Olympia Fields, Illinois

Olympia Fields is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,988 at the 2010 census. The municipality grew up around the prestigious Olympia Fields Country Club, originally established in 1915. Olympia Fields has one of the lowest crime rates in the Chicago metropolitan area, and it is also noteworthy as one of the wealthiest "majority black" communities in the United States.

Along with the neighboring villages of Homewood and Flossmoor, Olympia Fields has the lowest crime rate in the Southland of Cook County. Homewood ranks third, Flossmoor second, and Olympia Fields first.

History

The area that comprises the village today was once farmland managed by immigrant families during the 1830s. The Illinois Central Railroad began serving the area in the 1850s, which fostered population and economic growth during that era.

In 1893, the Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago, and southern Cook County became an increasingly popular retreat for busy Chicagoans. By 1913, the area's lush woodlands and rolling terrain convinced a group of investors led by Charles Beach to establish a golf course catering to Chicago's wealthy elite. Beach and his friend James Gardner developed a magnificent 72-hole golf course and country club, chartered in 1915 as Olympia Fields Country Club. Amos Alonzo Stagg, the famed football coach of the University of Chicago, became the Club's first president. The name "Olympia" was proposed by Stagg. The word "Fields" was added because it aptly described the young community's pastoral terrain.

Olympia Fields station

Olympia Fields is a station on Metra's Metra Electric Line located in Olympia Fields, Illinois. The station is located on 203rd Street two blocks east of Kedzie Avenue and is adjacent to the Olympia Fields Country Club. Olympia Fields is 26.56 miles (42.74 km) from Millennium Station, the northern terminus of the Metra Electric Line. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Olympia Fields is located in zone F.

The station is on a solid-fill elevated structure and consists of one island platform which serves the Metra Electric Line's two tracks. The right-of-way also carries three Amtrak lines, the City of New Orleans, Illini and Saluki. Although the tracks are on an elevated fill, it is only high enough for a pedestrian underpass to the Olympia Fields Country Club. 203rd Street is a dead end street at the station. None of the Amtrak trains stop here. There is no ticket agent at Olympia Fields, but tickets may be purchased from a vending machine in the waiting room.

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