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.
2022
International Dog Day
Yesterday, the RHS post covered Woman’s Equality Day, an annual event on August 26. Many more people, however, were excited that the day was International Dog Day. Americans do love their dogs.
To prove that the folks at RHS love dogs as much as everyone else, here is a favorite story from the history of the Ridge about a visit from an international dog star.
Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, famous for his stay at the South Pole (Antarctica) in 1928-30, visited Morgan Park High School on December 4, 1930. He was accompanied by his Smooth Fox Terrier, Igloo. Igloo was a huge media star in his own right.
The dog was a stray found by a friend of Byrd’s who talked dog-lover Byrd into adopting him. The terrier became Byrd’s constant companion, accompanying Byrd to Antarctica in 1928 where the dog received the name Igloo, or Iggy for short. Igloo shared Byrd’s solitude during the harsh winter and had to be dressed in polar clothing to withstand the blizzards. Special boots were made for him.
Upon returning to New York, Igloo shared the glory of a Broadway ticker-tape parade and was presented to President Hoover at the White House. The dog became the subject of news dispatches and even a book "Igloo." He was also the first dog to fly over ‘Santa Claus’s home’ at the North Pole. People around the world became enamored with the Fox Terrier breed, thanks to Igloo.
On December 12, 1930, the school newspaper, The Empehi News, ran two articles about Byrd’s and Igloo’s visit. The articles are reprinted here (complete with errors).
First article: Admiral Byrd Tells of Desire to “Visit New Places” All His Life
By Muriel McClure
“I am an explorer,” said Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, “because it was born in me. I have always felt the urge to see new places. You know I traveled around the world alone when I was twelve.”
Admiral Byrd spoke at the high school both in the afternoon and evening of December 4. During this interview he was seated in Mr. Schoch’s office waiting his curtain call. Admiral Byrd is a thin, robust man. He has an easy, charming way of talking.
“I think my last trip, to the South Pole, has contributed the most to science, for the reason that we had the funds and a greater chance to combat the dangers than we had on our other trips.”
When he was asked what he thought was the most important quality of character young people should develop, he replied, “Loyalty I hold before all else, even before honor. I would a hundred times rather have a dishonest man who is loyal than an honest man who is disloyal. Yes, I think one should develop loyalty to church, morals, country and home above all things. Now take dogs for instance, the dogs we had in the Antarctic were the loyalest of animals. Give a dog a chance to serve you and that will be his reaction.”
Commander Byrd’s own fox terrier, igloo, is a loyal pal. He has gone to the North Pole and the South Pole with his master. Igloo, during the interview, lay at the admiral’s feet.
“Our Antarctic stay was something new to all of us,” said Mr. Byrd. “The Antarctic is so different from the Arctic because it is just in the process of evolution which the Arctic underwent thousands of years ago. The Antarctic is perennially frozen over, of course. While the Arctic is mostly land, the antarctic is ice floating above 10,000 feet of water. There is very little life in the Antarctic and in the Arctic there is abundant animal and human life.”
In his lecture Admiral Byrd showed movies taken of the two-year exploration trip, as well as giving a short talk as an introduction to the polar regions. He told of days 72 degrees below zero, when the men’s eyelashes froze together, and other hardships.
As Admiral Byrd left the school he said, “I have enjoyed my visit very much, in spite of the fact that I had to speak!”
Second article: Byrd-dog Grants Reporter of Empehi an Interview
Igloo, the famous Byrd-dog, for probably the first time in his illustrious career as a polar explorer, granted an interview to a newspaper reporter last Thursday, December 4.
Igloo was very calm, cool and indifferent to everything, possibly due to training at the South pole. As he had very little to say, we could get nothing but a description of him.
Igloo possesses two brown ears, big brown eyes, brown spots on his back, all the rest of him being white. The famous “pooch” wore a plain black collar with no name on the name plate. He was dark under the eyes, from staying up all night at the South Pole probably!
While at the South Pole he obtained a scar during a fight with his enemies, the penguins. It makes us wonder how the penguins looked.
During his stay under the desk in Mr. Schoch’s office, he posed for Mary Jane McAllister. He took his posing very seriously, holding himself quite steady for a dog. When he did move, the artist tried to make him turn back by making a noise like a cat, but cats were of no interest to the pup. Due to the lack of cats at the South Pole?
The dog was nearly, if not, as popular as his master, Rear Admiral Byrd. Igloo had quite an audience, but to that mob he paid not the slightest heed.
