The Ridge Historical Society
Lost or Found?
By Carol Flynn
Today starts a new series, “Lost or Found?,” based on the current exhibit at the Ridge Historical Society (RHS), “Louise Barwick’s Lost Ridge,” which explores the Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood as it existed in times past.
One section of the exhibit, “Lost or Found,” curated by Tim Blackburn, RHS Board member and researcher, includes historical images of buildings in Morgan Park, some of which are gone and some of which still stand. While the pervading theme of the entire exhibit is what has been lost, Linda Lamberty, RHS Historian and overall exhibit curator, notes that this section is “infused with hope by including sites that have survived.”
The exhibit and this Facebook series use images from an 1889 book of photographs printed using photogravure, a process using a grained copper plate which is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which has been exposed to a film positive, and then etched. This results in high-quality, rich prints and reproductions. The process was popular in the 1800s and is still used today by some fine-art photographers.
Twenty-three photographs were available for the exhibit, and thirteen of the buildings in those photos are still standing. Readers are invited to view a photo and identify the building, and comment whether the building is still standing, and if so, its present location. The challenge is tougher than it seems because some of the buildings have been substantially altered or moved.
Here is our first photo. Is this house still standing? If yes, where? The answer, and the history of the house, will be posted in a few days, so keep watching this page.
All of the images, plus much more, can be viewed in the exhibit at RHS.
“The RHS exhibit encourages visitors to think about the importance of preservation to our history and the many ways we can preserve the memory of buildings that are no longer standing,” said Tim.
The RHS exhibit is free and open for viewing on Tuesdays and Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., or by appointment. RHS is located at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue in Chicago, and may be contacted at 773-881-1675 or ridgehistory@hotmail.com.