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
Ridge Historical Society
Catholic Churches in the Ridge Communities
By Carol Flynn
The Ridge Historical Society has been concentrating on saving the Pike House lately, but there are other changes also in the works for historic properties in the Ridge communities. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago recently announced more changes to neighborhood churches as a result of its ongoing initiative, Renew My Church.
The latest changes involve three historic churches in the Ridge communities, St. Margaret of Scotland, Holy Name of Mary, and Sacred Heart Mission. These changes follow those announced previously for St. Benedict Church in Blue Island.
St. Benedict was the first Catholic parish established on the Ridge, in 1861. The congregation built its first church at York and Gregory Streets in 1864, and built its first school in 1880. The “modern” church there now dates to the 1960s.
St. Benedict merged with St. Walter Parish of Morgan Park, which was established in the 1950s, and St. Peter Claver Mission church of Robbins, started in 1958. As of last fall, the name of this new parish is St. Mary Magdalene Parish.
Last week, it was announced that St. Margaret of Scotland Parish will merge with St. Kilian Parish, with St. Margaret of Scotland Church remaining open as the home base.
St. Margaret of Scotland Church was the first Catholic church founded in the Beverly/Washington Heights/Morgan Park/Mount Greenwood area. The congregation was originally formed as Sacred Heart Mission out of St. Benedict Church in Blue Island, not to be confused with the current Sacred Heart Mission which will be discussed in another post. The early Sacred Heart Mission was also affiliated with the Academy of Our Lady school, which was founded around this same time at 95th and Throop Streets.
The Village of Washington Heights was established in 1874, and the Catholic parish was founded, still called Sacred Heart. It covered a huge territory, from State Street west to today’s LaGrange Road, and from 87th Street to 119th Street. The earliest members of the congregation were German Catholics from Prussia and Bavaria, with a smattering of people from “Hibernia,” an old name for Ireland.
In the early 1890s, the parish name was changed to St. Margaret of Scotland, and when a family donated land at 99th and Throop Streets, the church building from further east was hoisted onto rollers and moved across the prairie to the present location. The current church was dedicated in 1928.
Other parishes were eventually founded on the Ridge – St. Barnabas in 1924, St. Christina in 1926, St. Cajetan in 1927, Christ the King in 1936, Holy Name of Mary in 1940, and St. Walter in the 1950s.
Now, St. Margaret of Scotland Parish will merge with St. Kilian Parish, which is located at 87th and May Streets, effective in July 2022. A new name will be chosen for this new parish. The plan is that St. Margaret of Scotland School will remain open and retain its current name.
Next post: The special circumstances of the current Sacred Heart Mission Church and Holy Name of Mary Parish in Morgan Park.
Saving the Eugene S. Pike House – Post 1
UPDATE: Landmarks Illinois is reviewing the application.
As the Ridge Historical Society announced on this Facebook page a few weeks ago, RHS, in partnership with the Beverly Area Planning Association (BAPA), applied to Landmarks Illinois on January 10th to have the Eugene S. Pike House added to the List of Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois 2022.
The Pike House is located at 1826 West 91st Street in North Beverly (Chicago, 60643). The house, designed by architect Harry Hale Waterman, was built in 1894 for Pike, a real estate developer and financier.
Since 1921, the house has been the property of the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC). It was used as a superintendent’s office and later as a watchman’s residence.
The house has fallen into severe disrepair and has been vacant for years. In 2018, the FPCC issued a Request for Information (RFI) from organizations potentially interested in adapting the Pike House for reuse. No further information on the Pike House has been announced by the FPCC since that time and the house’s future is uncertain.
The position of RHS is that the Eugene S. Pike House is of historical and architectural importance to the Beverly/Morgan Park community and the City of Chicago and should be preserved and adapted for reuse. The awarding of the designation “Most Endangered Historic Property” by Landmarks Illinois will bring attention to the building’s situation and lead to discussions on its preservation.
Landmarks Illinois is a nonprofit organization founded in 1971 to preserve, protect and promote architectural and historic resources in Illinois through advocacy and education. Since 1995, the Most Endangered List has focused attention on sites threatened by deterioration, lack of maintenance, insufficient funds or inappropriate development and built support for each property’s eventual preservation. The 2022 Endangered List will be announced in April.
Image: The Eugene S. Pike House, Jan. 2022, photo by C. Flynn.
