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.
2021
Ridge Historical Society
National Police Week: The History of the Morgan Park Police Station – Part 1
By Carol Flynn
May is a busy time for “recognition weeks.” There was nurses’ week and teachers’ week, and May 9 to May 15 is National Police Week.
This seems like a good time to share the interesting story of the Morgan Park police station, now the 22nd District Police Station at 1900 West Monterey Avenue. The community didn’t always have its own police station – in fact, it was a struggle through the years to keep one here.
When the Village of Morgan Park annexed to the City of Chicago in 1914, all of the local services – fire department, police department, water, streets, utilities, schools, library – you name it – came under the control of city departments and regulations.
On Wednesday, April 22, 1914, at 5:40 p.m., Chicago took over Morgan Park and the four police officers employed by the village at that time became members of the Chicago Police Department. Morgan Park soon became part of the 32nd Ward.
On May 2 of that year, Chicago Police Superintendent James Gleason established a new police station at Morgan Park, and transferred in a lieutenant, a detective sergeant, three sergeants, and seven patrolmen. Lt. John F. Sullivan of the Hyde Park police station was given command. The first criminal complaint the new Morgan Park police station dealt with was an employee theft on May 26, 1914.
In 1916, the Police Superintendent was now Charles Healey, and he created a new police district, the 27th or Gresham, that included Morgan Park. Joseph C. Mullin was promoted from lieutenant to captain to be commander of this new district.
In 1917, there was again a new Police Superintendent, Herman F. Schuettler, an “efficiency expert” who had been acting chief four times. He proposed a reorganization of the police department, reducing the number of police stations from 45 to 22. He claimed that the money saved in administrative costs would be used to put more police officers out on the streets. The city council approved the plan. The Morgan Park station was on the list to close.
The residents of the Morgan Park area were very much against the closing of the station, and held a mass meeting attended by over 500 people to discuss what to do. The leaders of the effort to save the Morgan Park station included Aldermen Albert Fisher and James Rea; the head of the Morgan Park Business Men’s Association (MPBMA), Burten A. Knapp; and other civic organizations like the Morgan Park Improvement Association.
The concern was that the closest stations would be three miles away. A “committee” of 100 people was formed to visit city hall.
A “vigilance committee” was also formed at the time for “protection against criminal invasion.” Three hundred men signed up immediately, and money was raised to buy revolvers for all of them. A shooting range was planned so the men could learn to handle their weapons. It was announced a medal would be given to the first man who captured a criminal.
Schuettler met with fifty representatives of Morgan Park and assured them he would ask the city council finance committee to reconsider the issue. In the meantime, the vigilance committee continued its plans. It was also referred to as the “Home Guard Company” in local papers.
In January, Schuettler announced twelve stations, including Morgan Park, would close. However, he went on furlough after becoming ill, and the position of Superintendent was temporarily filled by John Alcock. Ten stations were closed in January 1918, but Alcock allowed Morgan Park and one other, Deering, to remain open. Deering was determined to be important because the manufacturing of war supplies went on in the district – the U.S. was involved in World War I at the time. But Morgan Park was allowed to remain open due to the pressure put on the mayor, city council, and police chief by the residents of the area and Alderman Fisher.
Then it was announced in February that the Morgan Park station would definitely close. Schuettler returned from his leave but continued to have health issues and was in and out of office during the spring.
The Morgan Park police station was finally closed on April 28, 1918. Adequate police protection in the form of mounted and motorcycle police was pledged, as well as a patrol wagon to be kept at the old station for emergencies.
The residents of the community planned to circulate a petition to reopen the station.
Schuettler died that summer and Alcock became acting superintendent again. Alcock gave a presentation to the people of Morgan Park from the pulpit of the Morgan Park Congregational Church in September of 1918. He told the audience that Jesus Christ couldn’t be chief of police in Chicago without being criticized. He said it was time to begin a larger and more loyal support of good policemen.
However, there were no plans to reopen the Morgan Park police station.
Next post: Morgan Park continues its fight for a police station.
