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Thornton Junior College was founded in 1927 as an extension of  Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois. The 1965 Illinois Community College Act enlarged the service area to include additional high school districts, and in 1969 the school’s name was changed to Thornton Community College to better reflect the mission and goals of the college.

The school relied on tax dollars to support its mission, and throughout its history urged residents to vote yes at tax referendums. 1986 was a particularly fraught year for the school, when the need for a tax increase coincided with a six-week long teachers’ strike that led to the temporary closure of the school. 

In 1987, the two referendum proposals meant to address the college’s projected $1 million deficit failed. At the time, it was the eighth time in 21 years that voters had turned down a tax increase, and the school had both the lowest tax rates and the highest tuition of any of Illinois’ community colleges.   

In 1988, the name was changed again and the school became known as South Suburban College, which better reflects its geographic location and the fact a majority of its students hailed from outside of Thornton Township. The name change was also part of an advertising strategy to show a break with the college’s past and the many changes that were made following the tumult of the 1986 teacher’s strike. By 1989, a school that many had feared would go bankrupt was back in the pink.

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Tinley Park’s Fire Department was founded in 1901. They have been providing the area with fire services and information through community outreach and programs focusing on fire prevention, investigation, and education to advance public safety, making them very active in the community. The Tinley Park Fire Dept. was once volunteer based, but as the town of Tinley Park has expanded, the fire department has had to expand as well to better serve the community. There are now 4 strategically placed fire houses in the area. To ensure they are all fully staffed, firefighters are scheduled and paid per call, this change happening in 1976. The over 125 firefighters are scheduled part-time at one of the 4 fire-houses with a few key positions, such as fire chief, being full time.

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The Village of Tinley Park was incorporated in 1892, but the area was already being settled as the 1830s. As the country’s railroad empire was growing, the Village of Bremen was located on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad lines in 1853. This influenced the Village’s rapid expansion, and in 1890 the name Bremen was changed to Tinley Park, in honor of the Village’s first railroad station agent, Samuel Tinley Sr.

Today, Tinley Park is best known throughout the Chicago area for its world-renowned Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre entertainment venue that seats 28,000. After its centennial (1992), Tinley Park from the late 20th century to the present has been focused on renovation of its downtown historic district. Landowners are encouraged to maintain the historic edifices or to create new, historically friendly facades for otherwise non-historic buildings built in the last 30 years.

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GEM Electric Supply Inc., located in Illinois, is a wholesale distributor of "electrical supplies, lighting fixtures, hardware, and home furnishings”. The company was founded in 1970 by Bill Conrad and John Manning. There are four different store locations; the Alsip location was opened in August of 1994. The Alsip building was the largest acquired by GEM, and the extra space allowed the business to expand to more goods than just electrical supplies. The company is family owned and run with three generations having managed the stores.

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Illinois Bell was a local operator of the Bell Corporation starting in 1877. In 1984, the Bell Corporation was determined to be in violation of antitrust laws, and was ordered to break up into seven, "Baby Bells," including Ameritech, which inherited the Illinois Bell Company. Illinois Bell kept its name until the 1990s when Ameritech changed it for marketing purposes. Several of the baby bell companies have gone on to become major phone providers in the US, such as AT&T and Verizon.

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Arlene’s Catering was a food service business run by Arlene Kmak in the Chicago suburb of Blue Island. The business operated as early as 1967 when it appeared in a newspaper article for catering an event held by the Blue Island Evening Women’s Club. Kmak and her business were very involved in local community events helping to stage an Easter bread sale at St. Donatus church, giving a presentation on wedding catering at the 1974 Kline’s Spring and Summer Bridal Show, and being a co-chairmen for the Mother of Sorrows Home and School Guild Fashion Show. In 1991, she was part of a group of business and community leaders to organize a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for local families of military personnel serving in the Gulf War. Arlene’s Catering donated all of the food to the event. Kmak died in 2011.

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See more innovative and unique buttons in action on the Busy Beaver blog.

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Learn more about the History of Flapper Buttons on the Busy Beaver blog.

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