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.
November 2022
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
The History of the Graver-Driscoll House – Part 5The Graver Family and the Graver Tank Company
Following the U.S. Civil War, the United States experienced the American Industrial Revolution, a period distinguished by vast technological innovations that moved the production of goods from handcrafting in homes to machine production in factories.
The Graver family and their business, the Graver Tank Works, are a prime example of this revolution. The company’s operations lasted for 125 years.
William Graver was born in 1842 in Pennsylvania, the son of parents who immigrated from Germany. He apprenticed under his older brother Michael in a machine shop near Allegheny. The brothers started the Graver Tank works in 1857. Using hand tools, they specialized in making metal storage tanks for grain and oil, and hot water boilers. 1872, Michael sold his interest to William, who became sole proprietor of the business. Around 1880, William began to use steam-powered machinery to manufacture tanks.
William married Christina Penman in 1866. Christina was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1848. The Gravers had nine children, seven who lived to adulthood, all born in Pennsylvania: Alice, James, Elizabeth, William, Philip, Herbert, and Alexander.
William worked for a few years for the Standard Oil Company as an appraiser of oil storage tanks. The tank business grew due to the boom in oil wells and refineries. The Gravers decided to relocate the tank-making business to the growing Midwest, arriving in Chicago in 1884. There William proved his lighter weight tanks were reliable and cost-efficient, and his reputation and business grew.
Graver moved to Ohio in 1886 to accommodate a large order from the Standard Oil Company. The business then moved to East Chicago, Indiana, in 1888, and the name was changed to the William Graver Tank Works. The business was the first important industrial concern in that city. Graver maintained a Chicago office in the famous Rookery Building.
In 1895, William began taking his sons into the business. All five brothers made their careers in the tank works. They took over running the business when William retired in 1909. William died in 1915, and Christina in 1936.
Oldest son James became president of the corporation. Sons William, Philip, and Herbert were vice-presidents. Youngest son Alexander was also with the company until his death from influenza in 1920. The daughters and their spouses did not work for the company.
By 1915, the plant occupied ten acres of ground and employed 225 workers. The Graver company continued steel plate work of every kind, concentrating on tanks, smokestacks, and refining equipment. They added a line of water treatment systems and services which benefitted businesses from laundries to steam-engine railroads.
The company grew rapidly during the World War I years, making its facilities available to the U.S. government, and greatly increasing its manufacturing facilities to handle large war orders for ship plating for the new American Merchant Marine and for tanks, many shipped overseas. A major fire, some considered arson due to anti-German sentiment against the family’s roots, destroyed an important part of the manufacturing facility, but the employees rallied without additional pay to finish the government orders.
The Graver brothers were known for their employee benefits, including insurance for every employee. Recreation was encouraged, and there was a ball field on the grounds for summer-time teams, and in winter, there were bowling teams.
The name was changed to the Graver Corporation in 1919, and an advertising department was added to the business. At the end of 1920, according to Moody’s Analysis of Investments, the business had assets close to $3 million, and the stock of the company was all held by the Graver brothers.
In 1930, the company was acquired by the Phoenix Manufacturing Company and reorganized as the Graver Tank & Manufacturing Company. Oldest son James left the company at that time. Sons William, Philip, and Herbert stayed with the company.
Both firms were acquired by the Union Tank Car Company in 1957. The company was purchased by the Aerojet-General Corporation in 1971 and operated under its Envirogenics Company division. The plant shut down in late 1982.
Next post: Herbert Spencer Graver