Ridge Historical Society
Teacher Appreciation Week – May 3-9, 2021 – Part 5
School Series – Profile 11: Kate Starr Kellogg
By Carol Flynn
There was more to Kate Starr Kellogg than her life-long commitment to education, as if that wasn’t enough.
Kate was a poet and song writer. The World’s Congress held a series of events at the time of the Columbian Exposition, the World’s Fair in Chicago. A special World’s Congress of Representative Women of All Lands was formed, and held a week-long meeting in May 1893. The purpose of the event, chaired by Bertha Honore Palmer (Mrs. Potter Palmer), was to present the progress of women in “the great departments of intellectual activity.”
There were talks on education and social reform, but Kate participated in an evening event on music created by women. A song she wrote the lyrics for, “Wedding Music,” with music by Eleanor Smith, was performed by Miss Helen Root and a chorus.
Kate published poetry in other sources, also.
The Kellogg sisters also explored their spiritual sides. Through their father, a holistic physician, they developed interests in metaphysical ideas and practices including spiritualism, the Christian Science writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
In 1896, the Cook County Normal School held its annual alumnae reunion and “tree planting exercises.” Following an opening session, the participants marched outside for the planting of a catalpa tree. This was followed by a business meeting, and then a banquet. It was a custom then at most events like this that a series of toasts were made, and each was responded to in kind by someone giving a brief presentation. Kate was one of the responders and her topic was “The Transmigration of Souls.” This concept is related to reincarnation.
In 1901, Kate and her sister Alice were listed as members of All Souls Church, a Unitarian Church connected to Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a well-known Unitarian minister and writer who produced the Unity newsletter.
Kate along with other people responded to a 1909 request in the Unity newsletter to identify what books of literature they considered indispensable. Her number one book was Emerson’s Essays, Volume 1, followed by his poems.
One interesting story about Kate appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper on October 1, 1899, in an article titled “Chicago Stories of Ghosts.” In this New York paper, it was reported that Kate often told a story of the “supernatural” to her “intimate friends.”
According to the article, Kate reported that she was taking an overnight journey on a train, and, although not a superstitious person, was distressed with a presentiment of evil. Suddenly, at the foot of her berth, she saw a shadowy white female figure. The figure remained for several hours and finally vanished. Kate noted the time of this event, and later learned that a dear friend had died that night after a very sudden illness of a few hours’ duration, and on her deathbed the friend had said, “Tell Kate.” Kate made no attempt to explain what had happened other than to say how real the experience had been.
Kate died at the family farm in Evergreen Park in 1925 at the age of 71, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Greenwood Cemetery with her family.
One remembrance of Kate stated: “Those who knew Miss Kellogg will long cherish the memory of her human sympathy, her keen sense of humor, her imagination, and her deep understanding of the youthful mind.”
On November 8, 1937, the new Kate Starr Kellogg Elementary School opened its doors at 9241 S. Leavitt Street. The first principal was Jennie S. Jenkinson, who also headed Sutherland School at 10015 S. Leavitt Street. Jennie was notable, too – a local resident, she lived with her parents at 1669 West 104th Place. Her father was Presbyterian minister Rev. Henry S. Jenkinson. Jennie taught at Barnard School before her promotion to principal. She died in 1972 at the age of 91 after a 42-year career as a Chicago educator. Surely Kate Starr Kellogg was a legend and inspiration to her.
This concludes our profile on Kate Starr Kellogg.
Ridge Historical Society
Teacher Appreciation Week – May 3-9, 2021 – Part 4
School Series – Profile 11: Kate Starr Kellogg
By Carol Flynn
Kate Starr Kellogg (1854-1925) was an influential educator who lived on the Ridge. We’ve briefly profiled her family and education career in the three previous posts.
Kate’s contributions to the education field went beyond just teaching issues. She also left a lasting impression on political and social issues concerning Chicago’s education system.
