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.
February 2025
Houses Designed by Harry Hale Waterman and the People Who Called Them HomePart 3 – Waterman’s Second and Third Marriages
This is a companion series to the current exhibit at the Ridge Historical Society (RHS): “Harry Hale Waterman, Architect: Unique in Any Style.”
Harry Hale Waterman’s first wife, Ida May Vierling Waterman, died in 1896 at the age of 24, leaving Harry with a one-year-old daughter, Louise Hale Waterman. The family had been living at 10838 Longwood Drive in the “Honeymoon Cottage” that Harry designed, but now Harry and Louise moved back into Harry’s parents’ house at 3929 Vincennes Avenue. A complete look at Louise Waterman will be covered in the next post.
Six years later, in 1902, Harry, 33, married a second time to Carrie Frances Rowse.
According to records on Ancestry, Frances, as she appears to have been known at least in her later years, was born in 1877 in Ohio. On the 1880 U.S. Census, the family is listed as living in Ohio, and in 1900, she is listed as living in Chicago with her parents, Charles H. and Minnie E., and younger brother William M. at 630 46th Place. Her father’s employment is listed as a baking powder manufacturer. Employment for Frances is not listed.
It is likely that Harry and Frances lived with Harry’s family, which included his parents John and Emma, his sister Jessie, and his daughter Louise. This was not an uncommon situation back then, to have extended families living together.
Few details are really known about this second marriage. However, one encounter in 1906 that received media attention showed that there were issues.
It was reported that Harry “borrowed” a horse and buggy without the owner’s permission to chase after Frances who had departed in another buggy. An article about the incident is attached to this post. The last paragraph refers to a meeting planned for Harry, his lawyer, and the man whose carriage Harry took, at which Harry was to explain his actions.
It would have been interesting to have been “a fly on the wall” for that conversation. Alas, we don’t know Harry’s reason for following his wife that day, but apparently the charges of theft were dropped.
However, Harry and Frances divorced in 1907 after five years of marriage.
The following U. S. Censuses list Frances living with her parents and working as an assistant to her father in his retail businesses. She did not remarry. In 1950, she was living by herself as Frances Waterman in an apartment in the grand brick courtyard building at 2330 N. Lincoln Park West.
According to her obituary, she moved to a retirement home in Bucyrus, Ohio, in 1956, where she was an active member of the Presbyterian Church. The Rowse family were an “old” family there going back to the founding of Bucyrus in 1822. In fact, there was another Carrie Frances Rowse who grew up there, which may be why Frances went by her middle name.
She died there at the age of 84 in 1961 and was buried in the cemetery where many of her relations were buried. Her gravestone reads Frances Rowse Waterman.
Interestingly, one of Harry’s Waterman cousins, Mary Ellen or “Nellie,” married a man named Herman Rouse. Whether this was coincidence, or the families were connected is not readily apparent. Herman’s family reportedly originated in New York and came to Wisconsin. The Rowse Family in Bucyrus originated in Pennsylvania and came to Ohio. But their connections could go back farther, of course, to Europe prior to emigration.
Harry remained single for the next two decades, but in 1921, in his early 50s, he married Alice Hale.
Alice was born in 1895 in Stoughton, Wisconsin, and was a good 25 years younger than Harry. She was a distant cousin on his mother’s side. Her father was Percy Isham Hale, the son of Harry Hale, and her mother was Harriet Grubb Hale.
Percy Hale graduated from Lombard College in Galesburg, Illinois, founded by the Universalist Church, then took over his father’s successful dry goods business. He was also known for being very active in the Universalist Church.
Stoughton, part of the Madison metropolitan area with 13,000 residents today, was small enough in 1900 that 5-year-old Alice’s bronchitis was reported in the newspaper, and large enough that this signified the family’s prominence in the community.
It appears that Alice was popular and accomplished. She was president of her high school senior class in 1913. She sold Christmas seals to raise money for charity. She participated in her church.
She attended and hosted parties. In 1911, she hosted a St. Patrick’s Day party as a birthday celebration for herself (March 18 birth date) and a friend with a birthday at the same time.
Her real claim to fame was as a talented vocalist (mezzo soprano), pianist – and whistler.
For many years, Alice was a student of Clara Falk Murphy, who was highly regarded for her own performance, composing, and teaching skills. Ms. Murphy arranged many concerts and recitals in Madison and the surrounding areas, and Alice was prominently featured. Alice was also a soloist for her church.
Alice was mentioned for her whistling skills, which not only entertained friends at parties but were performed on stage. In 1921, she performed “The Stars and Stripes Forever” at a theater.
Alice graduated from Lombard College, her father’s alma mater.
