Her Park Ridge Connection
Hillary Rodham Clinton was born in Chicago on October 26, 1947. In 1950, Hugh and Dorothy Rodham moved their family to a home in Park Ridge, Illinois. Hillary and her brothers Hugh [1950] and Tony [1954], grew up in this home located at 235 Wisner.
Hillary attended the First United Methodist Church and was a member of local Brownie and Girl Scout Troops. According to Hillary, as a child, she and her mother made weekly trips to the Park Ridge Public Library.
Hillary was a student at Eugene Field Elementary School from 1953 - 1957 and Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High School from 1957 - 1961. Hillary's first three years of high school were spent at Maine East High School where she was a member of the National Honor Society, student council and debate team. She was elected Class President during her junior year. In 1964, Maine South High opened and Hillary was a member of its first graduating class. She was a National Merit Scholar and received the school's first social science award. Classmates voted her "girl most likely to succeed." In 1965, Hillary left Park Ridge to attend Wellesley College.
In 1997, a street marker was placed on the corner of her Park Ridge home and the location was named, "Rodham Corner." At the former Pickwick Restaurant across the street from the Park Ridge Public Library they served a special "Hillary Burger" with chopped green olives that Hillary ordered during a visit to her hometown in 1997 to celebrate her 50th birthday.