Country Club Hills School District 160

Community Background

In 1958, residents of Cooper’s Grove voted to incorporate their community in order to control the development around them.  The name of Country Club Hills was selected for the newly incorporated City.  From its inception, Country Club Hills was designed to be a bedroom community.  The original City plan intended to maintain the City’s rural atmosphere in a suburban setting.  Open space and the dedication of parklands were required in order to maintain the rural atmosphere.  In 1989, the City’s Strategic Policy Planning process resulted in a call for a restructuring of the City’s historic land use patterns.  The new strategic plan recommended increasing the amount of potential, additional residential development.  The plan recognized the need to diversify the tax base and provide greater opportunities for economic expansion, and to maintain the original character of the community.  It is this combination that helps to make Country Club Hills an attractive choice for families.

District History

• Early records of the area indicate that in the 1880’s a one-room schoolhouse was opened on the corner of 183rd and Cicero Avenue.  Jane Condon is recorded as taking over the teaching job from its first teacher, Lucille Rinkenberger, who retired in 1941 and was awarded the salary of $1,035.00 and had a curriculum of English, reading writing, German and translating.  However, by 1943, there were not enough students to keep the school open.  After World War II, the school was reopened with teacher, Hazel Charlesworth, greeting 29 students.
• In 1952, the one room school was partitioned off so that Emma Wagner could teach grades 1 – 4 and Carolyn O’Neill could have a separate space for the upper grades. The school became so crowded that a new school building was approved in February of 1953 by the Board of Directors.
• The final four graduates of Cooper’s Grove School received their diplomas on Sunday, May 24, 1953 at a special ceremony attended by Noble J. Puffer, Cook County Superintendent of Schools, residents and board members, Fred Niemeyer and Theodore Nietfeldt. 
• Cooper’s Grove School was closed shortly after on April 4, 1956, the land and the schoolhouse were sold. 
• By 1958, the population of Country Club Hills was large enough to support a full time seven-person Board of Education and a Superintendent of Schools was hired.
• School District 160 has grown to include three schools (Zenon J. Sykuta School, formerly Willowview Elementary founded in 1959; Meadowview School built in 1971; and, Southwood Middle School established in 1973) with a population of over 1500 students served by a staff of over 150 employees.