The RHS Facebook page is a rich archive of history-related posts by Carol Flynn, RHS Facebook admin and writer until mid-2025. Carol prolifically wrote a wide variety of meticulously researched local history articles for RHS. She continues to write for the Beverly Review and other media sources with articles particularly focused on local Ridge history.
August 2019
Morgan Park Days
The summer is almost over – Labor Day will be here in just a few days. Labor Day was a special time for Morgan Park in the early 1900s – it was the day devoted to “Morgan Park Day” celebrations.
In September 1900, fourteen years before annexing to the City of Chicago, the Village of Morgan Park held its first-ever public holiday to simply celebrate the village as a community. Stores closed, children were let out of school, and the village’s marching band paraded around town. The people gathered to listen to speeches and sip lemonade.
At that 1900 event, it was suggested that Morgan Park have one day each year devoted solely to the village, where the people “could meet on common ground, their only creed being universal brotherhood.” This led to an event known as Morgan Park Day that was held annually on Labor Day for over a decade.
Morgan Park Days, the first of which was held in 1901, were chock full of activities. Athletic competitions under the direction of the Morgan Park Athletic Club were held on the grounds of the Morgan Park Academy. The entire village decorated houses and outdoor areas. Parades featured carriages and floats adorned with floral displays.
Afternoons were for bands, concerts and speeches. The public forum was considered a very important part of the day. Evenings were reserved for concerts, dinners, dancing, and social time.
The peak year for Morgan Park Days was 1908, and what a grand event that was. The planners encouraged residents to invite their friends and relatives from all over to come for the day. House parties were held throughout the village. The village of 5,000 residents expected 10,000 visitors; over 20,000 showed up.
The churches were in charge of refreshments. Booths were set up to sell peanuts, popcorn, crackerjack, pork and beans, chop suey, pop, lemonade and orange cider, coffee, doughnuts and milk, candy, pies, fruit, sandwiches and red-hots. Other booths sold postcards and souvenirs. Adults strolled around with decorated canes and children were supplied with red balloons. Adults and children alike waved pennants and banners.
The athletic events and contests were numerous. The parade was the longest ever, stretching for two miles. Evening entertainment included a chorus of 50 members. Leading up to the day, public practice sessions were held so residents would be ready to sing along.
No mentions of Morgan Park Day are found in the city papers after 1911. The village annexed to the City of Chicago in 1914. On Labor Day 1917, events focused on honoring the men joining the “new national army” as the country had joined the World War I efforts in April of that year.
A more complete article on Morgan Park Days appears in the summer issue of the RHS newsletter which recently was sent to members. If you are not a member of RHS, please consider joining.
The Ridge Historical Society will host a special exhibit this fall/winter.
"Threads of Imagination" – an exhibit exploring the intersection of art and fashion through the creativity of past and current artists on the Ridge – will open for the Art Walk on September 21, 2019, and run through mid-January 2020.
The exhibit will feature a historical look at Madame Alla Ripley (1867-1948), a famous fashion designer who lived on the Ridge in the early 1900s.
The work of four current Ridge artists involved in various aspects of fashion art will be on display.
Judie Anderson will show the fashion illustrations she created for the Chicago American newspaper in the 1960s. This work covers period fashion shows as well as advertisements.
Nicole Burns will display accessories and unique items she creates from vintage fabrics. Her collection of vintage sewing implements will also be on display.
Sandra Leonard will loan us some of her sculptural clothing, costumes she has created for performance art and other events. Photos of her art in use and samples of her hand-painted fabrics will also be on display.
Maggie O'Reilly will share with us her MaggyMay girls' clothing line, and items from her MAYTA collection, her designs created in Peru and Morocco through Fair Trade agreements.
Here are important dates to remember for viewing this show:
– Saturday, Sept. 21 – The Beverly Art Walk
– Fri., Sat., and Sun., Sept. 27, 28, 29 – The Annual RHS Garage and Better Book Sale
– Sat. and Sun., Oct. 19 and 20 – Open House Chicago
– TBD in early December – RHS Open House and Reception- Meet the Artists, who will have items for sale
– TBD, early January – RHS Champagne and Sweets Reception
More dates will be added as open times are arranged.
Since the 1870s, when artists came by train from downtown Chicago to set up their easels for a day's sketching and painting, there has been an arts community on the Ridge. This exhibit looks at one of the most famous "modistes" of the Chicago, indeed the entire U.S.A., fashion scene, who made the Ridge her family's home.The quartet of current fashion artists who live and create on the Ridge contribute to keeping the arts community alive.
Photo: Madame Alla Ripley, 1916. Photo from her great-niece, Lanora King.
The Ridge Historical Society was saddened to learn of the death of William A. Sandstrom, 92, one of our long-time leaders. Bill was a past president and treasurer and a Director Emeritus. He was also very active with the Kiwanis of SW Chicago and a leader at Bethany Union Church. He was a veteran of World War II and employed with the Environmental Protection Agency for many years. Our sincerest sympathy is extended to Bill's wife, Marie, and his children and grandchildren. Visitation Friday 3-8 p.m. at Donnellan Funeral Home 10525 S. Western Ave. Chicago. Visitation Saturday from 10 a.m. until time of Service 11 a.m at Bethany Union Church 1750 West 103rd. Street.
