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March is National Women’s History Month! Ridge Historical Society is pleased to present a Women’s History exhibit: “Nevertheless She Persisted”, to open on Thursday, March 8th — International Women’s Day.

The RHS exhibit, prepared in partnership with GFWC IL Morgan Park Junior Woman’s Club, takes its title from the 2018 National Women’s History Month theme: “Nevertheless, She Persisted: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women”. The theme was designated by the National Women’s History Project (nwhp.org).

The exhibit will include items from the Morgan Park Juniors’ “Honoring Our Heritage” project. The Juniors started their project in 2011 and modeled it on Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” installation, an icon of 1970’s feminist art which is now in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Club members selected as subjects notable women who interested them, researched their contributions and accomplishments, presented short biographical essays to the Club, and created place settings in their honor. Their subjects include well-known figures like Jane Addams and Eleanor Roosevelt as well as women who made lasting contributions to our local community.

Sixteen of the place settings created by the Juniors will be displayed in thematic groups, along with biographical sketches and interpretive material. The place settings evoke the accomplishments or significance of each woman and , along with accompanying materials, they depict how we can be informed by each woman; how their work and persistence affects us now; what contributions each subject made to improving society; how they were challenged by their gender and status; and how they inspired others.

Thematic groupings include: Trailblazers and Mentors; Activists and Social Reformers; Women in the Peace movement; the Women’s History movement; Women in the Skies; Gender and Race in Civil Rights; and Clubwomen.

The exhibit will open formally on International Women’s Day, Thursday , March 8th, with casual viewing from 1:00 pm until 7:00 pm. An introductory presentation by club members will be given at 3:00 pm. A preview of selected groupings will be part of the RHS Annual Meeting on February 25, 2:00 pm. It will be available the entire month of March.

Reminder: "Nevertheless She Persisted" exhibit will open formally on International Women’s Day, Thursday , March 8th, with casual viewing from 1:00 pm until 7:00 pm. An introductory presentation by club members will be given at 3:00 pm.

Photos from the Romancing the Spoon on May 6. Enjoy.

The Spring Tea held April 29. It looks like a great time was had by all.

We are now accepting donations for our garage sale Sept 28, 29 and 30. Call to see when someone will be there to accept the donations.

A big thank you to County Fair for the donation of a beautiful floral hanging basket

Another year in the Memorial Day Parade. What great fun!

Planting Day at Ridge Historical Society

Join fellow gardeners for some fun in the sun and help beautify the grounds by planting and mulching at the Ridge Historical Society, located in historic Graver-Driscoll House, 10621 S. Seeley, Sat., Jun. 23, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Drinks will be provided. Volunteers should bring gardening gloves. Rakes, pitchforks, shovels and tools will be available. Volunteers are welcome to bring extra tools. Info and sign-up ridgehistory@hotmail.com or 773-881-1675. Rain date: June 24.

A New Year brings new ideas and enthusiasm for celebrating the rich history of the Beverly Hills, Morgan Park, Washington Heights, and Mt. Greenwood neighborhoods on the far southwest side of Chicago. With this post, the Ridge Historical Society will be starting new features to reach out for stories, questions, and pictures. This is your community, this is your history, this is your society! We hope you will like and share this page and these posts so we can reach as many people as possible.

The area is known for its outstanding and diverse architecture. We have everything from Queen Anne to Prairie style, from Art Moderne to Chicago bungalows. To drive, walk or bike around the neighborhood is to constantly delight in the scenery. We even have our own castle!

But the outsides of the houses are just one aspect. Inside the houses are delightful and charming features we rarely get to see. Last week, I was in a house that boasted a graceful, romantic original stained glass window as well as an original chandelier. Here is a picture. So often features like these have been removed with renovation and it is wonderful to find them preserved.

I invite you to share pictures of original features in your house or others you have seen. As most of these are private residences, we won't reveal addresses. I know we'll all enjoy these pictures.

Published by Carol Flynn – RHS Communications.

Real photo post cards (RPPCs) were the rage at the turn of the 20th century, around 1900. Itinerant photographers roamed the cities and country sides taking pictures of everything from houses to natural disasters. The postcards were sold as souvenirs. Today. these images are often referred to as "folk photography" and RPPCs offer a valuable visual documentation of history.

There are loads of RPPCs for the Beverly, Morgan Park and Blue Island area. You could go broke trying to collect them all so I save electronic images when I come across them. Here is one I found recently.

It is of a block of houses, and what makes it interesting is the location: Fairfax Ave. west of Armida Ave., Morgan Park.

Well, we don't have a Fairfax or an Armida. So where was this?

When Morgan Park was first planned and laid out, prominent citizen Colonel George R. Clark named some of the streets based on an epic morality poem called Jerusalem Delivered, published in 1581 and popular reading in the Victorian times. Armida was a character in the poem and Edward Fairfax was the most popular translator of the poem from the original Italian to English.

With annexation to Chicago in 1914, most of the old names had to be changed. Armida became Hoyne Ave. and Faifax became 110th Street. So this is looking west on 110th Street from Hoyne Avenue, ca. 1900.

Posted by Carol Flynn, RHS Communications #ridgehistoricalsociety