The Ridge Historical Society
The History of the Graver-Driscoll House – Part 6: Herbert Spencer Graver, Jr.
By Carol Flynn
This post returns to the series on the history of the owners of the Graver-Driscoll House, the house the Ridge Historical Society owns and uses as its headquarters and to store the community’s historic resources at 10616 S. Longwood Drive/10621 S. Seeley Avenue in the Beverly area of Chicago.
One theme of RHS is that “every house has a history” and this series illustrates the interesting stories that can be found when researching a house.
The Graver House was designed by architect John Todd Hetherington and built in 1921-22 for Herbert Spencer Graver and his family.
Herbert was born on August 29, 1880, in Pennsylvania to William and Christina Graver. He was the sixth of seven children. His father owned and operated the Graver Tank Company, which hand produced metal tanks for grain and oil storage and for hot water boilers. Around the year Herbert was born, the company started using steam-powered machinery to produce the tanks.
When Herbert was four years old, the family and business relocated to Chicago. The family lived in Englewood.
According to the Chicago Tribune in 1900, Herbert was one of the five athletes at Englewood High School who could be depended on to sustain the school’s reputation as a championship track and field team. Herbert’s sports were the hammer throw (112 feet) and the high jump (5.33 feet). The Olympic high scores for these sports in 1900 were 167.35 feet and 6.23 feet, respectively.
Herbert attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he graduated with a degree in engineering in 1904. His younger brother, Alexander Mc Donald Graver, graduated with a degree in engineering in 1905. The brothers appeared to be close, and shared lodgings while in college.
Herbert earned fame as a football star in college, which stayed with him the rest of his life. His team played in the first football game in what would become the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. This was an exhibition game played on January 1, 1902, arranged to offset the costs of the lavish parade and sporting event known as the Tournament of Roses put on as a promotional event for Pasadena.
The undefeated University of Michigan team was invited for an all-expenses-paid trip to Pasadena to play against Stanford University of Stanford, California. Michigan won by a score of 49 to 0. Stanford asked to end the game early. About 8,000 people attended the game, purchasing tickets for $.50 to $1.00.
Herbert was a substitute player, and he didn’t actually take to the field during the Pasadena game, but he had already earned the reputation as a stellar player. One newspaper article called him “the best utility man in the west,” and considered him superior in some skills to the men he replaced. The paper reported he was “a tower of strength behind the line.”
Herbert was voted All American. As a college senior, he was chosen for the Board of Control which oversaw athletic sports at the university.
In 1903-04, Herbert was the correspondent from his campus fraternity for reporting to the national organization of Theta Delta Chi. One of his reports is an attachment to this post.
He became a member of the “Tribe of Michigamua,” the University of Michigan senior honor society, and attended events of the Chicago chapter. He also made appearances as a “football legend” at exhibition games and sporting events for the rest of his life.
After graduation, Herbert worked for a year as a college coach in Ohio. He then joined his father and brothers at the Graver tank business. Herbert held the office of corporate secretary and later he was vice president.
Herbert married Anna T. Thorne in 1910 and they had one son, Herbert S., Jr., in April of 1921.
All five of the Graver brothers worked for the family company and built homes in Beverly. The two Graver sisters and their husbands were not involved in the business and did not live on the Ridge.
The youngest brother Alexander was living on 99th and Longwood when he died of influenza in 1920. Herbert wrote his brother’s obituary for the trade publications.
Graver Park on 102nd Place off of Prospect Avenue in Beverly was named for Herbert’s brother Philip Sheridan Graver (1878-1945) in the 1950s. Philip was a commissioner and then vice-president of the Chicago Park District. Hetherington and Sons designed the field house and landscape layout of that park in 1929-30.
Herbert stayed with the Graver company after the family sold it in 1930. He was still working as a sales manager at age 74 when he suffered a fatal heart attack while watching wrestling matches at the International Amphitheater, the indoor arena located at 42nd Street and Halsted Avenue that was demolished in 1999.
Herbert was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery on the Ridge. He was the last of the Graver brothers.
In 1940, Herbert and Anna Graver sold the house to the Fenn Family. Their story will be in the next post.