BlockBefore

Oak Lawn, Illinois

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Worth Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60453. The Survey maps it on the Palos Park quadrangle. 58,362 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 597 feet above sea level.

Oak Lawn within Cook County

On record in Oak Lawn

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Oak Lawn grew from 56,690 to 58,362 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201056,690
202058,362+1,672 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 27 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

1 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Oak Lawn in 2005, burning under an acre in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 June 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cook County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Oak Lawn: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Worth PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Yard No. 22 Clay PitClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cook County

Storms near this place

29 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oak Lawn in 29 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 21 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 flood, 1 flash flood. The reports record 5 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2010Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn3 hurtA large tent was blown down on 15 people at Greek Fest. Three people were injured.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn2 hurt, $5,000Strong winds damaged the roof of St. Lawrence High School as well as to a nearby baseball field dugout. Two people near the dugout were injured. A man had part of the dugout roof land on his leg and a teenage boy was struck in the head by a brick. Both were were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
November 2013Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn$50,000A roof was blown off a gas station at 99th and Cicero. Tree limbs and power lines were blown down across town.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Large tree limbs were broken near 102nd Street and Alice Court.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A wind gust to 72 mph was measured.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Multiple trees were blown down on the north side of Oak Lawn.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A wind gust to 68 mph was measured. Tree limbs 2 inches in diameter were broken.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Photos shared showed multiple large limbs snapped off of mature cottonwood trees at a park near 107th and Laramie Roads in Oak Lawn.
February 2024HailOak Lawn-A report of 1.5 hail was relayed via mPING.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A large tree limb was blown down blocking portions of 97th Street and Menard Avenue.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A photo shared on social media showed a healthy tree limb roughly five inches in diameter snapped near Cicero Avenue and 106th Street.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A tree and wires were blown down on Kostner Avenue around 99th Street.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A large tree was uprooted in Oak Lawn.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A tree was blown down on Central Avenue south of 95th Street.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Large trees and tree limbs were blown down, some blocking roads.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A four inch diameter tree branch fell through a windshield and a six inch diameter branch fell onto a car. Near 97th and Kenneth, a one foot diameter branch from a healthy maple tree was blown down. Scattered tree limbs of varying sizes were blown down throughout town.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Tree branches were reported down across Oak Lawn. Winds were estimated to 60 mph.
May 2012HailOak Lawn-Multiple reports of hail to the size of quarters were received from Oak Lawn.
May 2012Flash FloodOak Lawn-Torrential rain fell across portions of southern Cook County causing roadways to be closed due to flooding. Kedzie Avenue was flooded between 87th Street and 103rd Street. Cicero Avenue was also closed near 103rd Street. A report from a mile south-southwest of Oak Lawn indicated that 2.70 inches of rain fell in just an hour with a storm total of 3.20 inches. Another report from 3 miles southwest of Midway Airport indicated that 0.85 inches of rain fell in 15 minutes.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Approximately 50 trees were blown down or damaged in Oak Lawn. Numerous tree limbs were also blown down. Wind gusts were estimated between 70 and 80 mph.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-A large tree was blown down across the road near 103rd Street and Kostner Avenue.
June 2010FloodOak Lawn-Six to seven inches of standing water was reported at the intersection of 103rd Street and Cicero Avenue.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Tree limbs were blown down near Southwest Highway and 53rd Court with estimated wind gusts to 75 mph.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Blowing wood planks from a building under construction in the 5200 block of west 95th street caused damage and broken windows to garages in the area. Tree limbs were also blown down.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindOak Lawn-Thunderstorm winds tore the roof off a three-story apartment building.
March 2025HailOak Lawn-no account filed
May 2024HailOak Lawn-no account filed
March 2017HailOak Lawn-no account filed
April 2017HailOak Lawn-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cook County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Chicago Ridge1.3 miles27
Burbank2.0 miles27
Hazel Green2.1 miles25
Hometown2.2 miles25
Worth2.5 miles27
Mount Greenwood2.8 miles25
Evergreen Park3.1 miles25
Alsip3.1 miles25

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Oak LawnAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1007947The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 414834. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.