First, she supported employing married women as teachers. The Chicago Board of Education policy was that a female teacher who got married automatically lost her job, but married male teachers not only stayed employed, they were preferred. Kate strongly believed that school, home, and society were all inter-connected and reinforced each other. Not only did she believe married women could still have a teaching career, she supported parents having a stronger role in the education process and believed that what children learned in school should be relevant to their homes and social lives. She supported the establishment of parent-teacher associations.
Kate also supported the right of teachers to come together to achieve common goals such as protecting the integrity and standards of the profession and dealing with employment issues – in other words, to unionize. She was an active member of the National Education Association, founded in 1857, and now the largest union in the U.S., representing education professionals and students.
As a founding member of the Chicago Teachers Federation which formed in 1897, Kate personally tackled local issues, including going after corporations that were delinquent in paying their taxes that supported the public schools. The Federation publicly “outed” not only these companies, but their prominent stockholders, some of whom were businessmen claiming praise as “reformers” and philanthropists.
Kate also was a leader in advocating for the formation of a Chicago teachers’ pension system, and sat on the board of trustees for the fund once it was established. She helped wrest away control of the fund from the Board of Education and put it in the hands of the teachers themselves.
In 1909, Ella Flagg Young was named the first woman superintendent of Chicago public schools, the first woman in the U.S. to reach this level in the education field. As expected, her critics and enemies were numerous.
For 3 years, Flagg was unanimously re-elected to her position by the Chicago Board of Education. Then in 1913, without warning, school board directors who were against Young managed to gather enough votes to remove her from the superintendent position. They accused her of mismanagement of funds and making the school system inefficient. They called into question her integrity and competence. Realizing she did not have the support to continue, Young resigned.
Young’s supporters were outraged by the Board’s decision and treatment of Young. Her support was largely concentrated in the powerful women’s clubs of the day but also reached much farther than that – former students, including many men, and parents of current students supported Young. Their call for Young’s reinstatement was supported by Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr., Jane Addams of Hull House, and many other leaders. The teachers of the city strongly supported Young and “hinted” they would strike if she were not reinstated.
A committee was established to write a resolution to have Flagg reinstated. Kate was one of the eight committee members. On Christmas Eve, 1913, the Board of Education voted Young back in as superintendent.
Kate, not surprisingly, was a suffragist, supporting women’s right to vote. It was particularly jarring to teachers, overwhelmingly a female occupation, when it was announced they would be charged an income tax on their earnings, without any representation in any governmental decision-making processes.
Mary Kellogg, Kate’s older sister, and Kate were both members of the Chicago Peace Society. This group was the local branch of the American Peace Society, founded in 1828, to promote good will between nations and the use of arbitration and other peaceful means to settle disputes and avoid armed conflict. There were many prominent members in this association, including past and current mayors and governors of Illinois, judges, clergy and religious leaders, notable women organizers, and professional women such as Jane Addams and Ella Flagg Young.
Kate and her sisters had personal as well as professional relationships with leaders such as Addams and Flagg. That friendships would develop between like-minded women is expected. Several Kellogg sisters were involved in Hull House activities, and in an earlier post, we showed the portrait that Alice Kellogg painted of Addams.
They were all involved in various women’s clubs, and the state federation of women’s clubs, as well as professional and reform groups. Other women from the Ridge were also involved, including Gertrude Blackwelder. Kate was a speaker at meetings during Blackwelder’s term as president of the Chicago Woman’s Club, so they obviously knew and respected each other.
Kate had a personal relationship with Dr. Cornelia De Bey, a homeopathic physician from the medical school Kate’s father taught at, and the attending physician for her chronically ill sister, Alice. De Bey, a well-known reformer, suffragist, labor advocate, and pacifist, had been named to the Chicago Board of Education, along with Jane Addams. De Bey worked with Addams’ Hull House community.
De Bey shared living arrangements with Kate at 6565 S. Yale Avenue. “The Yale Apartments” or “The Yale” was designed by architect John T. Long in 1892 and offered luxury apartments to visitors for the 1893 World’s Fair. Today “The Yale” is a Chicago landmark. (Incidentally, John T. Long also designed the 111th Street Metra train station in Morgan Park, and perhaps the 115th Street station that burned down a few years ago, both Chicago landmarks.)
