Harold L. Richards High School is a co-ed Public high school located in Oak Lawn, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and is a member of Illinois school District 218. The school opened in 1965, named for District Superintendent Dr. Harold Leland Richards who served in that capacity for 33 years from 1935-1968. Dr. Richards served as a private in the army in WWI, as a Major in the Army Air Corp in WWII, and eventually rose to Lt. Colonel in the Reserves and called back into active duty during the Korean War. After graduating from Pennsylvania Military College in 1920, he taught in Indiana, was superintendent of Michigamme, Michigan schools, and headed the Iowa Military Academy in Epworth, Iowa before coming to District 218. In addition to PMC, he held multiple degrees from the University of Chic