The original Oak Forest train station was primarily a milk stop used by Yankee and German farmers of Bremen Township. In 1894 the scene changed dramatically when the DuPont family purchased property on the east side of the tracks centered at about 155th Street. There they built what they claimed was the world’s largest gunpowder magazine and factory. Most of the workers at the factory lived in Blue Island and commuted daily on the train. The entire complex blew up in 1906.