Her engagement to Harry Hale Waterman was announced in 1921. She was given at least three bridal showers by friends and organizations in which she was active. Gifts included a silver vase and a hand-painted fruit bowl.
One party was a handkerchief shower – women always carried a handkerchief back then, and there were special ones for special occasions. Another included an afternoon of the attendees’ hemming napkins for the bride.
Alice was a member of a bridge club and the night before her wedding, one of the women of the club held a party for her.
The wedding took place at her parents’ home in Stoughton in November. The newlyweds spent their first Christmas back there with her parents.
Harry and Alice made their home on Vincennes Avenue. By then, Harry had built several apartment buildings and was now a landlord.
In 1931, they participated in a “flower garden honor roll” for the Chicago Tribune, which was looking for outstanding gardens within a 40-mile radius of the Tribune Tower. They won honorable mention for turning their driveway into a lily pool.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, it appears Harry had to come out of retirement and return to active work. In 1937, the Executive Committee of the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects noted in its minutes that health issues prevented Harry from keeping up with his dues. Citing Harry’s high standing in the profession and advancing age, the committee voted to waive his dues and award him emeritus standing.
This past year, Harry’s great nephew, David Hale Hand, age 92, the adopted grandson of Harry’s sister, Jessie, shared some remembrances with RHS researchers of childhood visits with “Uncle Harry” and “Aunt Alice.”
Annually, when he was 2 to 6 years old, his family visited Chicago from California.
David wrote of these trips: “We stayed with Uncle Harry on Vincennes Avenue while in Chicago. At that time, this was a very fashionable neighborhood. Uncle Harry was an Architect and [he built] this block of Victorian style brownstones. He designed them, built them, owned them, and was the landlord. That provided his income for the rest of his life. He was a gruff type that always started his day with a raw egg and finished with a big cigar. His wife Alice was a dear. As little kids, he scared the hell out of us most of the time.”
Anecdotal stories from other sources also report that Harry liked to get together with William Gregson, one of his clients, and others, to smoke a friendly cigar.
Harry died in 1948, leaving Alice a widow at age 53. Alice married Dr. Chester William Darrow in 1961. He was a pioneering psychologist at the Institute of Juvenile Research and invented one of the first lie detector machines. Alice was a lecturer at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Dr. Darrow died in 1967, leaving adult daughters and grandchildren from a prior marriage, and Alice as his widow.
Alice died in 1975 at the age of 80. She was buried back home in Wisconsin.
The next post will look at Harry Hale Waterman’s only child, Louise Hale Waterman Hess.
The exhibit is open to the public for free on Sunday and Tuesday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. or by appointment. RHS is located at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, Chicago
Waterman: From the White City to the Ridge
Friday, March 7, at 7:00 p.m.
Repeating our popular presentation:
Architect Harry Hale Waterman, who is the subject of our latest exhibit, was just 23 years old when he started to build some of his most memorable buildings on the Ridge. In the first part of this program, Exhibit Curator Tim Blackburn will focus on Waterman's influences of the Columbian Exposition and his first employer, Joseph Lyman Silsbee.
Mati Maldre will discuss his architectural photos of thirty Waterman buildings, which were mostly taken in the mid-1980s with a Deardorff 4×5/5×7 view camera.
RHS Facebook Page Author Carol Flynn will then share stories from the lives of Waterman's early clients on the Ridge who made interesting impressions on the community in their day. This has been continued as a series on Facebook to complement the RHS exhibit.
Attendees are encouraged to view the exhibit "Harry Hale Waterman: Unique in any Style" after the program. The exhibit is also open Tuesdays and Sundays from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., or by appointment, through at least May 2024.
Members: $10 | Non-members: $20 | Students under 18: $5
Ridge Historical Society
10621 S. Seeley Ave., Chicago, IL 60643
Limited Capacity. Get tickets here: https://bit.ly/RHSwaterman1
RSVP: ridgehistory@hotmail.com 773.881.1675
Happy Valentine’s Day – 100 Years Ago
One hundred years ago, Valentine’s Day was emerging as the big holiday it would become during the following century.
The day had its origins as a religious feast day honoring any one of several Christian martyrs named Valentine in early Rome. The Catholic Church “demoted” the day in 1969, basically for not being specific on who exactly was being honored and if there really was a “Saint” Valentine at all. But traditional Catholics and Christians the world over still revere the day.
The day also became a symbol of the coming of spring. The St. Valentine from Slovenia is considered the patron saint of beekeepers.
There are many folk legends connected to Valentine’s Day.
One is that it is the day that birds propose to or marry each other. Another is that St. Valentine brings the keys to roots, and plants and flowers begin growing that day.
