Maine Township, Cook County, Illinois
Maine Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 135,772 at the 2010 census. The township was founded in 1850. Maine Township is located in Cook County, directly north and east of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Maine Township contains portions of the Chicago suburbs of Park Ridge, Morton Grove, Niles, Glenview, Des Plaines and Rosemont. The township also contains unincorporated sections which mostly use a Des Plaines mailing address. Even though they have a Des Plaines (and in some cases a Niles) mailing address, the addresses follow  Chicago's numbering system, where the starting points are State and Madison. Interstate 294, also known as the Tri-State Tollway, passes through Maine Township. Recreation. Park districts in Maine Township correspond to their respective suburbs. Unincorporated Maine Township uses the Golf Maine Park District, which has two main sites. Dee Park, located on Dee Road and Emerson Street, contains a large playground (the only playground in unincorporated Maine Township), three baseball fields, tennis courts, a basketball court, a roller hockey court, a fieldhouse, and paths that wind throughout the park campus. Feldman Park is a fieldhouse building located on  Kathy Lane behind Mark Twain Elementary School in Niles. The building houses a gymnasium, running track, some park district administrative offices, and indoor rooms used for various park district programs. Golf Maine Park District has numerous programs for youth and adults, most notably its sports programs including Little League Baseball and its summer day camp, both housed on the Dee Park campus. They also host many events throughout the year such as the annual National Night Out Against Crime which is held the first Tuesday in August. Dee Park also hosts a large late summer picnic with refreshments, performances, music , crafts, sports, games and merchandise sold by local artists. Golf Maine Park District does not contain a swimming pool anywhere within its boundaries, so those who live within the district are allowed to use pools from the neighboring Des Plaines Park District as in-district residents. Education. Public schools. The Maine Township area contains four main public school districts. Three are elementary and middle/junior high school districts, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. One is a high school district containing three high schools with grades nine through twelve: East Maine School District 63. "East Maine School District 63 is a  K-8 public school district in Cook County, Illinois, with six elementary schools (K-6) and one junior high school (7-8). Enrollment is approximately 3600 students. District 63 encompasses portions of five different communities - unincorporated Des Plaines, Niles, Glenview, Park Ridge, and Morton Grove. Each school is seen as part of the specific community where it is located. Demographics indicate that approximately 81% of the students come from homes where a language other than English is spoken. District 63 is a linguistically and culturally diverse community of learners reflective of the Chicago metropolitan area." East Maine School District 63 was formed  and the schools built after World War II. Originally, Apollo School was a Junior High School along with Gemini, which was originally known as East Maine Junior High School. This was during the baby-boom where area school enrollment was at an all-time high. Although today Apollo is now a primary school, the school is considerably larger than the other primary schools in the district. Apollo School is also the site for the district administrative offices and the TLC after school program. Over the years, some of the schools have closed and reopened due to population fluctuation and school  building renovations. Today, the district contains a total of seven schools, and all school buildings in the district are in active operation. The six primary schools serve grades Kindergarten through six. Gemini is the only district Junior High School which serves the seventh and eighth grades. Melzer School also offers preschool classes for in-district three- and four-year-olds. The schools in the district include: Public high schools. see Maine Township High School District 207 Private schools. Although students of Maine Township attend a wide variety of private schools in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, these are the main  private schools located within the township. Higher education. Oakton Community College is the area community college and is one of the top rated community colleges in the Midwest, with a main campus in Des Plaines and a satellite campus in Skokie. Oakton offer associate degrees, certificate programs, non-credit classes, and emeritus classes, as well as vocational programs, technology education, and classes in the visual and performing arts. The school's athletic program offers competitive volleyball, basketball, golf, tennis, baseball, softball, soccer, track, cross country, cheerleading, and intramural sports. Oakton's foreign language offerings include Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew , Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, and Spanish, as well as English as a second language, and resources exist to support students with physical, mental, emotional and behavioral disabilities.