While other suburbs experienced rapid growth during the 1960s and `70s even when they fought it, tiny Lynwood wasn`t able to achieve growth while fervently seeking it.
Today, 32 years after its founding, the southeast suburb is finally seeing some of its early dreams come true.
The 1990 census showed Lynwood had a population of 6,535, compared to 4,195 in 1980, a 56 percent increase. New and resale homes are in demand and attracting scores of young families drawn to affordable prices as well as the area`s semi-rural residential character, according to Ruth Gryzb, managing broker and co-owner of Re/Max South Suburban.
Originally settled by Dutch farmers, the Bloom Township community 24 miles south of Chicago`s Loop borders Lansing on the north and stretches south for several miles along the Illinois side of the Indiana state line.
In 1959 only 50 homes were sprinkled across the farmlands that made up the future village of Lynwood when 62 voters among the 186 residents cast ballots to approve incorporation by a vote of 52-10.
Proponents of incorporation argued that suburban growth was inevitable and the rural area needed a long-range insurance policy for regional planning. The prophesy rang true a year later when Lefcourt Realty Corp. began acquiring 1,500 acres of farmland after its research arm indicated the area would experience one of the fastest growth rates in the Chicago area by 1970. In 1962 plans were announced for a $150 million full-grown planned community of 16,000 residents with 4,000 single-family homes and 1,150 apartments, as well as churches, schools, a shopping center and a hospital.
The development was doomed, however, by the combination of local water and sewer problems and a weak overall housing market in the early 1960s, when few home buyers were interested in southeast Cook County.
Another planned community collapsed financially in 1968 before any of its projected 1,200 homes were built.
In 1972 Allied Homes came to Lynwood with plans for 5,000 units and a 50- acre shopping center on 610 acres. It was to have been modeled after the firm`s successful Brementowne development in southwest suburban Tinley Park, but three years later Allied was in the process of selling out after having built and sold only 310 housing units on 60 acres.
The village had received no sales tax money and had fewer than 1,300 residents scattered over its four square miles in 1973 when Faye Berkheiser, a resident since 1967, was elected village clerk, a post she has held ever since.
Berkheiser has witnessed a wealth of change in her once-struggling community.
”When I started as clerk, the village had two employees: the police chief and me,” she recalls. ”We shared a typewriter and all my official papers fitted in a briefcase plus an ordinance book.”
The volunteer fire department operated on a $10,000 annual budget with only three of its 22 volunteers available for daytime fire calls, a limitation that saddled the suburb with a rock-bottom fire rating of 10 and the residents with high fire insurance premiums.
A potential flooding problem loomed as development began to create more runoff during heavy rains, filling drainage canals along Torrence Avenue and Burnham Road that originally carried water from drain tiles in farmers`
fields.
More immediate, however, was the issue of water quality from the village`s well water system, a problem that officials say helped to block growth in the 1970s.
Residents said the water was foul-tasting and so salty it corroded the plumbing and left crusty white spots where it dried.
By 1975 a common sight on Friday – ”water night” – was people throwing jugs into their cars and calling on friends or relatives in nearby towns where the palatable drinking water had less mineral content.
”The village unquestionably was held back by water-sewer availability and the low level of population growth,” Berkheiser said.
Streets that suddenly began and ended with only clusters of three and four homes scattered through what once were onion fields marked a large section of Lynwood.
Sixteen years after incorporation, Lynwood had yet to see a major development reach completion.
As the village approached its 20th anniversary, hope for the future was renewed.
A 1978 master plan somewhat optimistically foresaw a population of 29,000 by the year 2000 and envisioned the creation of self-contained neighborhoods, each having its own schools, park and commercial district.
Planners targeted the northeast corner of Torrence Avenue and Glenwood-Dyer Road for development of stores and offices. Nearby would be a new village complex with administrative offices, police and fire stations. That plan has yet to be realized.
In 1979 Fosma Lands, Inc. acquired the Allied property bounded by Lake Lynwood Drive, Burnham Avenue, 201st Street and 202nd Street and began development of 400 single-family homes.
It was the beginning of a development turnaround for Lynwood in the 1980s, a surge that shows signs of accelerating through the `90s, Berkheiser said.
And that`s not all that`s changed, she added.
Under the leadership of Village President Barclay Fleming, the 1990 municipal budget of $1.5 million provided for 28 full-time employees, including 10 full-time and two part-time police officers.
The 28-man volunteer fire department is available around the clock, and the village has a class 7 fire rating that is reflected in lower insurance premiums.
Residents now receive Lake Michigan water via pipelines to Munster and Hammond, Ind.
Three parks serve the community, and village officials are preparing to develop a master plan for expanded park development.
Lansing School District 171, recognized for quality education, serves the fast-growing north section of Lynwood. The village is part of the Glenwood-Lynwood Library District.
”Although some of the village is still in a flood plain, there have been no major problems recently,” Berkheiser said.
”Storm sewers are being extended to additional areas and currently are going down Burnham Road to Glenwood-Dyer Road.”
More than one-third of the village land is still vacant, and Berkheiser said the sewer extensions will open these areas to new development.
Several independent contractors are building new homes in Lynwood. The major developer, however, is Stan Reinsma, a south suburban home builder for 30 years who since 1986 has built 250 homes in the southeast section of Lynwood Terrace subdivision. He will build another 40 to 50 homes this year.
Although Reinsma has a model home at 201st Street and Driftwood Avenue, home buyers select one of his six floor plans from blueprints or have him build from their own plans.
Reinsma`s three-step and straight ranch, two-story and bi-, tri- and quad- level homes are base priced from $102,000 to $139,000, including lot, central air conditioning, family room fireplace, range and dishwasher. The builder provides allowances for carpet, tile, cabinets and electrical fixtures.
The three- and four-bedroom homes have 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 baths, basements and two to 2 1/2-car attached garages.
The average price for a brick and frame three- or four-bedroom home less than 14 years old is $95,000, according to real estate broker Eddie Quinlan, who said most sales are to young families or empty nesters.
”This is a great place to raise families, and Lynwood represents a moveup market for a number of nearby south suburbs,” explained Gryzb, whose Re/Max South Suburban lists 75 to 80 homes a year.
Especially in demand, she said, are three-bedroom homes priced around $145,000 in the vicinity of Lake Lynwood, a 42-acre man-made lake.
”The appeal of Lynwood is its easy access to Interstate Highway 394
(Calumet Expressway), newer housing and semi-rural residential character,”
Gryzb said. ”Convenience strip centers in the village are supplemented by major retail centers in nearby Lansing and River Oaks shopping center in Calumet City.”
Gryzb`s market projections and Berkheiser`s community optimism were reflected in the comments of homeseekers Joe and Cindy Kajek, recent transplants to the Chicago area from Toledo.
Joe, 32, an accountant, and Cindy, 33, are parents of two young boys. Since last July they have rented a house in Calumet City while searching for a home to buy.
They say they`ve settled on selecting a home in Lynwood.
”We`re finding we can get more house for the dollar,” Joe said. ”It strikes us as quiet, and the kind of place where we`d like to raise our family.”
Cindy agreed. ”We`re kind of home-oriented,” she said. ”Night life isn`t important to us. We like to spend our time with our boys, and Lynwood seems to us as that kind of community.”
