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 2022
Saving the Eugene S. Pike House – Post 1
UPDATE: Landmarks Illinois is reviewing the application.
As the Ridge Historical Society announced on this Facebook page a few weeks ago, RHS, in partnership with the Beverly Area Planning Association (BAPA), applied to Landmarks Illinois on January 10th to have the Eugene S. Pike House added to the List of Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois 2022.
The Pike House is located at 1826 West 91st Street in North Beverly (Chicago, 60643). The house, designed by architect Harry Hale Waterman, was built in 1894 for Pike, a real estate developer and financier.
Since 1921, the house has been the property of the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC). It was used as a superintendent’s office and later as a watchman’s residence.
The house has fallen into severe disrepair and has been vacant for years. In 2018, the FPCC issued a Request for Information (RFI) from organizations potentially interested in adapting the Pike House for reuse. No further information on the Pike House has been announced by the FPCC since that time and the house’s future is uncertain.
The position of RHS is that the Eugene S. Pike House is of historical and architectural importance to the Beverly/Morgan Park community and the City of Chicago and should be preserved and adapted for reuse. The awarding of the designation “Most Endangered Historic Property” by Landmarks Illinois will bring attention to the building’s situation and lead to discussions on its preservation.
Landmarks Illinois is a nonprofit organization founded in 1971 to preserve, protect and promote architectural and historic resources in Illinois through advocacy and education. Since 1995, the Most Endangered List has focused attention on sites threatened by deterioration, lack of maintenance, insufficient funds or inappropriate development and built support for each property’s eventual preservation. The 2022 Endangered List will be announced in April.
Image: The Eugene S. Pike House, Jan. 2022, photo by C. Flynn.
Ridge Historical Society
Catholic Churches in the Ridge Communities
By Carol Flynn
The Ridge Historical Society has been concentrating on saving the Pike House lately, but there are other changes also in the works for historic properties in the Ridge communities. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago recently announced more changes to neighborhood churches as a result of its ongoing initiative, Renew My Church.
The latest changes involve three historic churches in the Ridge communities, St. Margaret of Scotland, Holy Name of Mary, and Sacred Heart Mission. These changes follow those announced previously for St. Benedict Church in Blue Island.
St. Benedict was the first Catholic parish established on the Ridge, in 1861. The congregation built its first church at York and Gregory Streets in 1864, and built its first school in 1880. The “modern” church there now dates to the 1960s.
St. Benedict merged with St. Walter Parish of Morgan Park, which was established in the 1950s, and St. Peter Claver Mission church of Robbins, started in 1958. As of last fall, the name of this new parish is St. Mary Magdalene Parish.
Last week, it was announced that St. Margaret of Scotland Parish will merge with St. Kilian Parish, with St. Margaret of Scotland Church remaining open as the home base.
St. Margaret of Scotland Church was the first Catholic church founded in the Beverly/Washington Heights/Morgan Park/Mount Greenwood area. The congregation was originally formed as Sacred Heart Mission out of St. Benedict Church in Blue Island, not to be confused with the current Sacred Heart Mission which will be discussed in another post. The early Sacred Heart Mission was also affiliated with the Academy of Our Lady school, which was founded around this same time at 95th and Throop Streets.
The Village of Washington Heights was established in 1874, and the Catholic parish was founded, still called Sacred Heart. It covered a huge territory, from State Street west to today’s LaGrange Road, and from 87th Street to 119th Street. The earliest members of the congregation were German Catholics from Prussia and Bavaria, with a smattering of people from “Hibernia,” an old name for Ireland.
In the early 1890s, the parish name was changed to St. Margaret of Scotland, and when a family donated land at 99th and Throop Streets, the church building from further east was hoisted onto rollers and moved across the prairie to the present location. The current church was dedicated in 1928.
Other parishes were eventually founded on the Ridge – St. Barnabas in 1924, St. Christina in 1926, St. Cajetan in 1927, Christ the King in 1936, Holy Name of Mary in 1940, and St. Walter in the 1950s.
Now, St. Margaret of Scotland Parish will merge with St. Kilian Parish, which is located at 87th and May Streets, effective in July 2022. A new name will be chosen for this new parish. The plan is that St. Margaret of Scotland School will remain open and retain its current name.
Next post: The special circumstances of the current Sacred Heart Mission Church and Holy Name of Mary Parish in Morgan Park.
Ridge Historical Society
Catholic Churches in the Ridge Communities: Sacred Heart Mission Church and Holy Name of Mary Parish
By Carol Flynn
Sacred Heart Mission Church at 116th and S. Church St., and Holy Name of Mary Parish at 112th and Loomis St., both in Morgan Park, are two more of the historic Catholic churches in the Ridge communities recently affected by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s “Renew My Church” initiative. The fates of these two churches are interconnected.
Sacred Heart Mission Church was founded in 1892 in Alsip as a “national” church, that is, to serve a nationality of immigrants without defined geographic “parish” boundaries. In this case, the church was founded for the French settlers in the area. Many of them worked at the Purington Brick Yards at 119th and Vincennes, and Sacred Heart moved to its present location in 1904-5.