Sometime in the Middle Ages, the day started to be associated with romantic love and permanently affixed to the date of February 14. An earlier legend had Valentine cutting hearts from parchment to give to people to symbolize God’s love, and this is considered the possible origin of giving hearts on the day.
Valentine-themed poetry started being written in the Middle Ages. By the 1800s in England, sending verses of poetry and Valentines made of paper with real lace and ribbons was very popular. In 1868, the British company Cadbury created heart-shaped boxes of chocolates.
And then there were flowers. The red rose was long associated with Valentine and became associated with romantic love. But that was not the only flower considered appropriate to send that day.
During Victorian times, the “language” of flowers, or floriography, was considered important – different flowers, blooms, and colors had different symbolic meanings. Some examples of other flowers presented on Valentine’s Day included the forget-me-not, with obvious meaning; peonies symbolizing happy marriages; carnations expressing gratitude: pansies representing loving thoughts; and lily of the valley indicating purity of heart.
These customs came to the United States in the 1800s with the English immigrants and eventually spread to the other immigrant groups.
Valentine’s Day in Chicago on February 14, 1925, fell on a Saturday (noted by some as following Friday the 13th). The temperature was in the low 30’s, it was partly cloudy, not too windy, and there was no snow.
The celebrations were private events. Some of the women’s clubs held parties, one with a Valentine and Colonial costume theme. Individuals and couples hosted parties for their friends with games, cards, bunco, dancing, and refreshments. Several parties combined meals and bridge with a Valentine’s theme.
At one church, the Young People’s Bible class held a party. At another, the women in the English Ladies Aid held a church dinner, which was followed by a concert.
For children, the Hobby Club, a radio program they could belong to and receive a membership card, held a radio Valentine’s party, with stories and singing.
One youngster celebrated her 8th birthday with a Valentine’s Day party. A Valentine birthday surprise party was given for a woman by her sons, with dancing, games and singing; relatives came from out of town, turning the event into a family reunion.
Most Valentines and decorations were still hand-made, although mass-produced cards were available, and decorations from Dennison’s were sold in some novelty shops and available by catalog.
The newspapers included advertisements for flowers and candy.
In the past 100 years, Valentine’s Day has grown to a $20 billion annual business, although the popularity of the holiday has declined in recent years. It’s the number one day for flower sales in the U.S., followed by Mother’s Day. It ranks behind Halloween, Easter, and Christmas for candy sales.
And one more fact about 1925 Valentine’s Day: It was still the Prohibition Era, so no alcohol was legally produced or sold. That’s not to say the private parties were all dry; many people brought their own hip flasks to events. Illegal champagne cost a small fortune.
But Valentine’s Day is low on the list for alcohol consumption, far below days like New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl Sunday.
The Ridge Historical Society
Houses Designed by Harry Hale Waterman and the People Who Called Them Home: Part 2 – Ida May Vierling Waterman
Carol Flynn
This is a companion series to the current exhibit at the Ridge Historical Society (RHS): “Harry Hale Waterman, Architect: Unique in Any Style.”
Waterman was just 23 years old when he started to design buildings in Beverly and Morgan Park in 1892. This was around the time he left the architecture firm of Silsbee and Kent, where he worked alongside Frank Lloyd Wright, and started his own practice. It was also the time of exciting architecture projects for the 1893 World’s fair, the Columbian Exposition, in Chicago.
One of the first houses Waterman designed was a house for himself and his bride at 10838 S. Longwood Drive, built in 1892. The Harry Hale Waterman House, also known as the Honeymoon Cottage, is a favorite local landmark.
Waterman and Ida May Vierling married on October 27, 1891.
Ida was born in 1872. Her father was Frank Charles Vierling, and her mother was Margaret Chadwick Williams.
Frank Vierling was born in 1850 in Ohio. His parents came from France, and the family came to Chicago when Frank was five years old. On the 1860 U.S. Census, his father is listed as a cook and his mother as a washwoman, and a bio of Frank said the family worked at the Tremont House Hotel – including Frank as a cook at the age of 11.
During the U.S. Civil War, Frank served as a drummer boy for the 23rd Illinois infantry and enlisted as a soldier in 1865 at the age of 14. He was reported as the youngest soldier from Illinois. He only served three months, as the war ended that April, and he mustered out as a corporal.
Frank, his three brothers and his sister, were educated in the Chicago public schools. After the war, he attended business school, and in 1870, he began a career in real estate.
Frank and Margaret Chadwick Williams married in 1871 in Chicago. Margaret was born in England in 1845 and came to the U.S. in 1851. She had a daughter from a first marriage to Phillip Williams, Mary (Mamie), born in 1864 in Pennsylvania. Not much has been found on Margaret’s life before she married Frank. Frank took on the role of providing for his step-daughter Mary, who used the name Mary Vierling.
