Park Ridge is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago.

The soil is abundant with clay deposits, which made it a brick-making center for the developing city of Chicago.

Park Ridge was originally called Pennyville to honor George Penny, the businessman who owned the local brickyard along with Robert Meacham.

Chicago is south and east of Park Ridge, and Niles and unincorporated Maine Township are to its north.

The area was a convenient portage between the Des Plaines and Chicago rivers for the French explorers and in the early 1830s, the first settlers arrived from New England and New York.

Due to the brickwork and the abundance of clay, Park Ridge was nicknamed "Brickton" by locals.

[6] In 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a graduate of the first class of Park Ridge's Maine South High School (1965) and former First Lady, was the Democratic candidate for President of the United States.

In the 1980s, the Pickwick's facade was one of many used as the backdrop for the opening credits of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's At the Movies.

At one point there were nine public K–6 elementary schools: Oakton, Madison, Edison, Merrill, Carpenter, Field, Franklin, Roosevelt, and Washington.

Jefferson School is also part of the district and houses the special needs preschool for children ages 3 and 4.

District 207 shares student-run radio and television stations operating with the call letters WMTH-FM (W Maine Township High).

Actor Harrison Ford, known for his roles in the Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Blade Runner movies, went to Maine East, and has been credited as being the radio station's first sports announcer.

Pace provides bus service on multiple routes connecting Park Ridge to destinations across the region.

[23] Park Ridge is also the hometown of movie stars Carrie Snodgress, Karen Black, Suzanne Snyder and Harrison Ford.

The first U.S. citizen to be canonized, Mother Frances Cabrini, attended St. Paul of the Cross Church and owned a farm at the north edge of Park Ridge.

[24] Actor Harrison Ford, known for his roles in the Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Blade Runner movies, went to Maine East, and has been credited as being the radio station's first sports announcer.