The Village of Oak Brook

The Village of Oak Brook was a wonderful vision of our founder Paul Butler.  Mr. Butler began purchasing property from the farmers around in 1937.  He accumulated about 3600 acres.  The area which is now Oak Brook had fewer than three hundred families when World War II began.

The Oak Brook Civic Association was formed in 1942 as a Civil Defense Group.  This organization is still active in the community and mails a monthly newsletter to all residents (numbering over 3000 families at this time).

In 1946 the Oak Brook Hounds, a fox hunt, was organized and continued in Oak Brook until the mid-1960s.  This was begun by Ted Mohlman, who worked for Paul Butler and became the first village president.  Horse shows were held on Sports Core then owned by Paul Butler until the mid-1970s and were run by various volunteer groups to benefit first our volunteer fire department and later the library.

In 1953 the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority was created by the Illinois Legislature and sold bonds to build three toll highways.  Two of the three were to pass through our areas and would have intersected in Mr. Butler's polo fields.  He persuaded the Authority to move both roads the tri-state (294) to move east to the countyline and the East-West (88) to move north to the northern boundary of his property.

Paul Butler Incorporated his land and Oak Brook became a Village on February 21, 1958.  Several other parcels of land were annexed to the original core during the ensuing years to make what we now know as Oak Brook.