A comprehensive article on the history and restoration of the "Rotary House" at 10856 S. Longwood Drive will be in this week's annual "Good News" supplement to the Beverly Review. Watch for it tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug. 12) on-line and Wednesday (Aug. 13) in print when the newspaper comes out. The story will also be more detailed eventually on the RHS website, which is undergoing a major overhaul.
This house was the home of the founder of Rotary International, Paul Harris, and his wife Jean, from 1912 until Paul's death in 1947. Paul and Jean Harris may well be the most historically significant people from a global perspective to ever call the Ridge home.
Harris founded Rotary in 1905 when he got together with three friends for friendship and business interests. They named their club "Rotary" because the meeting locations rotated among the members.
Today Rotary International has over 1.2 million members in over 200 countries. It is the world's first recognized service club.
The mission and values of Rotary stem from the inspirational vision of Paul Harris and much of the Rotary planning went on at the Longwood Drive house. The house is a very important part of both Rotary and Ridge history.
The house was built in 1905 for Luther S. Dickey, Jr., a grain merchant and prominent Morgan Park citizen. The architect was George Bannister, from Beverly. The accurate name of the house would be the Dickey-Harris House, but it is popularly known as the Rotary House or as the Harris Home, as the Rotary calls it. The original address was 10810 Longwood Drive but this changed to 10856 when Morgan Park annexed to Chicago in 1914.
Paul Harris fell in love with the Ridge when he came here to hike with the Prairie Club. He married Jean in 1910 and they bought the house in 1912 and called it "Comely Bank." They entertained thousands of guests from around the world at that house. The house became a place of pilgrimage for Rotary members.
Around the corner at 2028 W. 110th Street lived another Rotary founder, Silvester Schiele. A path was worn between their back doors. Upon their deaths in the 1940s, Harris and Schiele were both buried at the Rotary grave site in Mt. Hope Cemetery on 115th Street.
Rotary International formed the Paul and Jean Harris Home Foundation to buy the house in 2005. They have been raising funds to restore it. Two years ago they started the restoration and hope to finish this year.
The house is being restored to its 1940s status as a museum. A new meeting facility has been added to the back of the house. The grounds will be restored next.
The Ridge owes a big thank you to Rotary for preserving this historically important property. It is expected the house will be open for the Chicago Architecture Foundation's Open House Chicago on Oct. 19-20.
Post #3 on farming on the Ridge: Van Laten's started with a farm stand on Western Ave.
As a follow up to the post from earlier this evening on the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, here is a picture of the Aggens working that land as a farm. They were one of the tenant farmers for decades. So were the Van Latens – all of Merrionette Park was known as the Van Laten Farm. The strip mall that includes Jewel and Bourbon Street was farmland for the Van Latens as late as the 1950s.
Post from Ridge Historical Society:
Not really all that long ago, this would have been a common sight on the Ridge – cattle grazing in a pasture. Now there is only one place left to see this – the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (CHSAS), located on 111th Street just east of Pulaski. These guys are in the pasture by the bus-turn-around on 115th Street. They've been out there all summer.
That land has never been anything but farmland. It has been owned by the Chicago Board of Education (CBOE) since some time in the 1800s, although the answer to the question of how the CBOE came to own this land way back then continues to elude RHS research. It was said to have been purchased as an investment.
The CBOE rented out the land, about 72 acres, to farmers. Some of the last families to use the land were the Aggens, Langlands, Van Latens and Ouwengas. CBOE built the Annie Keller School for Gifted Children on land that Mrs. Aggen said was "five acres of our best asparagus patch."
In the early 1970s, the CBOE started thinking about other uses for the land. The land all around was developed with houses, streets, businesses, parking lots. Everyone assumed that would happen there also. Rumors flew around – the land would be used for public housing by the Chicago Housing Authority, etc., etc.
By 1980, the land was found to be the last registered farm in the City of Chicago. Some members of of the CBOE wanted to sell the land off to developers to raise money. The local community wanted to save the farmland as some kind of historic site.
In 1983, Chicago School Superintendent Ruth Love announced she was in favor of using the land for an agricultural high school and horticulture laboratory. The purpose was not to train farmers but to prepare students for careers in all areas of agribusiness.
CHSAS was created in 1984 and opened in 1985. As a magnet school, it was open to students from all over the city. The school had 150 openings the first year, and six months before the opening with almost no advertising, they already had over 500 applications from all over the city and were expecting many more.
CHSAS started as a branch of the Morgan Park High School, where the agriculture students went in the morning for the usual high school classes, and then in the afternoon they had their specialty classes at the farm in the old Keller School building. The Keller School gifted student program had moved to another school.
Today, CHSAS thrives, with over 600 students, offering everything from Agricultural Finance to Biotechnology. The school serves as a model for other schools across the country.
The Ridge Historical Society-sponsored "Friends of the Chicago Portage" Field Trip planned for tomorrow, Saturday, August 3rd at 1 p.m., has been cancelled.