History of the Chicago Wards – Post 7Isaiah T. Greenacre
Washington Heights, which included the land from Western Avenue east between 95th Street and 107th Street (today’s Beverly), and the unincorporated land north of 95th Street to 87th Street (today’s North Beverly), were annexed to the city of Chicago in 1890, and became part of the 31st ward in 1891.
Isaiah Thomas Greenacre was the first man who lived in Washington Heights to be elected to serve as alderman for the 31st ward. He served for one term, from 1895 to 1897.
It’s appropriate to take a detour from exploring the history of the wards on the Ridge to take a look at Greenacre. He grew up in the community and became thoroughly immersed in its workings. There were likely few people who knew more about the community than he did.
Being an alderman was just one brief accomplishment for Greenacre. This man, a product of this community, had a lasting impact on the entire country.
Isaiah Thomas Greenacre was born in 1863 in Illinois. His father was Isaiah Greenacre and his mother was Lucinda Young Greenacre. The son always went by Isaiah T. or I. T. Greenacre.
The original Isaiah Greenacre, the father, was born in England in 1828 and came to the U.S. in 1852. He and Lucinda Young from Kilkenny, Ireland, born in 1831, married in New York in 1853, and moved to Chicago. On the 1860 U.S. Census, they were listed as living in Chicago ward six, which was centered around Van Buren and Jefferson Streets. Greenacre’s occupation was given as carpenter.
The birth of one child, Isaiah Thomas, was recorded, in Will County in 1863.
On the 1870 U.S. Census, the family is reported as living in Chicago ward 15, which was north of Chicago Avenue and west of the Chicago River. Greenacre also shows up on the census that year in Escanaba, Michigan, living with other carpenters and engineers with the Bushnell family, owners of a “brandy house.” He was perhaps there on a job.
By 1874, the family had moved to the southside closer to the Ridge. That year, the residents voted to incorporate as the Village of Washington Heights, and Greenacre was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees. The area was experiencing substantial growth as people left the city for the suburbs after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, and the railroads made the area more accessible.
Greenacre usually served as president pro tem of the Board when the president, the Rev. D.S. Heffron of the Bethany Union Church, could not be in attendance. The trustees dealt with all aspects of the new, growing village, including installing sewers and sidewalks; grading and graveling streets; approving new developments; building schools; establishing a police force; determining assessments for improvements; and appropriating funds for salaries and other expenses. One line item was for $150 for the “village calaboose,” the jail.
Issues with the railroads that ran through the area were dealt with, such as removing old tracks so streets could be extended, and cleaning out and covering a well on railroad property and turning it over to the village for use by the residents.
Everyday life was the business of the Board of Trustees. Liquor licenses were granted in the beginning years of the village and there were saloons to regulate. Other issues included everything from the benign such as strawberry festivals at local churches, and residents securing their cows so they did not wander the village streets, to the more sinister such as an increase in home burglaries. Dealing with the throngs of people who came to the community by train on Sundays to picnic and party in the scenic wooded groves of the Ridge was a constant challenge. There were disturbing occurrences, including the accidental shooting and killing of a woman during one July 4th revelry in the local woods.
This was the world in which Isaiah T. Greenacre grew up. By 1884 at the age of 21, he was already involved in politics and practicing law.
The Greenacre parents moved to California in 1892. Isaiah died in 1897, and Lucinda in 1901. Their remains were returned to Chicago for burial in Mount Hope Cemetery on 115th Street.
Next post: The life and career of Isaiah T. Greenacre.
The Ridge Connection to the Rose Bowl
On January 1, 1890, the Valley Hunt Club, a private social club in Pasadena, California, held a parade. The purpose was to showcase the wonderful climate and living opportunities in Pasadena while cities in the north – like Chicago and New York – were buried in snow. Many of the residents of Pasadena had relocated from the Midwest and East coast.
The parade featured horse-drawn carriages covered in flowers, followed by foot races, polo matches, and a tug of war in the “town lot.” About 2000 people attended. Because of the abundance of flowers, it was decided to call the parade the “Tournament of Roses.”
The parade became an annual event and grew in size. Marching bands and ostrich races, automobile floats and bronco busting all became part of the festivities. The town lot was renamed “Tournament Park.”
