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150th Anniversary Events

Oak Park and River Forest High School is turning 150! Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, we'll be celebrating our sesquicentennial in all kinds of ways. Stay tuned for more information on the events below.

Booster Club Kickoff at Cheney Mansion
Wednesday, Aug. 16, 5-9 p.m.

Homecoming Weekend
Sept. 22-23
  • Friday, Sept. 22: Alumni Walkabout, 6:15 p.m. 
    • All alums welcome! Meet at Lake Street and East Avenue at 6:15 p.m. 
    • Alumni will stroll around the football field prior to the Homecoming game v. Downers Grove North (kickoff at 7:30 p.m.).
    • So that we know which classes will be represented, please click here to RSVP.
    • Questions? Email Pati Dossey at patilor@comcast.net.
  • Saturday, Sept. 23: Alumni tours of the high school, 9:30 - 11:00 a.m., meet in North Cafeteria

Grand Opening of "Ever Changing, Yet the Same: OPRF High School at 150"
Wednesday, Oct. 4, 7:00 p.m.
Oak Park River Forest History Museum (129 Lake St., Oak Park)

For the next two years, this exhibit will feature memorabilia, yearbooks, school spirit wear from throughout the decades, photos, dance bids, scrapbooks, and a wide range of other artifacts that will help tell the rich story of OPRF, which enrolled its first students in 1873 in a classroom at Lake and Forest and graduated its first three alumni in 1877. The exhibit was developed with the assistance of a grant from the Oak Park and River Forest High School Alumni Association and in partnership with the Sesquicentennial Steering Committee, comprising faculty, staff, residents, students, and alumni.

That grand opening doubles as the first of monthly A Night at the Museum events to be held the first Wednesday night through May 2024 (see below). 

Tale of the Tombstones
Sunday, Oct. 15, noon
Forest Home Cemetery (863 Des Plaines Ave., Forest Park)
Oak Park River Forest History Museum’s annual Tale of the Tombstones walking tour of Forest Home Cemetery will use the sesquicentennial as its theme this year. The tour will include the story of Walter Gale, one of the first three OPRF graduates; May Estelle Cook, a Tradition of Excellence inductee and graduate from the 1880s who taught at Austin High School for decades; and Dorothy Charlton Kerr, an OPRF basketball player from around 1904 who later was the first woman elected to the Oak Park Village Board in the 1930s.

Night at the Museum
First Wednesdays, October 2023 - May 2024, 7 p.m.
Oak Park River Forest History Museum (129 Lake St., Oak Park)

Join us for special themed nights to be held the first Wednesday night through May 2024; the series name is inspired by 1988 OPRF graduate and comedian Tom Lennon, who co-wrote the popular A Night at the Museum movies. The Nov. 1 Night at the Museum will focus on stories of the Science Fiction Club.   

Saturday, April 27 - more details to come!

Alumni/Student Performing Arts Showcase

Huskie Pride Community Picnic
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 1-4 p.m. on the OPRF Mall

Featuring legendary alumni band the Jade '50s!