Frank and Margaret had two children of their own, Ida, and son Arthur Garfield Vierling, born in 1880.
Frank became very well-known in Chicago, recognized for his success in his real estate business dealings, his commitment to U. S. veterans’ organizations, and his involvement in city politics.
Frank was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and other organizations and championed causes like retirement homes for veterans. His wife Margaret was active in the women’s auxiliaries of the organizations.
In 1889, Frank successfully ran for alderman and served in that role for several years. He was even encouraged to run for Mayor.
Frank’s brothers became very prominent in the iron and steel works manufacturing industry.
The Vierling family is a good example of how families became part of “high society” in developing Chicago. It wasn’t just family background or inherited wealth that made a family prominent, although those factors certainly didn’t hurt. Many people moved “west” to Chicago to seek out new opportunities, and hard work, business acumen, and recognizing and taking advantage of situations and opportunities led to advancements for those with the ambition and stamina to persevere.
Besides their business, veterans, and political activities, Frank’s and Margaret’s names were in the paper for events like the French Club of Chicago meeting at “the house of Mrs. Frank C. Vierling at 2347 S. Michigan Avenue,” and Frank travelling to Nebraska to go antelope hunting and returning “well supplied with prairie chickens and ducks.”
In 1886, their oldest daughter Mary was married at their house to Jesse Thomas Blake. Mary and Jesse eventually lived on the Ridge in a house Waterman designed for them at 2023 West 108th Place, and Jesse worked as an accountant at the Morgan Park Post Office, another building designed by Waterman. More on this will be in a later post.
Frequent litigation in court over business and personal matters went on in Chicago at that time. It appears that this basically was considered “business as usual.” Frank was a party in multiple lawsuits covered in the newspapers.
Frank was “on very bad terms” with at least one of his brothers, according to the Inter Ocean newspaper, which led him to sue his brothers for fraud and attempting to cheat him out of his share of a business he helped them finance. The judge found in Frank’s favor.
As an alderman, Frank was involved in decisions and dealings related to the planning of the 1893 World’s Fair, including choosing the location, and meeting with foreign businessmen from the iron and steel industry who were interested in participating in the fair. His membership in a Masonic organization led to him being appointed to an Entertainment Committee for the Fair to welcome Masonic visitors from around the world. [In his later years, as an ex-alderman, Frank was accused of embezzling funds from an estate he managed and stood trial. The jury found him not guilty.]
This was young Ida May Vierling’s world when she met Harry Hale Waterman.
Ida was a socialite, and her appearances at dances and parties were mentioned in the society pages of the newspapers. Her first year of “coming out” was 1888 when she turned 16. She attended the Leap Year party of the Indiana Club, accompanying her parents, uncles, and aunt. They were regulars there for the monthly dances throughout the year.
For Decoration Day (Memorial Day) that year, Ida and her father participated in the program for the Washington Camp of the Patriotic Order Sons of America.
That year she graduated from Moseley School, the public school at 24th Street and Michigan Avenue, where she won a Daily News Medal. These medals, paid for by the newspaper, were awarded to select students for essays on American patriotism. She also won a certificate of merit from her Plymouth Congregational Sunday School.
Ida’s aunt, her father’s sister, Miss Clara Vierling, was a star of the Chicago social scene and hosted famous New Year’s Eve parties. Ida was included in the party in 1888, as covered in the attached newspaper article.
In October of 1891, the wedding of Miss Ida Vierling and Mr. Harry Hale Waterman took place at her parents’ house, and was covered in newspaper articles.
The following year the young couple moved into their Honeymoon Cottage.
Ida gave birth to their daughter, Louise, on August 26, 1895.
Tragically, Ida died the following year, on August 14, at the age of 24. The cause of death is not known. She was buried in Oak Woods Cemetery.
Waterman left Morgan Park, never to return there again to live, although he continued to design buildings there. He and his baby daughter Louise moved back in with his parents on the 3900 block of South Vincennes Avenue, where he lived the rest of his life.
Next post: Louise Waterman, and Harry Hale Waterman’s second and third marriages.
The RHS exhibit is open to the public for free on Sunday and Tuesday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m. or by appointment. RHS is located at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, Chicago.
In Block Club Chicago this week. Unfortunately, there is some misinformation: Mount Olivet Cemetery is part of Chicago, it is Mount Greenwood Cemetery and Mount Hope Cemetery that are not part of the city, but are on unincorporated land in Cook County. I did clarify that for the reporter in our conversation. – Carol Flynn