In 1902, to offset the costs of the parade, a special football game was held following the parade. By then, the parade was attracting national attention. The University of Michigan football team was having a stellar year with a record of 11 – 0, scoring a total of 501 – 0 points, and was invited for an all-expenses-paid trip to Pasadena to play against Stanford University of Stanford, California.
The game was billed as the Tournament East-West Football Game. Admission was $.50 to $1.00. About 8,500 people attended the game. Stanford was no match for Michigan and even asked to end the game early. Michigan won 49-0. This was the first Rose Bowl game, the first post-season “bowl” game ever.
And the connection to the Ridge: On that Michigan team was Herbert Graver, the man who would build the Graver-Driscoll House at 10621 S. Seeley Avenue that is now owned by and serves as headquarters for the Ridge Historical Society.
Herbert Spencer Graver, Sr., was born in 1880 in Pennsylvania, the sixth of seven children of William and Christina Penman Graver. William Graver started the Graver Tank Works in 1858 to craft metal tanks to store oil. The business relocated to East Chicago in the 1880s.
After graduation, Herbert worked for one year as a college coach but then joined the family business. All five Graver sons were employed with the Graver Tank and Manufacturing Company and held officer positions. Herbert served as corporate secretary.
Herbert married Anna T. Thorne in 1910 and they had one son, Herbert S., Jr.
In the early 1900s, the five Graver sons all moved to the Beverly/Morgan Park area. Herbert built his house on the Ridge with entrances on Longwood Drive and Seeley Avenue in 1921-22. The Tudor Revival-style manor house was designed by the noted architect, John Todd Hetherington.
Herbert was a sports celebrity and occasionally made public appearances as one of the original Rose Bowl players. He enjoyed sports his entire life, and in fact, in 1954, he suffered a fatal heart attack while watching wrestling matches at the International Amphitheater. At the time of his death, he was still the sales manager for the family company. He was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.
The Ridge Historical Society was founded in 1971. The plans for the 100th anniversary of the Graver-Driscoll House and the 50th anniversary of RHS were put on hold last year because of the COVID pandemic. The plan is to celebrate this year so stay tuned for further announcements and more historical information on the Gravers, the house, Hetherington, and RHS.
New Year’s Eve, 1921
What was happening on the Ridge one hundred years ago? To answer that question, RHS turned to its old friend, the news correspondent from the Ridge for the Englewood Times back then, Pauline Palmer.
And according to Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. George Gale of 2325 W. 108th Place held a “watch night party on New Year’s Eve.”
A little research revealed that Mrs. Gale was the former Alma Demers, born in Canada in 1878. George Gale was born in Illinois in 1872 and was an inspector at the stockyards.
A little more research revealed that “watching the old year out” was the general theme of New Year events back then, as opposed to welcoming in the New Year as is done today.
The custom was to open the front door at the stroke of midnight so the old year could exit and join all the years of the past, and the “baby new year” could enter and begin its life. The guests would form a circle and sing “Auld Lang Syne.”
Although we don’t know the exact details of the Gales’ New Year’s Eve party in 1921, some clues as to what they might have done can be found in “Novel Entertainment for Every Day in the Year” written by Ellye Howell Glover, published in 1921.
A suggested menu was a “Jack Frost” dinner, composed of raw oysters on ice, cream of corn soup with whipped cream on top, turkey cutlets, mashed potatoes, cauliflower in ramekins, fruit salad in white chrysanthemums, vanilla pudding and cakes rolled in coconut. Obviously, the theme was white food!
A recommended table decoration also included party favors. The top of an evergreen tree (suggested was the top of that year’s Christmas tree) could be turned into a “New Year’s wish tree.” For each guest, a tiny envelope attached to a gilded wishbone could contain a personal good wish from the hostess to the guest, or a suitable quotation. A variation could be little boxes filled with good luck talismans.
After supper, the evening was filled with games and dancing.
There was also “Dennison’s Christmas Book” of 1921 that included ideas for New Year celebrations.
Dennison books were a great source for party planning for several holidays – the company had “Bogie” books for Halloween, also. Every year, the books contained new ideas for party themes (such as “Sailing into the New Year”), decorations, games, and party favors. Of course, the books also served as catalogs for Dennison’s line of products, which included a variety of crepe paper decorations.
Prohibition had started the year before with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution which banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The consumption of alcohol was never illegal under federal law; the issue would have been procuring it legally.
Happy New Year from the Ridge Historical Society.