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
Thanksgiving Week on the Ridge
Thanksgiving has been considered an official U.S. holiday since it was declared by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Of course, taking time to give thanks for one’s blessings, and holding harvest feasts, long predated the Pilgrims’ events in the “New World” in the 1600s, but the U.S. assigned those concepts to a specific day each year.
For the next few days, we’ll look at some trivia that connects the Ridge to Thanksgiving week.
Anyone still deciding what to serve for Thanksgiving dinner need look no further than the Chicago Tribune food columns of fifty and more years ago. The food editor, Mary Meade, was none other than Beverly’s own Ruth Ellen Loverien Church, from 1937 until her retirement in 1974.
“Mary Meade” was the generic name the Tribune used for its woman food writers for years, because it was a common understanding, not only in the newspaper industry but in the workforce in general, that most women would not stay long in professional jobs but would marry and make home-keeping and raising families their careers.
Ruth was the fourth Mary Meade, and she broke this mold. She combined marriage and motherhood with a professional journalism career. She earned a degree in food and nutrition journalism from Iowa State University, and moved to Chicago in 1936, where she took the job with the Tribune.
In 1942, Ruth married Freeman Sylvester Church, a third-generation Beverly resident. They made their home in North Beverly and had two children.
Ruth eventually oversaw the largest food staff of any newspaper in the country, including five home economists. She established a kitchen in the Tribune Tower for recipe testing and food photography. She wrote at least twelve cookbooks and pamphlets, with authorship under her own name. She pioneered “specialty” cookbooks, such as one devoted to pancakes, waffles, omelets, and other breakfast foods. She also started the first wine column in a newspaper.
Some of the recipes she suggested for Thanksgiving through the years appear here.
Tomorrow we’ll look at the Ridge’s contribution to National Game and Puzzle Week, and on Friday, we’ll return to “Mary Meade” to look at some of her recipes for left-over turkey.
More pictures from cleaning up the Pike House yesterday.
The Ridge Historical Society would like to thank the volunteers who showed up yesterday to clean up the Pike House grounds. It was a cold day and the effort was really appreciated.
Here are some pictures of the crew and their handiwork. The place looks great now! Thank you to the Forest Preserves staff, also, for your help!
Cleaning up the historic Pike House property is still on for tomorrow!
The Ridge Historical Society/Beverly Area Planning Association Historic Buildings Committee invites area residents to help with a fall yard clean up at the historic Eugene S. Pike House, 1826 W. 91st St., on the southern edge of the Dan Ryan Woods, on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 9 a.m. to noon. Students can earn community service hours. All volunteers are welcome.
Rakes, brooms, shovels, bags, and gloves will all be provided for use and hot coffee will be available to keep everyone warm on a cold November day.
If plenty of people show up, the work should be finished pretty quickly!
Carol Macola just recently stepped down from the Board of Directors of the Ridge Historical Society, where she served as a Director for many years, and as Secretary for several years.
RHS salutes Carol for her many years of service to her country and her community, and congratulates Carol for this well-deserved honor from the @[100064844042052:2048:Beverly Area Planning Association].
The third program in the Hetherington Architectural Lecture Series will be held this Friday, November 18, at the Ridge Historical Society, 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
RHS is pleased to welcome Michael Lambert, architect, historian, and preservationist, who will speak on “John Todd Hetherington: From Lake Forest to Geneva.”
Architect John Todd Hetherington’s career has been long overlooked. On the Ridge, we associate him with the one hundred or so homes and buildings he, his son, and his grandson designed in this community. However, his reach extended much farther than this enclave on the southwest side of Chicago. At the close of the 19th century, he was the architect to some of Chicago’s most prominent residents. Hetherington, along with other leading residential and landscape architects of his era, designed some of the first estate homes in Lake Forest, Illinois. At the dawn of the 20th century, on the heels of Colonel George Fabyan who established a large estate in Geneva, IL, now part of the Kane County Forest Preserves, longtime friends E. F. Dorton and T. S. Fauntleroy moved from the North Shore to banks of the Fox River. They commissioned Hetherington to design three homes that began the transformation of Geneva’s Batavia Road neighborhood.
Michael Lambert is the Preservation Planner for the City of Geneva, and the Founding Chair of both the Will County (IL) Historic Preservation Commission and the Plainfield (IL) Historic Preservation Commission. He has served as an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Historic Preservation. He has been honored twice by Landmarks Illinois for preservation advocacy and restoration. Currently Lambert is also the President of the Plainfield Historical Society.
The cost for the program is $10 for RHS members and $15 for non-members. A reception will follow the program. Reservations may be made through Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hetherington-architectural-lecture-series-tickets-443264575277?aff=ebdssbdestsearchhttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/hetherington-architectural-lecture-series-tickets-443264575277?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
For any questions, contact RHS at 773/881-1675 or ridgehistory@hotmail.com.
The third program in the Hetherington Architectural Lecture Series will be held this Friday, November 18, at the Ridge Historical Society, 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
RHS is pleased to welcome Michael Lambert, architect, historian, and preservationist, who will speak on “John Todd Hetherington: From Lake Forest to Geneva.”
Architect John Todd Hetherington’s career has been long overlooked. On the Ridge, we associate him with the one hundred or so homes and buildings he, his son, and his grandson designed in this community. However, his reach extended much farther than this enclave on the southwest side of Chicago.
At the close of the 19th century, he was the architect to some of Chicago’s most prominent residents. Hetherington, along with other leading residential and landscape architects of his era, designed some of the first estate homes in Lake Forest, Illinois. At the dawn of the 20th century, on the heels of Colonel George Fabyan who established a large estate in Geneva, IL, now part of the Kane County Forest Preserves, longtime friends E. F. Dorton and T. S. Fauntleroy moved from the North Shore to banks of the Fox River. They commissioned Hetherington to design three homes that began the transformation of Geneva’s Batavia Road neighborhood.
Michael Lambert is the Preservation Planner for the City of Geneva, and the Founding Chair of both the Will County (IL) Historic Preservation Commission and the Plainfield (IL) Historic Preservation Commission. He has served as an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Historic Preservation. He has been honored twice by Landmarks Illinois for preservation advocacy and restoration. Currently Lambert is also the President of the Plainfield Historical Society.
The cost for the program is $10 for RHS members and $15 for non-members. A reception will follow the program. Reservations may be made through Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hetherington-architectural-lecture-series-tickets-443264575277?aff=ebdssbdestsearchhttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/hetherington-architectural-lecture-series-tickets-443264575277?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
For any questions, contact RHS at 773/881-1675 or ridgehistory@hotmail.com.
The Ridge Historical Society/Beverly Area Planning Association Historic Buildings Committee invites area residents to help with a fall yard clean up at the historic Eugene S. Pike House, 1826 W. 91st St., on the southern edge of the Dan Ryan Woods, on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 9 a.m. to noon. Students can earn community service hours. All volunteers are welcome. For additional information, contact RHS at 773-881-1675 or ridgehistory@hotmail.com.
On Veterans Day, we salute and thank all who have served in the U.S. military.
Here are just some of the national monuments in Washington, D.C., that memorialize those who have served.
Please add your own photos of other monuments.
A last reminder – Friday evening's program at the Ridge Historical Society, 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, Chicago, at 7 p.m. The cost is $10 per RHS member; $15 non-members. Reserve your spot through Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hetherington-architectural-lecture-series-tickets-443264575277?aff=ebdssbdestsearch