus decades, median home values in Flossmoor ($329,112 / -19 percent) and Olympia Fields ($320,846/ - 19 percent) have fallen by one fifth, while in Winnetka ($1.527M/ +288 percent) and Lake Forest ($1.061M/+175 percent), they have soared.

The top twenty wealthiest suburbs in order, per the 1969 study, were Kenilworth, Barrington Hills, Flossmoor, Winnetka, Glencoe, Olympia Fields, Lake Forest, River Forest, Northfield, Lincolnwood, Highland Park, Hinsdale, Wilmette, Deerfield, Lake Bluff, Northbrook, Glenview, Park Ridge, Riverside, Clarendon Hills, Western Springs, Skokie, Glen Ellyn, Morton Grove and Elmhurst.

Of the top 20, two were south suburbs, seven west suburbs and eleven north/northwest suburbs.

Olympia Fields had "one new Cadillac for every six new cars of other makes"

A 1973 Chicago Tribune report citing auto registration figures for the past three months of 1972 ranked Olympia Fields as the Cadillac Capital of Chicagoland.

"In South Suburban Olympia Fields, an obscure hamlet that suddenly burgeoned forth as the second-wealthiest town in the Chicago area, there was one new Cadillac for every six new cars of other makes-- the second-highest proportion in the entire Chicago area," the report said. "Flossmoor, Glencoe, Northbrook, River Forest, Riverside, all affluent towns, all registered consipicuously large flotillas of Cadillacs."

The populations of Olympia Fields, Flossmoor and adjacent south suburbs changed dramatically, starting in the 1980s, as government subsidized housing programs were introduced in the area.

A U.S. Housing and Urban Development report found that, in 1984, 56 percent of Cook County's Section 8 subsidized housing was in the south suburbs, up from just 34 percent in 1979.

That number spiked to 70 percent by 1989.

According to the 1980 U.S. Census, Flossmoor had 7,798 white residents and 297 black residents. Olympia Fields had 3,756 white residents and 207 black residents.

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Flossmoor had 3,019 white residents and 5,707 black residents. Olympia Fields had 715 white residents and 3,683 black residents

Financed by the federal and state government and the Hospital Planning Council of Chicago, the study was conducted by DePaul urban affairs professor Pierre De Vise. 

Devise, who died in 2004 at age 79, was a native of Brussels.