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National Women’s History MonthDorothea Rudnick

By Carol Flynn

March would not be complete without acknowledging National Women’s History Month.

There is no shortage of accomplished women in the Ridge’s past, and most of those we have profiled have filled the traditional women’s roles of educators, artists, and “club women” social activists.

This year’s subject, Dorothea Rudnick (1907-1990), takes us in another direction, the sciences. Her “historical” and analytical brain, as she described it herself in 1964, led her to become a noted embryologist.

Dorothea grew up in Beverly. Her family lived at 10640 S. Seeley Avenue, then later moved to 10407 S. Leavitt Street. Her father Paul was head chemist for Armour & Co. and both of her brothers became physicists.

Dorothea, however, did not start out interested in the sciences – her interests were in history, journalism, and languages.

As a high school student at the age of 15, she won a Chicago Tribune essay contest on George Washington. Her essay is attached. It was a different take on George Washington: he was a flawed man, like all of us, making it that more notable that he rose to greatness.

Dorothea enrolled at the University of Chicago to study languages, but she really wanted to take some time to travel in Europe. She quit school and took a job downtown as a bookkeeper to earn money for a trip.

At the age of 18, she took off on her own with her own money to travel abroad. She enjoyed experiences like climbing mountains and living in Paris.

When she returned home, she realized she had to consider her future, and decided her best course of action was to go into the sciences.

Re-enrolling in the U. of Chicago, a course in zoology fascinated her, and she became interested in embryology, studying differentiation – why did certain cells develop into certain body parts – a lung, an ear, a feather.

With a Ph.D., completed in 1931, advanced scholarships and fellowships took her to Yale University, the University of Rochester, the University of Connecticut, and Wellesley College.

During these years, Dorothea perfected the delicate techniques for transplanting parts of one embryo into another that brought her distinction in the field. This was in the 1930s, and experiments were done by hand. She used tiny saws and forceps, glass needles, and binocular dissecting microscopes.

In 1940, Dorothea joined the teaching faculty at Albertus Magnus College, a Catholic women’s college in New Haven, Connecticut, near Yale, and spent the rest of her career there. She continued to have laboratory privileges at Yale, where she spent evenings, weekends, school breaks, and summers.

Dorothea enjoyed teaching and mentoring students as much as she did research.

She also made time to continue her love for writing and languages. She published her own studies, of course, and translated research articles from other languages into English. For many years she served as editor of the proceedings of symposia conducted by the Society for the Study of Development and Growth.

Not much is known about Dorothea's private life, which was described as “reclusive.” One fact, though, is that in 1956 – 58, she had King-lui Wu, an architect from China who was on the faculty at Yale, build a house for her. The modern-style "Dorothea Rudnick House," described by one architecture historian as “an open-plan house tucked into the side of a hill in Hamden” is considered architecturally significant of Wu’s work.

Dorothea retired in 1978, after many years of teaching, conducting experiments on chicken and rat embryos, and publishing. She joined her brother in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where she died at the age of 83.

Great strides have been made in sciences like embryology in the last thirty years, and some opportunities have become available for women. However, the Society of Women Engineers reports that in 2023, only 16.7% of the science and engineering work force was made up of women.

This year the theme of Women’s History Month is recognizing women who advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Some women become advocates through example because their accomplishments show the contributions women can make if given opportunities to let their knowledge and skills develop and thrive.

Dorothea Rudnick, a Beverly native who became a noted

embryologist, is an example of a woman whose career “speaks” for inclusion of women as equals in the sciences.

A more thorough article on her can be found at: https://www.beverlyreview.net/news/community_news/article_11eec2de-eb8c-11ee-8773-fbfc415430c4.html

Happy Easter from the Ridge Historical Society!

Here's something a little different – a cartoon from Easter 1924 that appeared in the Chicago Tribune. This is how Easter eggs get painted.

And a vintage postcard greeting.

Beverly Bike and Ski Inc. at 9121 S. Western Avenue is a historic business in the community, with roots going back to the 1920s – actually, longer than the 100 years mentioned in this headline.

By 1920, James and Bessie Kosar and their family were already living at 9121 S. Western Ave. From directories and other sources from the time, it appears they ran a grocery there and started the bike shop, also, which was called the Beverly Bicycle Shop, but provided many services, as the attached ad shows.

At the time, Western Avenue was very rural, but it was a thoroughfare connecting the north side to the south side for many miles. There had been stopping places along the route for many years, as it was one of the routes used to reach the cemeteries (Mt. Greenwood, Mt. Hope, Mt. Olivet).

In 1922, Western Avenue through this area was graded, widened, and repaved, leading to the Western Avenue we know today.

The Ridge Historical Society has a photo of the paving work at 93rd Street and Western Avenue in 1922, showing the building that housed the Kosar family and their businesses in the background.

Eventually, the son James, born in 1914, ran the shop, likely starting in his teen-age years, around 1930. He was awarded a bronze star for his service in World War II. He ran the business for many years, and even stayed on for a while as a mechanic after he sold the shop to Bob Green in the 1970s.