Next post – Kate Starr Kellogg – some personal interests.
Ridge Historical Society
Teacher Appreciation Week – May 3-9, 2021 – Part 3
School Series – Profile 11: Kate Starr Kellogg
By Carol Flynn
Kate Starr Kellogg was an educator whose career spanned over 40 years. Obviously, there is no way a Facebook post can cover that much detail, but here are a few documented stories about her that reveal something of her character and philosophy of teaching – and life.
Most of what we know about Kate’s teaching philosophy comes from her twenty-two years as principal of the Lewis-Champlain School in Englewood.
A lot of times, people in early photographs come across as formal and stern, usually because of their poses and lack of smiles. Back then, that was proper photo etiquette. Early cameras and film techniques required sitting still for a period of time, and even once camera technology improved, it was some years before “spontaneous” or “candid” shots, or even smiling, became the norm. So while Kate may come across as stern in her pictures, giving the impression she might have been a “tough” teacher, other information about her shows this was not the case.
In 1895, the Chicago Chronicle newspaper ran a lengthy article about the teachers – and principal – at Lewis-Champlain. The newspaper stated: “The school stands foremost of any in the city, and the plan has been so fully developed that the school is considered almost an ideal one.”
The “plan” of the school was simple: “Co-operation is the basis upon which the Lewis school in Englewood is conducted. The principal, teachers and pupils work together in perfect harmony and sympathy, each looking out for the interest of the other. … Every teacher is interested in every child.”
The article glowed with praise for Kate as principal. While she humbly gave credit to the fine teachers under her, they said they owed much of their success to her influence and advice.
The article stated: “Miss Kellogg is a woman of great strength of character …. She is a lover of humanity, and none could come in close contact with her without being better for it.
“Every child in the Lewis school is known to Miss Kellogg personally. Such a thing as fear of her in unknown. They come to her for love and sympathy and always find it.”
As would be expected, Kate often wrote papers for and made presentations to professional education groups. She was also a popular member of and speaker at the women’s clubs in Chicago.
In 1901, she wrote a paper for the Northern Illinois Teachers Association that also received coverage by other groups The theme of the conference was “The School and Society” and Kate’s paper was on “Some Concrete Examples.”
Instilling social responsibility in children was an important tenet of progressive education. In this paper, Kate described how Lewis-Champlain approached this through “municipal civics.” Each grade level studied a component of Chicago government and services from many different angles, from how services developed and were administered to how they were paid for, as a way to incorporate many lessons.
For example, the younger grades studied the Chicago Fire Department. Other classes studied smoke “nuisance” or pollution, garbage disposition, and water and sewerage, and they were preparing to study the city’s regulations on trees. One grade studied city construction projects – they redesigned their own schoolyard and then sent a proposal to the Board of Education. Kate noted they also got a lesson in patience waiting for a reply.
They divided the school buildings and grounds into “wards” and the children acted as “aldermen” with duties defined by the “citizen-pupils” themselves.
The innovative plan was well received by educators.
Kate suggested the idea be expanded into the community. She made a presentation to the Englewood Woman’s Club suggesting that boys could develop into better citizens and more informed voters as adults if, as children, they were encouraged to become more aware of their community’s needs by monitoring such activities as garbage collection and smoke nuisances.
The next day, the Inter Ocean newspaper ran a blistering response to Kate’s suggestions.
“Miss Kellogg evidently knows little about boys. And what is more, she is palpably deficient in knowledge of the boy’s father,” wrote the paper.
The paper went on to say fathers didn’t want their sons to be busy bodies, spying on the neighbors. The boys would turn into self-opinionated, self-righteous, self-conceited, meddlesome men. Their fellow schoolboys would be against it, and instead of developing a social conscience, it would earn a boy well-deserved kicks and black eyes.
