Explore the RHS Facebook Archives, a rich repository of local history written by Carol Flynn. For two decades, Carol brought a deeply dedicated voice to public education at RHS. Her role as Facebook administrator through mid-2025 naturally extended her prolific research into meticulously detailed articles, most notably her multi-part historical series posts. Today, Carol continues her local history writing for The Beverly Review and other outlets.
Graver-Driscoll House Families
The Graver Driscoll House will be in Open House Chicago
The next big event for the Ridge Historical Society will be Open House Chicago on Saturday and Sunday, October 15 and 16, 2022, when the Graver-Driscoll House will be open to the public free-of-charge from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day.
Open House Chicago is the “public festival” from the Chicago Architecture Center that offers opportunities to explore architecturally, historically, and culturally significant sites across the city. RHS has participated in this event for several years, and this year is special, as the Graver-Driscoll House celebrates its centennial, and RHS celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Visitors to RHS for Open House Chicago will get the chance to not only visit the historic mansion, but to also see the exhibit in place about the architect who designed it, John Todd Hetherington. The exhibit “Hetherington Design Dynasty” features three generations of that family of architects who called Beverly home and designed many fine buildings here, and the artwork of Mildred Lyon Hetherington, who created portraits and illustrations for children’s publications.
One of the themes of RHS is that “every house has a history,” and the Graver-Driscoll House sure does. This includes the stories of the owners of the house since it was built in 1922. RHS took over the house in 1972, but the first fifty years the house were the stage setting for six different families who owned it.
The next few posts will explore those six families. The stories include a wedding and a fire, and the people include a football legend, an ice cream cone expert, and a wealthy horse breeder.
Stay tuned.
Photo: The Graver-Driscoll House at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, Chicago, in the 1940s, from the Fenn Family Collection.