A frame church was built, and the story goes that the brickyard employees were allowed to take “seconds” of bricks to use for the church. By 1922, when enough bricks had been saved, the present brick facade was added. The church as it stands now is actually the old frame church clad with this donated brick. With time, most of the French families moved on and were replaced by German and Irish workers.
Holy Name of Mary Parish was founded in 1940 to serve the African American residents in Morgan Park. Black Catholics, some of whom were the descendants of slaves from the State of Louisiana, traditionally Catholic, petitioned the Archdiocese to form a parish, and worked to raise the money to build the church.
Holy Name of Mary was not the first Black parish in the Archdiocese – St Monica’s Church was founded as a “national” church at 36th and Dearborn St. in 1893 to serve the growing Black community on the south side – but it was the first formed by Black Catholics themselves.
Sacred Heart Mission Church was closed by the Archdiocese from 1979-1982, but the congregants never gave up on their campaign to “Save Our Shrine,” and the church was reopened in 1983. At that time, it was made a “mission” church, operating out of Holy Name of Mary Parish. A “mission” church serves a special, non-geographic ministry, and maintains a separate identity from the parish that sponsors it.
Now, the Archdiocese is combining Holy Name of Mary Parish with two others from the area (SS. Peter and Paul and St. John De La Salle) into a new parish with a new name effective this summer. Holy Name of Mary Church will remain open and be the sole location for regular Masses.
The Archdiocese also reviewed Sacred Heart Mission Church and took no action on that church at this time, but announced its “future structure will have continued discernment.”
The four most historic Catholic churches connected to the Ridge communities have been affected by the “Renew My Church” initiative – St. Benedict in Blue Island, St. Margaret of Scotland in Washington Heights, and Holy Name of Mary and Sacred Heart in Morgan Park.
Nostalgia Print
This print popped up on another Facebook page and I just want to let people know it is available through the Ridge Historical Society. Artist Sue Engle Budash of the Morgan Park High School class of 1967 created this nostalgia montage drawing, “Symbols of the Sixties,” for a reunion. It features a number of Beverly and Morgan Park businesses and/or their logos. I believe the prints are 11” by 14” and cost $25.00. You can contact the RHS office directly to buy these – ridgehistory@hotmail.com.
Ridge Historical Society
Save the Pike House – Post 2: Architectural Significance and Current Condition
By Carol Flynn
The Pike House at 91st Street and Longwood Drive was built in 1894 as part of the private estate of Eugene S. Pike, the real estate developer and financier. Pike’s primary residence was a mansion on the exclusive Prairie Avenue, but he bought land on the Ridge for personal use and to develop lots for sale.
Pike was an avid horticulturist. Before coming to Chicago from Ohio, he established and operated as a business a nursery for fruit and ornamental trees, rose bushes, and grape vines he exported from France. His customer base was largely the Southern states, and unfortunately the business ended with the U.S. Civil War. On the Ridge, he found the perfect place to continue this passion while he developed “skyscrapers” in downtown Chicago and residential/business areas mostly on the southside of the city.
The Pike House was designed as a “gardener’s cottage” by architect Harry Hale Waterman in the Tudor Revival style. The house has a base and lower exterior walls of red sandstone, and upper walls of wood beams and stucco. Architectural elements include a round tower and a steeply pitched roof with tiny dormers with flared ends. The round tower adds a French Norman look to the building.
An important architectural feature of the house is how well it is designed for its setting. The house sits on the edge of the Dan Ryan Woods, a part of the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC). The house blends in with the natural environment of the wooded area so well that the American Institute of Architects stated in its AIA Guide to Chicago (2014), “Expect Hansel and Gretel to come tripping past this house set on the edge of the woods.”
Although the existing building appears as if it were constructed at one time, it was actually completed in two stages. The west side was added sometime between 1898 and 1921, and the entrance was moved from the east side to the center front of the house, repositioning the tower to the right of the entrance.
In 1921, 32 acres of the Pike estate, including the house, were purchased by the FPCC to be added to the existing preserves land that FPCC owned to the north of the Pike estate. According to newspaper accounts, FPCC intended to use the house as a superintendent’s headquarters. The house eventually became known informally as the “Watchman’s Residence” when it was adapted for that use in the 1960s. It was used as a residence during its history, and that will be covered in a later post.
The building is significant to the community for several reasons. It has long been a landmark due to its location on the edge of the forest preserve, engaging the interest and imagination of those who pass by it. The Pike House is designated as a contributing structure for the Ridge Historic District, one of the largest urban historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For 100 years, the house has been under the stewardship of the FPCC. In 2017, the FPCC shared a Conversion Feasibility study prepared by Kuklinski and Rappe Architects that includes information on the current condition of the house.