“The safety of this republic lies in the fact that the average father and mother think most of the boy who is least inclined to win favor by stooping, even as a civic duty, to the garbage-box level,” insisted the paper.
That newspaper writer might not have thought highly of trying to instill social responsibility in children, but without a doubt, his opinion did not deter Kate.
Another interesting article Kate wrote for the American Education magazine in 1906 was titled “Democracy in School Relationships.” She called for allowing children, within reason, to have a say in classroom activities. She believed independent thought should not be stifled, but directed to mutually beneficial activity, with the child understanding the effect his individual behavior was having on his “room society.”
Kate gave as an example a visit she made to one of the classrooms, where the young teacher was under “nervous strain” trying to control her class. Kate suggested a group activity allowing the children to construct or illustrate the story they were learning about. The teacher replied she was afraid if she did that “they would get away” from her.
Kate replied, “They won’t get away from you if you go with them.”
Kate returned to the classroom a half-hour later to check on the situation, and found the children “quietly and happily engaged in cutting and pasting a miniature Fort Dearborn.” They were freely sharing supplies and working together on the model. The teacher gave a sigh of relief and “the joy in the room was reflected in the teacher’s face.”
“I never would have believed it possible. An hour ago I was ready to give up,” said the young teacher.
It’s a good thing she listened to Kate Starr Kellogg.
Next post: Kate Starr Kellogg – Board of Education politics and some personal interests
Ridge Historical Society
Teacher Appreciation Week – May 3-9, 2021 – Part 2
School Series – Profile 11: Kate Starr Kellogg
By Carol Flynn
Kate Starr Kellogg came to Chicago as a young child. She grew up in a “progressive” household thanks to her father, Dr. John Leonard Kellogg, a leading holistic physician of the day.
The Progressive Era, from the late 1800s to World War I, saw a middle-class movement to combat political corruption and the abuses of corporate monopolies. It was a non-partisan effort; Republican President Teddy Roosevelt and Democrat President Woodrow Wilson were both progressives. Non-political reformers like Chicago social worker Jane Addams tackled such issues as the needs of the European immigrants flooding into the country, many of whom did not speak English or have jobs or money. The era was characterized by widespread reform in all areas of life, from politics to business/labor to medicine to religion.
Education was affected down to its core. Up to that time, a good education was still mainly the privilege of the wealthy who could afford private schools. “Public” education was inconsistent, and usually ended for most students after a few years of grammar school, and then they went to work. Progressives advocated for ending abusive child labor practices and establishing more and better public schools.
There was also a philosophical shift in teaching, turning away from rote memorization of facts to learning through experimentation and doing, and incorporating everyday skills into school programs. Developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and social responsibility, were important. Chicago was a leader in progressive education practices because of people like John Dewey, a professor at the University of Chicago. Dewey, a philosopher and psychologist as well as an education reformer, was one of the foremost scholars of the early 1900s. He started the Laboratory Schools at the U of C.
When Kate died in 1925 at the age of 71, one obituary stated: “Miss Kellogg was a distinctly Chicago product, born in Chicago, educated in Chicago, and long associated with Chicago schools.”
She was actually born in New York, but the other two points are true.
Kate was educated at a combination of public and private schools. It was mentioned that she did coursework at the Chicago Academy, which was founded in 1867 by renowned botanist and educator Professor Henry Homes Babcock. He was associated with and served as president of the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
For college, Kate attended the Cook County Normal School, which was started in Blue Island, to become a teacher. They called such schools ”normal” schools because they taught the “norms” or standards for what was required of a teacher. The Normal School was founded in 1867, and in 1883, it came under the direction of Col. Francis W. Parker, another prominent innovator in progressive education. The Cook County Normal School became today’s Chicago State University.
After graduation in 1873 from the Normal School, Kate worked there briefly then became principal assistant at the Springer School in Hyde Park. She made $75 per month.
Kate was named principal of the Lewis and Champlain Schools in 1884, next door to each other at 62nd Street and Princeton Avenue in Englewood. Her annual salary was $1,800. She held this position for twenty-two years.
