The Ridge Historical Society
July 31, 2022
By Carol Flynn
The Ridge Historical Society is now open to the public, for free, on Sunday afternoons from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. RHS volunteers will be there to answer questions about the current exhibit, Hetherington Design Dynasty, which celebrates the Hetherington family of architects.
It’s summertime and people are enjoying outdoor activities at Chicago’s vast system of city parks. The Chicago Park District has over 8,000 acres of land and more than 600 parks. Devoting space to parks has been a priority in Chicago since the beginning – in fact, the motto of Chicago is “Urbs in Horto,” Latin for “City in a Garden.”
The Ridge community owes its wonderful Ridge Park at 96th Street and Longwood Drive to the Hetherington family.
The residents of Beverly wanted a park on Longwood Drive to go along with their fine homes. They asked John Todd Hetherington, an architect who lived in the community who was designing many of those fine homes, to design the park.
Hetherington designed the original park in 1913. In the late 1920s, Hetherington and his son Murray, now also an architect, designed the current field house.
Visit the RHS exhibit to learn all about the Hetherington family of architects and Ridge Park.
RHS is located in the historic Graver – Driscoll House, a Hetherington creation, at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue. The grounds are entered through the driveway on Seeley, where there is some parking right at the house. Parking is also available on Seeley Avenue. The Graver-House is not wheelchair accessible and is not air conditioned.