The Ridge Historical Society
Lost or Found? – Identify Buildings #3, 4, and 5 – TWO LOST AND ONE FOUND
By Carol Flynn
Last week, three more pictures of buildings from an 1889 book of photographs of Morgan Park were posted in the “Lost or Found?” series, with the challenge to identify them and find them if they were still standing.
The answer is that all three of these houses stood on 111th Street but two are gone now and the third is hidden from view.
The Blue Island Land and Building Company established Morgan Park in 1874, designing it as an educational, religious, and temperance community, laid out like an English Village.
In 1889, 111th Street was known as Morgan Avenue and was primarily residential. Western Avenue had not been developed yet as a commercial thoroughfare and was still very rural. The commercial districts were concentrated around the Rock Island train stations to the east, today’s Metra line.
According to RHS research:
Building #3 is lost. This was the Henry Oswald Hough House, with the original address of 2368 Morgan Avenue, located at the northeast corner of 111th Street and Western Avenue where there is now the new dollar store, replacing the CVS pharmacy.
Building #4 is found. This is the Joseph E. McMeen House at 2330 W. 111th Street. The house still stands, but it is obscured by a modern commercial storefront built in front of it on 111th Street.
Building #5 is lost. This was the Rev. Dr. George William Northrup House, with the original address of 2242 Morgan Avenue. The house is no longer standing; the location is now an empty lot on the 2100 – 2200 block of 111th Street.
These houses all had significant histories, which will be covered in the next posts.