If all dogs were only like Igloo, quiet, reserved and peaceful (?) but alack! They are not!
Igloo, here’s your chance to open an etiquette class! for dogs.
The moral of this story? The companionship of a friend like Igloo surely eases the loneliness of isolation.
RHS note: Sadly, Igloo died prematurely at the age of 6 in 1931 from food poisoning. Byrd was away at the time, and chartered an airplane to rush home, while a group of veterinarians worked to save Igloo’s life, but it was too late. Buried in a pet cemetery in Massachusetts, Igloo has a marker shaped like an iceberg and his plaque reads “Igloo – He Was More Than A Friend.”
The Ridge Historical Society is open to the public on Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. free of charge. The address is 10621 S. Seeley Avenue.
The current exhibit is the Hetherington Design Dynasty profiling the three generations of architects in the Hetherington family who lived on the Ridge and designed more than seventy buildings locally.
The Ridge Historical Society is open to the public on Tuesday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The address is 10621 S. Seeley Avenue. Park on Seeley and walk in through the long driveway. Admission is free.
Beverly Art Walk – Bringing together the past and the present
The 2022 Beverly Art Walk will be held on Saturday, September 17. This year, the community’s cultural assets are being celebrated, and the Ridge Historical Society is happy to be featured.
The current exhibit, Hetherington Design Dynasty, looks at three generations of the Hetherington family who lived on the Ridge – John Todd, his son Murray, and Murray’s son John Murray.
For the Art Walk, a new section is being added to the exhibit, the artwork of Mildred Lyon Hetherington.
Mildred Lyon was born in New York in 1892. The family moved to Chicago, and Mildred attended the School of the Art Institute (SAIC), where she met Murray Hetherington, an architecture student. Mildred graduated from the SAIC in 1914, the same year her family moved to Beverly, where the Hetherington family also lived.
Mildred and Murray married in 1924. They had two children, John “Jack” Murray, and Mary.
Mildred had a long career as an artist. She was famous for her portraits and for illustrating children’s books. The RHS exhibit will feature selections of her works, some on loan from the Hetherington family.
Including a historic exhibit in the Art Walk ties together the past and the present of the arts community on the Ridge. In upcoming posts, we will look at Mildred’s place in this community, including her connection to John H. Vanderpoel and the Vanderpoel Art Association.
Portrait of Murray Hetherington by Mildred Lyon Hetherington, on loan for the Ridge Historical Society’s exhibit, Hetherington Design Dynasty, from the Vanderpoel Art Association.
The Ridge Historical Society will be open to the public today, Tuesday, from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome. Enter at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue.
The current exhibit is Hetherington Design Dynasty, telling the story of three generations of the Hetherington family of architects, who designed over seventy buildings in the Beverly/Morgan Park community.
The exhibit is currently being expanded for the Beverly Art Walk. A new section is being added that will feature Mildred Lyon Hetherington.
Mildred joined the Hetherington family when she married Murray Duncan Hetherington in 1924. They had met when both were students at the School of the Art Institute. Murray became an architect and Mildred became a portraitist and illustrator of children’s textbooks, story books, and craft projects.
A nice sampling of Mildred’s portraits will be on display for the Art Walk, as well as some of the books and craft products she illustrated.
Getting ready behind the scenes for the Beverly Art Walk. Carol Flynn photographed Linda Lamberty photographing Russell Ingram photographing Tim Blackburn for the Ridge Historical Society exhibit.
Linda is the Historian for RHS and the community. She knows just about everything about the history of this community and what she doesn't know she'll research until she finds the answer.
Russell is the official photographer for the Art Walk, hired by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance. His work is amazing – check out his website at russellingram.com.
Tim is the new and very-welcomed member of the RHS team, a superb researcher and the creator of much of the current exhibit on the Hetherington Design Dynasty. The future of RHS is in good hands.
Mark your calendars for September 17 for the Beverly Art Walk!
It's going to rain all day today – a perfect day for an inside visit to the Ridge Historical Society to see the Hetherington Design Dynasty exhibit. The address is 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, Chicago, and RHS is open from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sundays, free admission.
The 2022 Beverly Art Walk
The Ridge Historical Society will be doing what we do best, something no one else will be doing, for the 2022 Beverly Art Walk – connecting the past with the present.
“The Ridge” has had an art community going back to its earliest days. Once the railroads started making the area accessible, artists came to seek inspiration from the natural beauty of the Ridge.