During that time, she worked with Orville Bright, another well-known progressive educator who became superintendent of the district that included Lewis-Champlain, and later superintendent of the Cook County schools. Bright strongly advocated for continuing education, “life-long learning,” for teachers. Mrs. Bright was a founder of the Illinois Parent Teacher Association.
In 1906, Kate became principal of the Parker Practice School, which was the section of the Normal School that planned and oversaw “student teaching” and other practicum experiences. Col. Parker had died a few years before.
In 1909, she was named superintendent of District 6 for Chicago Public Schools. Her salary was $5000 annually. She was under the direction of Chicago school superintendent Ella Flagg Young, who had studied under John Dewey at the U of C and had received a Ph.D. Young was the first woman named superintendent of a large city school system and also the first woman president of the National Education Association. It goes without saying she advocated progressive education theories and practices.
Kate retired from that position in 1916 due to failing eyesight. She moved back to the family farm in Evergreen Park permanently at that time.
Next post: Some stories from Kate’s years in education.
Ridge Historical Society
Teacher Appreciation Week – May 3-9, 2021
By Carol Flynn
We wouldn’t forget Teacher Appreciation Week! Teachers, education, and the quality of the local schools have always been important in the Ridge communities since they were founded. We will pick up where we left off some time ago in profiling people for whom schools are named in the Ridge communities.
Some outstanding teachers have been affiliated with the Ridge, and one of them was Kate Starr Kellogg (1854 – 1925). Kate was a progressive educator who explored new teaching techniques, introduced parent-teacher associations, and supported teachers’ unions. She was named a Chicago district superintendent in 1909. She was a contemporary to other educators from the area – Bessie Sutherland, Alice Barnard, and even John Vanderpoel. John Shoop, who also has a school on the Ridge named for him, was superintendent of Chicago public schools for part of Kate’s career.
Kate was born in New York to John Leonard Kellogg and Harriet Bencham Scott Kellogg. The family moved to Chicago when Kate was a young child.
John Kellogg was a prominent homeopathic physician, and a professor of obstetrics at Hahnemann Medical College.
In addition to his practice, Dr. Kellogg was also involved in charity work. In 1862, it was reported in the newspapers that he was the physician for the Home for the Friendless. The purpose of this home was to give shelter and aid to destitute women and children. The clientele was primarily children – homeless, orphaned, given up by or taken away by the courts from parents who could not care for them – and “worthy women” and children who through desertion or death had no husbands/fathers to provide for them. Dr. Kellogg treated the children for illnesses such as diphtheria, measles, and cholera. He also improved the sanitation of the home.
Dr. Kellogg was involved in local politics. He was elected president pf the Greenback Club in Evergreen Park in 1876. The Greenbacks were a political party – also known as the Independent Party or the Greenback Labor Party. They were in favor of financial reform, and worked to form an alliance of organized labor and farmers to topple the control of the industrial and banking empires. They later regrouped as the Progressive Party. He was also involved in Chicago school and education activities.
Dr. Kellogg bought a seventy-acre farm in Evergreen Park which became the family’s anchor for decades. It was referred to as his ”summer residence” although it appears it was a working farm. It bordered on 95th Street and California Avenue, the present site of Little Company of Mary Hospital. It is shown on an 1890 map although the family was living there for years prior to that.
Kate was the second of six daughters.
The oldest was Mary, who appears to have lived at the Evergreen Park location for most of her life. No occupation was listed for Mary on the U.S. Censuses so we don’t know that much about her.
The third daughter was Gertrude, and the same situation exists – we don’t have much information on her, she lived at the Evergreen Park house all her adult life.
The fourth daughter was Harriet, or Hattie. She worked as a teacher until she married businessman Clark Harold Foster from Englewood, Chicago, and they moved to New York.
