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The Ridge Historical Society will be closed tomorrow, Sunday, November 27, 2022. We will be open on Tuesday afternoon, November 29, from 1 to 4 p.m. The address is 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, Chicago.

The History of the Graver-Driscoll House – Part 6Herbert Spencer Graver, Jr.

By Carol Flynn

This post returns to the series on the history of the owners of the Graver-Driscoll House, the house the Ridge Historical Society owns and uses as its headquarters and to store the community’s historic resources at 10616 S. Longwood Drive/10621 S. Seeley Avenue in the Beverly area of Chicago.

One theme of RHS is that “every house has a history” and this series illustrates the interesting stories that can be found when researching a house.

The Graver House was designed by architect John Todd Hetherington and built in 1921-22 for Herbert Spencer Graver and his family.

Herbert was born on August 29, 1880, in Pennsylvania to William and Christina Graver. He was the sixth of seven children. His father owned and operated the Graver Tank Company, which hand produced metal tanks for grain and oil storage and for hot water boilers. Around the year Herbert was born, the company started using steam-powered machinery to produce the tanks.

When Herbert was four years old, the family and business relocated to Chicago. The family lived in Englewood.

According to the Chicago Tribune in 1900, Herbert was one of the five athletes at Englewood High School who could be depended on to sustain the school’s reputation as a championship track and field team. Herbert’s sports were the hammer throw (112 feet) and the high jump (5.33 feet). The Olympic high scores for these sports in 1900 were 167.35 feet and 6.23 feet, respectively.

Herbert attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he graduated with a degree in engineering in 1904. His younger brother, Alexander Mc Donald Graver, graduated with a degree in engineering in 1905. The brothers appeared to be close, and shared lodgings while in college.

Herbert earned fame as a football star in college, which stayed with him the rest of his life. His team played in the first football game in what would become the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. This was an exhibition game played on January 1, 1902, arranged to offset the costs of the lavish parade and sporting event known as the Tournament of Roses put on as a promotional event for Pasadena.

The undefeated University of Michigan team was invited for an all-expenses-paid trip to Pasadena to play against Stanford University of Stanford, California. Michigan won by a score of 49 to 0. Stanford asked to end the game early. About 8,000 people attended the game, purchasing tickets for $.50 to $1.00.

Herbert was a substitute player, and he didn’t actually take to the field during the Pasadena game, but he had already earned the reputation as a stellar player. One newspaper article called him “the best utility man in the west,” and considered him superior in some skills to the men he replaced. The paper reported he was “a tower of strength behind the line.”

Herbert was voted All American. As a college senior, he was chosen for the Board of Control which oversaw athletic sports at the university.

In 1903-04, Herbert was the correspondent from his campus fraternity for reporting to the national organization of Theta Delta Chi. One of his reports is an attachment to this post.

He became a member of the “Tribe of Michigamua,” the University of Michigan senior honor society, and attended events of the Chicago chapter. He also made appearances as a “football legend” at exhibition games and sporting events for the rest of his life.

After graduation, Herbert worked for a year as a college coach in Ohio. He then joined his father and brothers at the Graver tank business. Herbert held the office of corporate secretary and later he was vice president.

Herbert married Anna T. Thorne in 1910 and they had one son, Herbert S., Jr., in April of 1921.

All five of the Graver brothers worked for the family company and built homes in Beverly. The two Graver sisters and their husbands were not involved in the business and did not live on the Ridge.

The youngest brother Alexander was living on 99th and Longwood when he died of influenza in 1920. Herbert wrote his brother’s obituary for the trade publications.

Graver Park on 102nd Place off of Prospect Avenue in Beverly was named for Herbert’s brother Philip Sheridan Graver (1878-1945) in the 1950s. Philip was a commissioner and then vice-president of the Chicago Park District. Hetherington and Sons designed the field house and landscape layout of that park in 1929-30.

Herbert stayed with the Graver company after the family sold it in 1930. He was still working as a sales manager at age 74 when he suffered a fatal heart attack while watching wrestling matches at the International Amphitheater, the indoor arena located at 42nd Street and Halsted Avenue that was demolished in 1999.

Herbert was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery on the Ridge. He was the last of the Graver brothers.

In 1940, Herbert and Anna Graver sold the house to the Fenn Family. Their story will be in the next post.

The Ridge Historical Society is the only organization in the Beverly/Morgan Park community dedicated to preserving the community's history.

As a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation, our mission is to EDUCATE the community on history. We do this by extensive, thorough, and accurate research; offering quality exhibits, education programs, and articles (the Facebook page, local newspapers, history papers);

and assisting others with research, such as house histories.

We also offer social activities that support the community. For example, we hosted the first BAPA Porch Concert this year. We also held a fund raiser with Wild Blossom Meadery and Winery, pictured here, which is producing a specialty alcoholic beverage in RHS's name.

We are still recovering from eighteen months of closure due to the pandemic, and we are in the midst of strategic planning for 2023.

Giving Tuesday is tomorrow, November 29th.

If you enjoy the Facebook posts, if you support continued work in the community's history, please consider a gift to the Ridge Historical Society.

Donate here:

https://bit.ly/RHS-donation

Thank you.

Today is Giving Tuesday – please consider a gift to the Ridge Historical Society in support of our efforts for preservation and education about the history of our local communities.

The current exhibit "Hetherington Design Dynasty" will run through early January. Your gift will help RHS continue to provide research, exhibits, programs, and publications. Admission is free on Tuesday and Sunday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m.

To donate securely through Paypal: https://bit.ly/RHS-donation

Thank you!

This year the Ridge Historical Society made substantial contributions to the community.

At our suggestion, the BAPA house tour featured homes and buildings designed by the Hetherington family of architects. Our own Hetherington-designed house, the Graver-Driscoll House, served as the starting location for the house tour.

We mounted an exhibit on the Hetherington Design Dynasty that showcases the scores of homes and buildings designed by John Todd Hetherington, his son and his grandson. This exhibit will run through early January and may be viewed free of charge. We offered three education programs as part of the Hetherington project.

We assisted scores of people in house history and other research projects, again, free of charge.

We published numerous Facebook posts and local newspaper stories on local history.

We initiated the campaign to save the historic Eugene S. Pike House and submitted the application to Landmarks Illinois to have the house declared "endangered."

We were a featured partner for the Beverly Art Walk and we represented the community for Open House Chicago.

We restarted open hours on Tuesday and Sunday afternoons with free admission for the public.

We hosted the first BAPA porch concert for the year for free to the public.

We are a not-for-profit organization that relies on private fund-raising, memberships, and occasional small fees for programs. We do not receive government funding.

This year we celebrated RHS's fiftieth anniversary as the Beverly/Morgan Park organization dedicated to researching, preserving, and educating on the community's rich history, including the noteworthy architecture of the area.

Help us continue to serve the community. Please consider a donation today, Giving Tuesday.

You may donate through this secure link:

https://bit.ly/RHS-donation

Every penny helps. Thank you – and feel free to contact us with any of your history questions. We love hearing from you!