Lake Forest Park celebrates 50 years

1961 - A year to remember.

• In 1961 the cost of an average house was $12,500, the average income was $5,315, and a gallon of gas was $.27.
• Pampers, the first disposable diaper was introduced.
• The "Freedom Riders" integrated interstate buses into the South.

People went to the movies to see The Absent-Minded Professor, Breakfast at Tiffany's, West Side Story and 101 Dalmatians.  

On TV they were viewing Wagon Train, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Red Skelton Show, Andy Griffith and Candid Camera.  

The radio was playing Patsy Cline releases "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy,” Wonderland by Night" Bert Kaempfert. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles, "Calcutta" by Lawrence Welk, "Pony Time"  by Chubby Checker and Elvis Presley’s "Surrender."

Books of the year were Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, Lewis Mumford, the City in History and J. D, Salinger's Franny and Zooey.

And the City of Lake Forest Park was incorporated.

In 1961, citizens banded together and incorporated. The Town of Lake Forest Park was born. Incorporation gave residents a voice in how to accommodate themselves within the ever-expanding metropolitan ring. Since incorporation, the city has annexed the areas that were added to the original development in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Modern-day boundaries of the city serpentine along the hills and ridges, just as they did when it was first planned. The city is now home to almost 13,000 people.

The first City Council met in 1961. The undated photo lists "Town Fathers," (standing councilmembers) Herbert Metke, C.R. Middleton, Dr. C.H. Feasel and James W. Hunt, (seated) D.R. Whiting , treasurer, Francis E Holman, mayor and E.E. Raymond, councilmember.

More history on the city website