Western Springs encompasses 2.32 square miles. The Village's population is mostly professionals including lawyers, doctors, engineers, and other management personnel. The Burlington Northern commuter trains takes people downtown. Residents who can walk to the station should consider themselves lucky. There's at least a one-year wait for permit parking.

Students in the city are served by District 101 with three elementary schools and one junior high. These schools are within the Village. District 106, LaGrange Highlands, is a combined elementary and junior high campus, LaGrange Highlands School, lies immediately adjacent to the community and serves about one-quarter of the Village residents. District 204, Lyons Township High School District, has two campuses. South High School is located in the Village and serves the freshman and sophomore classes. North High School serves the juniors and seniors and is located in nearby LaGrange.

Shopping is convenient. Plaza shopping facilities are available at the Garden Market, and a picturesque downtown shopping district continues to grow with ample parking available. Oak Brook Center, Yorktown and Orland Square malls are easily accessible.

The Recreation Department offers a full range of activities through its two recreation centers and numerous programs in the parks. Programs range from summer camps, tennis instruction, sports, after school activities, basketball classes, early childhood and toddler groups, dance, music, day care, science, adult fitness and leagues. The Park District maintains over 80 acres of parks and provides 10 neighborhood parks, one community park, 15 tennis courts, and several soccer and ball fields.

The Theatre of Western Springs is an area highlight having received critical acclaim time and again. A community pool is available on a membership-fee basis. The Bemis Woods Forest Preserve is north of the Village along Salt Creek and offers picnic areas, bike trails, toboggan runs, cross country skiing, and nature studies. Nearly a dozen golf and country clubs are within five miles of the community.

For most of its early history, the Village of Western Springs, incorporated in 1886, was just a part of the vast holdings of the Potawatamie Indians. In 1836, shortly after the Black Hawk Wars, the Potawatamie sold their lands for $30,000 in trade goods. One of the main groups to settle in Western Springs was the Quakers. Western Springs became a quiet, sparsely populated Quaker community for many years until Thomas Clarkson Hill, a leader in the Quakers, convinced the Burlington railroad line to make regular stops. The development of the Village might have been more rapid if the mineral springs, for which the town was named, had not disappeared. Today Western Springs is home to a charming downtown business district and tree-lined streets.

 

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