The current owners, Paul and Kathleen Weise, bought the shop in 1996, and modernized it. They also involved the shop in community activities, from starting their own racing group to sponsoring the Beverly Cycling Classic.

Recently, the shop has been receiving a lot of media attention because Paul Weise has announced his retirement and has put the shop up for sale. Hopefully, he will find a buyer that will carry on the tradition of the store.

Read more about Beverly Bike and Ski in this month's BAPA Villager. https://bapa.org/beverly-bike-ski-nears-100-years-at-91st-and-western/

Since the Eugene S. Pike House was built as a "gardener's cottage" in 1894, it has served as a residence for many people.

Eugene Pike's first business, before he ever moved to Chicago, was as a distributor of nursery plants. He imported fruit trees, rose bushes, and other plants from France. His business, largely with the southern states, was booming, until the start of the U.S. Civil War caused an end to that.

He then turned his attention to banking. He and his family moved to Chicago, where he also got into the real estate business. He was very successful with both. When he died his estate was worth over $3 million, about equal to $85 million today.

He bought land on the top of the Ridge, some of which he developed into homeowner sites for sale. He kept a piece of the land for himself, and eventually this became part of the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC), now known as Dan Ryan Woods.

His gardener's cottage, designed by architect H.H. Waterman, was built to be both ornamental and to serve a useful purpose. It housed several landscapers and gardeners while it was owned by the Pike family, and one of Pike's sons lived there for a while.

After the land and house were bought by the FPCC, it was used as a headquarters for FPCC area supervisors, then as a "watchman's residence." At least eight families lived there, and the research has just begun.

Here is an introductory article on the residents of the Pike House. Watch for more on this topic.

Those Who Have Called the Pike House “Home” – Part 1 

In addition to answering many questions about local history and helping people research their families and their homes, the Ridge Historical Society (RHS) helps students, journalists, writers, historians, artists, and many other people with in-depth research for projects they are working on.

Some recent projects included an eighth grader’s history fair presentation on Prohibition (which won awards), a church’s Land Acknowledgment Statement, two artist projects on historical land usage, several media projects on local unincorporated land, and the histories of a local church and a famous south side sign company. We even found the owner of a wedding ring that was discovered buried in a local garden.

So when we were approached by Michael Angland, a student working on his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at Northwestern University, seeking information on the history of the area, we of course did what we could to assist him.

Cultural anthropology studies humans through the societies they establish by looking at the society’s culture – what the members believe and value, how they behave, the social structures and organizations they form. Researchers in the current world involve themselves right in the society they are studying – they interact and talk with the people, they attend events, they participate in local activities.

Michael is studying the culture of the 19th Ward, which he identified as unique in the city.

He identified such traits as political involvement, multi-generational families, the approach to integration in the 1970s resulting in today’s diverse population, the mix of white-collar and blue-collar workers and city employees, the unique geography, the beautiful historic homes and the importance of home ownership, even the wet-dry issue, all as factors that make the community unique.

This recent article in the Beverly Review introduces Michael Angland.

Michael is interviewing people throughout the ward. Here he is with Fr. Michael Flynn (left), a past associate pastor at St. Christina's Church in Mount Greenwood. People who want to share their perspectives on life in the 19th ward can contact him at michaelangland2026@u.northwestern.edu.

https://www.beverlyreview.net/news/community_news/article_e4dfd340-f109-11ee-9e57-1f78bb2a6c6e.html

Tomorrow, April 8, 2024, there will be an eclipse of the sun viewable in the Ridge communities. This is a historic event of the celestial kind.

The sun, the moon, and the earth are all lined up right now so that the moon, on its normal trajectory, will pass between the sun and the earth, blocking the light of the sun from the earth.

On the Ridge, a "partial eclipse" will be viewable, but it is almost full. From North Beverly down to Blue Island, viewers will be able to see a 94.3 – 94.5% full eclipse, from 12:51 p.m. to 3:21 p.m., with the maximum point at 2:07 p.m.

People are advised not to stare directly at the eclipse so the retinas of their eyes are not damaged. Special glasses that are 1,000 times darker than sun glasses, blocking out almost all light, have been available from many vendors, including the Adler Planetarium, Amazon, Walmart, and libraries.

Viewers are advised to use filters to protect the lenses of their cameras, recorders, and phones from being "fried."

Many people are traveling hundreds of miles from Chicago to areas where the full eclipse is viewable. The path passes from southwest to northeast of Chicago.

Undoubtably there will be numerous pictures and videos of the eclipse for people to study.

Sunday, APRIL 28, 2024 – 2pm

Spring Bonnet Tea

RHS is happy to be able to hold this annual fundraiser event again. Join us for a Full Victorian Tea featuring a fine selection of savories, scones and pastries. Ladies, please wear a spring hat or bonnet!

A wonderful multi-generational event — bring your daughters or granddaughters!

This Full Victorian Tea set in the Historic Graver-Driscoll House, on the Ridge in the Beverly Hills neighborhood of Chicago.

Space is limited, advance ticket purchase or RSVP required.

