Oak Brook: Mall, Mill, McDonald's and More!

Oak Brook was incorporated as a Village in 1958, due in large part to the efforts of Paul Butler, a prominent civic leader and landowner whose father had first moved to the vicinity in 1898 and opened a dairy farm shortly thereafter. Prior to incorporation, the name Oak Brook was used by local residents to distinguish their community from neighboring Hinsdale and Elmhurst.

The original boundaries were smaller than the present extent of the Village, but a considerable amount of land was acquired soon after the founding of the Village, including the land that is now the site of the Oakbrook Center shopping mall, which opened in 1962, and which is considered one of the most exclusive shopping malls both in suburban Chicago and in the United States. Oakbrook Center is the largest open-air premier shopping center in the country! Always on the cutting edge of fashion, Oakbrook Center was voted the #1 shopping destination by Illinois shoppers. It boasts six major department stores and over 160 upscale shops and restaurants – set amidst lush gardens and flowing fountains – a spectacular outdoor shopping experience.

Oak Brook is home to many corporate offices, including the world headquarters of McDonald's Corporation.  Other corporations include Ace Hardware, Blistex, Crowe Horwath, Dominics, Federal Signal Corporation, Papermate, Sharpie, and Follett Higher Education Group.

Oak Brook Pointe, a five-story office building completed in June, 2000, is within walking distance of both the Oakbrook Center Mall and McDonald's corporate offices. Anderson Lock installed and maintains master key systems in the award-winning Pointe building, clad in a combination of blue glass and gray stone panels, with eight corner offices per floor.

Paul Butler's interest in sport was reflected in the Oak Brook Sports Core, which features polo fields, a golf course (which was at one time the venue for the Western Open), swimming and tennis facilities, and other recreational facilities not commonly found in a village of this size.

In sharp contrast to the prestigious shopping and sporting facilities within the village is Graue Mill and Museum, an operating waterwheel grist mill and homestead, which is dedicated to maintaining a bridge between past and present generations in the belief that understanding our history is vital to our future. The Museum provides programs -- for school children and others -- that include milling, spinning and weaving and living history presentations, as well as artifacts which illustrate the way of life of area residents between 1850 and 1890 and the impact mills such as Graue Mill had on our culture.

Anderson Lock is dedicated to door security, and has been since 1960. When we opened our Door Division, in 2003, it was in response to customers' requests for a single source for doors, frames and security hardware. We stock an extensive inventory of doors and frames, and have state-of-the-art stamping and welding equipment for custom fabrications. We also stock commercial wood doors, and we are a certified Warnock-Hersey labeling facility.

For commercial locksmith service in Oak Brook,
call Anderson Lock: 847-824-2800