In 1962, the interior of the house was completely gutted to convert it into a “watchman’s residence.” None of the original historic features inside the house, except for a sunporch, remain. The house has been vacant for years and is described in the feasibility study as “in poor condition with masonry issues and a damaged roof.” The plumbing, electrical, and heating systems need replacement.
It is understood that it will take considerable resources to restore this building and adapt it for reuse.
Next post: Architect Harry Hale Waterman
Save the Pike House will be on TV
The television program “The American Dream Chicago” will air a segment on the "Save the Pike House" campaign on WGN Channel 9 on Saturday, February 19, at 10:30 a.m.
Beverly resident Meg Mulrenin, who has the realty company Town Realty Chicago, is the host for this segment. This show is a national program designed to highlight local real estate, culture, and lifestyle in neighborhoods across the country. Meg, selected as one of six hosts for the Chicago cast, is an industry professional representing our unique area of Chicago. She got involved in the show “for viewers to see what a special place the Beverly Hills/Morgan Park community is – the stunning homes, the fabulous business owners, the PEOPLE who make this the best place to live.”
Meg reached out to RHS through our Facebook page, and on an overcast day in January, Meg and cameraman Mat Astacio joined RHS Historian Linda Lamberty and RHS Board member Tim Noonan for a look at the Eugene S. Pike House exterior and a discussion on its current situation.
The Eugene S. Pike House, at the corner of 91st Street and Longwood Drive, was designed by architect Harry Hale Waterman and built for Pike, a real estate developer known for his post-Chicago Fire skyscrapers, in the 1890s. It is a contributing structure to the establishment of the Ridge Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house has been part of the Dan Ryan Woods, owned by the Forest Preserves of Cook County, for the past 100 years. It has seriously deteriorated and its future is uncertain.
Hopefully, this national coverage will help bring attention – and positive solutions – to saving this Beverly landmark.
Pictured from left: Linda Lamberty, Meg Mulrenin, Mat Astacio, and Tim Noonan in front of the Pike House. Photo by C. Flynn.
Happy Valentine's Day from the Ridge Historical Society!
Here's a vintage postcard appropriate for the day – the railroads were a huge factor in the history of the Ridge communities, and here is one carrying Valentine's wishes to all our followers.
The Ridge had its own Valentine family in the community. Here is one interesting article about them. This is from the Southtown Economist, September 25, 1928.
The Ridge’s Historical Connection to Ukraine
The eyes of the world are on the country of Ukraine in Eastern Europe at the moment.
There are over one million Ukrainian Americans. The first Ukrainian immigrant on record came to Jamestown in 1607. Large-scale immigration to the U.S. began in the 1880s, and was very heavy in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The historical connection between one prominent Ukrainian family and the Ridge has been documented.
Dr. Miroslaw and Bonnie Siemens (Sieminowycz, Sieminowich) owned and lived in the Givins Beverly Castle at 103rd St. and Longwood Drive from 1921 until the Beverly Unitarian Church bought the building in 1942. At the time of Dr. Siemens’ death in 1967, at the age of 82, the family was living at 9559 S. Longwood Drive.
Dr. Siemens was born in 1885 in Ukraine and came to the USA in 1907. He graduated in 1913 from Bennett Medical College, affiliated with Loyola University. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1914, and served in the U.S. military during World War I. He was a major, a regimental surgeon, with the 497th Field Artillery. He then practiced at Roseland Community Hospital and kept an office in the Castle. He was also the physician for the Nickel Plate Railroad.
Dr. Siemens’ parents, Nicholas and Maria Magdalena Seiminowich, also lived in the Castle. Nicholas was a Ukrainian Catholic priest who rose to monsignor. In this rite, married men can be ordained priests.
Bonnie Veronica Barry Siemens, born in 1890, was Irish Catholic. They married in 1915 and had four children, Miroslaw, Jr., Roman, James, and Patricia. Bonnie's mother Margaret Branan also lived with the family. Bonnie had tuberculosis and the grandparents did much of the childcare.
Dr. Siemens was very active and important in the Ukrainian American community. One notable achievement was to serve as the planner, fundraiser, and chair of the Ukrainian exhibit at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933-34. The exhibit showcased the country’s traditional arts and culture, including pysanky, the famous Ukrainian Easter eggs decorated using a wax-resist method.
In 1939, Siemens was called to testify before the Special Committee on Un-American Activities of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was president of the United Hetman Organization, proponents of a governance system in Ukraine run by a “hetman” or head of state that had been in operation up to the late 1700s. The organization was investigated for possible subversive activities, but no charges were ever laid against the group. Lacking widespread support, the group dissolved in 1942. Siemens was a leader of an effort to form a successor organization but there was insufficient support.
He was a benefactor of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Ukrainian Village on Chicago’s north side. In the early 1950s he was instrumental in establishing the Ukrainian National Museum, and served as honorary president.
Dr. Siemens has been called the “first ambassador for Ukraine in the U.S.” because of his efforts to preserve Ukrainian history and to help refugees from the country. Many dignitaries including the Crown Prince of Ukraine visited the family in the Castle.