Adults $30 Guests Under 12 $15

Get tickets online: bit.ly/bonnet_tea

RSVP: ridgehistory@hotmail.com 773.881.1675

The Ridge Historical Society (RHS) is in the News – with Mt. Greenwood Cemetery

RHS is featured in a brief article in Chicago Magazine and is scheduled to be part of a podcast on Thursday.

It all has to do with the map of the 19th ward. When you look at the map of this little piece of Chicago on the far south outskirts of the city, you see a blank rectangle of unincorporated land in the ward, and that is Mt. Greenwood Cemetery. The cemetery is not incorporated into the city of Chicago, it is on unincorporated land in Cook County.

Mt. Greenwood Cemetery is in between the communities of Morgan Park to the east and Mount Greenwood to the west. Morgan Park was incorporated as a village in 1884 and was annexed to Chicago in 1914, and Mount Greenwood was incorporated as a village in 1907 and was annexed to Chicago in 1927. In all these cases of incorporation and annexation, the cemetery was not included.

To the north of Mt. Greenwood Cemetery is the Ridge Country Club, and that land apparently became part of Chicago in two stages, in 1914 and 1927.

To the south of Mt. Greenwood Cemetery is Mount Olivet Cemetery and south of that is Mount Hope Cemetery, which runs to 119th Street, Chicago’s southern boundary. Originally, none of these three cemeteries were incorporated into the city, so the land that Ridge Country Club is on formed a bridge connecting the east and west sides of the 19th ward.

However, Mount Olivet Cemetery, which is owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, became part of Chicago in 1970. Mt. Greenwood Cemetery and Mt. Hope Cemetery remain in unincorporated Cook County, making Mt. Greenwood Cemetery an island in the 19th ward.

Mt. Greenwood Cemetery is the only one of the three that is entirely within the boundaries of Chicago. Mt. Olivet Cemetery borders on Chicago and Merrionette Park, and Mt. Hope Cemetery borders on Chicago, Merrionette Park, and the City of Blue Island.

Two media outlets, Chicago Magazine and WBEZ, expressed interest in this “phenomenon” recently, contacting Mt. Greenwood Cemetery and RHS with the question, why is Mt. Greenwood Cemetery not part of Chicago? They both neglected to notice that Mt. Hope Cemetery is also on unincorporated land. The cemeteries along Kedzie Avenue, Beverly, Lincoln, and Oak Hill, are also on unincorporated land.

The short answer to the question is no one knows exactly why Mt. Greenwood Cemetery never opted to annex to Chicago, but there are some possible clues.

First is the issue of taxes. Villages annexed to the city to obtain better services, and the landowners in those villages pay taxes for those services. Cemetery owners were not concerned about schools, parks, libraries, streetlights, and sidewalks. There was no reason to become part of the city and pay those taxes.

And the city had no reason to want the cemeteries. By law, abandoned cemeteries could become the responsibility of the city or village they were part of for upkeep and security. Many cemeteries in Illinois are on unincorporated ground.

To be clear, the cemetery is incorporated as a business in Illinois, but it is located on land in Cook County that is not incorporated as part of any municipality.

It was when Mt. Olivet Cemetery became part of Chicago in 1970 that Mt. Greenwood Cemetery became an island in the 19th ward. The real question is why did Mt. Olivet Cemetery annex to Chicago?

The definitive answer to that is not known either, but it could have something to do with private residences being located partially on

cemetery property. Taxes for Mt. Olivet Cemetery would not be an issue. Religious organizations are tax-exempt.

When Mt. Greenwood Cemetery sold off a corner of its property at 111th Street and California Avenue for a townhouse development, the land had to join Chicago before the residences were built.

In 2020, 19th ward Alderman Matt O’Shea expressed interest in annexing Mt. Hope Cemetery to Chicago to increase security and a police presence from the Chicago Police Department. This has not happened. Right now, both Mt. Greenwood and Mt. Hope Cemeteries are covered by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

Paula Everett, president of Mount Greenwood Cemetery Association, and a Board member of the Ridge Historical Society (RHS), and RHS Facebook Page Administrator Carol Flynn (past RHS Board member) made the news again because of the Cemetery being an island of unincorporated Cook County land in the middle of the 19th ward.

They were interviewed by journalist Mariah Woelfel for a segment for WBEZ Chicago, the National Public Radio station.

There is a written article to accompany the recording. Here is the link to access both.

The Wild Ridge by Carol Flynn

The Ridge once was home to wolves (hunted down until they were all killed), sandhill cranes (lost to habitat destruction), and other species that no longer exist in this setting.

However, other wildlife have managed to adapt to the urban environment.

Here are some pictures of wildlife in the area in the last few months.

So many predators (coyote, owl, eagle) means there has to be a fairly strong prey base. The turkey is prey, but its size helps protect it. Rabbits, squirrels and other rodents, and smaller birds are plentiful around here.

The bald eagle is the national bird. Benjamin Franklin advocated for the wild turkey as the national bird. Here they both are, today, in an urban setting on the south side of Chicago. Considering the bald eagle was at the point of extinction just a few decades ago, seeing them now on local rooftops is just amazing. This one seems to recognize a photo op, posing with the U.S. flag.

Credit to Jamie Anderson for the coyote and owl photos. The photos of the eagle and the turkey were shared from other posts.