Alice DeWolf Kellogg Tyler was the fifth daughter, and she became a well-known artist. Alice studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, which became the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She began teaching there in 1887. She also studied in England and Paris, and her letters from that time are included in the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art. Alice’s artwork was exhibited at the 1893 World’s Fair, the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Some of her paintings were of family members and the farm in Evergreen Park. She also did a portrait of famous social worker and reformer Jane Addams, and her work is permanently exhibited at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.
Alice married Orno J. Tyler, a bookkeeper. Alice suffered from chronic renal disease, which took her life in 1900 at the age of 37.
The youngest daughter was Mabel, who is also listed as an artist. She married Charles Dyer Rich, but he died at the age of 31, leaving her a young widow with a son. She moved back home.
It appears that through the years, all of the family members lived on the Evergreen Park property. This included extended family – Orno Tyler lived with the family after Alice died.
The Kellogg family is buried at Mount Greenwood Cemetery, but the graves are not marked.
Next post: Kate Starr Kellogg’s career in education.
Ridge Historical Society
National Arbor Day 2021
By Carol Flynn
There is an old Chinese proverb that states: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.”
Today – Friday, April 30, 2021 – is National Arbor Day. Arbor Day was started for one very specific reason: to encourage people to plant trees.
By now, there shouldn’t be anyone who doesn’t recognize the importance of trees to our environment, from aesthetic to scientific reasons. They beautify, they give us comfort and shade, they give us food and building materials, they are the homes to numerous other species of animals and birds, they clean and cool the air, they stabilize the ground. They respond to pain and injury, they communicate with each other. They are living creatures, not inanimate props along the street.
An enormous oak tree in a yard on the Ridge is pictured here. For scale, the fence is about seven feet tall. The tree was mature when the house was built in the 1870s, and its age is estimated to be around 225 years old. It is nearing the end of its lifespan.
Many of the old-growth oak trees in the Ridge communities are in this situation – within the next fifty years, many, perhaps most, of them will die off.
The trees have been taken for granted for well over a century. A few people in the community have tried hard to educate and encourage people to consider the situation. Now is the time for the community to take action so the wonderful tree canopy that has been enjoyed for generations will not become a historic feature lost to the past.
“We plant trees not for ourselves, but for future generations.” – Caecilius, Pompeian banker, 14 A.D.–79 A.D.
Trees are past, present, and future.
Earth Day 2021
Edited: I did not mention Dan Ryan Woods in my original post! Of course, the forest preserve connects us to Earth Day and the "Wild Ridge." That is an obvious example. The upper woods are an example of "Open Woodlands," an ecosystem that was prevalent in the area. Water drained from the top of the Ridge to the east into the lower woodlands where the water pooled into wet areas before being absorbed into the ground. Descriptions of the "island" itself reported that the sides were heavily wooded and much of the top of the table of land was prairie.
Following is information about the other ecosystems of which there are still remnants in the Ridge area.
Thursday, April 22, is Earth Day. It is a global event established in 1970 to support environmental protection. The theme this year is Restore Our Earth.
This is a good opportunity to once again share a favorite history topic – the “Wild Ridge.” This is a look back at the natural environment of the Ridge before it was “developed” by European settlers. There are a few remnants of the land left from the days when it was the ancestral homelands of Native Americans.
The Ridge Wetlands is a teeny-tiny remnant of the marshes and sloughs that predominated in the land between the Ridge area and Lake Michigan. This land provided abundant nourishment and other life necessities for wildlife and Indigenous Peoples – wild rice, berry brambles, and other food plants; stop-overs and breeding grounds for migratory waterfowl; ecosystem for fur-bearing animals like beaver and muskrats.
Note that this is why so many lawns and basements to the east of the Ridge flood – they are built on natural wetlands and there is no place for the water to go. The water is supposed to be there – houses are not!
The Oak Savannah remnant at Hurley Park. The drier areas had numerous groves of timber, predominated by oak. Also included were fruit trees like apples and plums, nut trees like walnuts and hickories, and birch trees good for making canoes. Numerous species of birds and small mammals made their homes in the trees. Deer and bears and lynx found refuge there.