On August 23, 1884, the Inter Ocean newspaper, one of the Chicago newspapers of the day, published an article about Washington Heights, which included today’s Beverly, and Morgan Park. The article reported on the unique attractiveness and engaging panorama of the Ridge, the forest so dense that to get lost in it was an easy thing, the wild cherries, the twilight shadows, the deep ravines, the hooting owls ….
The Ridge woods were visited that day by “young Landeau,” an artist who was in mourning because he had recently lost his friend and mentor, landscape artist Henry Arthur Elkins. Landeau was quoted as saying, “These very woods gave Elkins his inspiration, I verily believe, and I happen to know he often visited them.”
Landeau took solace that he was experiencing the same “wild
scenes” that so inspired his friend.
Artists soon began moving to the Ridge. In the 1890s, John Vanderpoel and William French from the Art Institute of Chicago made their homes in North Beverly. Hundreds of artists have called the Ridge home during the last one hundred and thirty years.
One of these was Mildred Lyon, whose family moved to Beverly in 1914, the year she graduated from the Art Institute. Although Vanderpoel was gone by then from the Art Institute, Mildred’s instruction would have been strongly influenced by him and his famous book, The Human Figure, which guided countless students on how to draw features of the human body from foreheads to toes. Mildred certainly knew Matilda Vanderpoel, the younger sister of the artist, also an instructor at the Art Institute and resident of North Beverly.
Mildred married Murray Hetherington in 1924, joining the family known for designing some of the outstanding architecture that shaped Beverly/Morgan Park into the show place it remains to this day. Mildred became known in her own right for her portraits and illustrations of children’s books and craft projects.
Mildred Lyon Hetherington will be the focus of the exhibit that RHS will premier for the Beverly Art Walk on Saturday, September 17. This week, we will offer some glimpses into Mildred and the upcoming exhibit.
The Beverly Art Walk, brought to us by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance, concentrates on the present-day artists in the community. The Alliance founders, Sal Campbell and Monica Wilczak, are commended for revitalizing the arts on the Ridge. RHS concentrates on the history of the community and this exhibit provides a link from the past to the present.
The Beverly Art Walk – Final Countdown
We’re in the final countdown – it’s less than two days until the Beverly Art Walk, which will take place on Saturday, September 17, from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m.
At the Ridge Historical Society, the Hetherington Design Dynasty exhibit has been expanded to include a new section on Mildred Lyon Hetherington, the local artist who was very active in the Beverly/Morgan Park arts community from the 1920s through the 1970s.
Mildred married architect Murray Hamilton, and they lived in the beautiful home Murray designed at 8918 S. Hamilton Avenue. Unfortunately, they lost that home during the Great Depression. They moved in with her father at 10153 S. Prospect Street, converting some of the space into studios, and creating an outdoor area for entertainment.
Mildred’s portrait painting was the major source of family income during the Depression. By her own account, she painted or drew over one thousand portraits during her career.
Another major component of Mildred’s career was illustrating children’s books and craft projects. This brings in an important connection between art and education.
Illustrations in children’s books serve many purposes. They delight the eye, they stir the imagination, and they foster an appreciation for art. They are valuable education and child development tools. By visualizing events, children can better understand words and concepts and the world around them, helping them to develop analytical and interpretive skills. Children learn how to model their own behavior – helping others, sharing – more from examples, like illustrations, than from being told what to do.
Mildred Lyon Hetherington created illustrations for dozens of children’s storybooks and textbooks. She also developed posters for craft projects that were fun activities while educating about history and helping children develop their fine motor skills.
All this, and more, is covered in the RHS exhibit. Plus, for the Art Walk, performances by the Weber School of Irish Dance will take place every hour on the half hour on the driveway near the Seeley Avenue entrance. There will be beer tastings from Horse Thief Hollow on the veranda where visitors can experience the great view down to Longwood Drive.
The RHS grounds are entered at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue. Parking is available on the street.
All ready for the Beverly Art Walk – TODAY – Saturday, September 17, 12 noon to 5 p.m.
Be sure to stop by the Ridge Historical Society, 10621 S. Seely Ave., Chicago.
Exhibit: The Hetherington Design Dynasty featuring the artwork of Mildred Lyon Hetherington.
Other highlights: Coloring activity for children, beer tasting from Horse Thief Hollow, performances by the Weber School of Irish Dance.