Note that many of the heritage oak trees in the Ridge areas are reaching the end of their lifespans, about 200 years. They have not been replaced. Within the next 50 years, a lot of these trees will die, and the tree canopy will be gone.
Vast stretches of prairie land were the migration path for buffalo, as well as the home for countless species of birds and small mammals, and wild food plants, including the wild onion or garlic that gave Chicago its name.
Any substantial prairie land is gone from this area. Some prairie remnants can be seen in local cemeteries.
The waterways, the Calumet River system and Stony Creek at the southern edge of the Ridge, teemed with fish – trout, pike, bass, perch, etc.
Stony Creek was absorbed into the Cal-Sag Channel. The Illinois Department of Public Health puts severe restrictions on eating fish caught from the Calumet system due to contamination.
The sand dunes which formed on the western side of the Blue Island, which can still be seen today in the cemeteries along that ancient shoreline, also had their own ecosystem of plants, birds, and other animals. Wolves built their dens there, in the well-drained soil.
Anniversary of Tornado
On April 21, 1967, the deadliest tornado in the history of northern Illinois came through the area right at evening rush hour.
At 5:24 p.m., the twister touched down in Palos Hills by 106th Street and 88th Avenue where Moraine Valley Community College is now, and started moving east-northeast. It reached its maximum size and intensity as it passed through Oak Lawn, Hometown and Evergreen Park.
The funnel continued along 87th Street, destroying a building at the Beverly Country Club, and tore through Dan Ryan Woods, uprooting and damaging hundreds of trees.
It continued northeast, weakening, until it moved into the lake as a waterspout at Rainbow Beach around 79th Street.
The tornado caused 33 fatalities and over 1,000 injuries, and more than $50 million in property damage. Beverly was largely spared because of the forest preserve’s location. Our sympathies continue to this day to be extended to the communities devasted by this natural disaster.
“Harvesting Ethnic Roots”
Chicago artist Joanne Aono opened a new exhibit today at boundary. The exhibit is called “Harvesting Ethnic Roots” and it represents the cultural food identity and history of the diverse peoples who settled in the Ridge area. In fact, Joanne used the Ridge Historical Society (RHS) and RHS Historian Linda Lamberty as research resources while she developed the concept of the project.
Joanne is interested in food sovereignty and immigration experiences. Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods. Joanne and her husband have a 10-acre holistic farm.
In this exhibit, large drawings depict foods gathered or cultivated in the Ridge communities by inhabitants during three historical periods. The back row of drawings depicts the foods gathered and grown by Indigenous Peoples who lived in the area until 1835. These include wild rice, strawberries and onions; and cultivated corn, beans and squash.
The middle row depicts the foods raised by the European settlers, who arrived in the 1830s. Rye and lettuce are two of the crops depicted.
The front row depicts the food items grown by Black Americans who settled in the Chicago area after the U.S. Civil War, many of them descendants of slaves. Collards and okra are two of the items included.
The images are created in pencil, colored pencil, and marker, on sheer material that is used to cover crops. The panels are hung to overlap and sway in the breeze as the viewer walks through them. The delicate drawings and white sheer material create a ghostly, dreamlike experience of days past when the Ridge was natural and rural and some of the land was used for raising and gathering food.
A second part of the exhibit is an outside installation called “Harvest” and consists of a base covered with seeds. Nature – animals, birds, wind and weather – will scatter the seeds and eventually reveal a quote underneath, by Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper and civil rights activist. To learn the quote, you’ll have to visit the exhibit.
Joanne’s website is www.JoanneAono.com.
boundary is a visual arts project space located in a renovated garage on the Ridge, at 2334 West 111th Place, Chicago. The owner is Susannah Papish. The exhibit will run until June. Gallery hours are Saturdays, 12-4 p.m., or by appointment. Go to boundarychicago.space to book an appointment.
My photos do not do justice to the exhibit. The drawings are very delicate and dreamlike, and the details and colors are not caught well in these photos, so I did a lot of enhancing. I‘ll try to get better pictures – or better yet, get over to the exhibit to see it for yourself.