It seems impossible, but six months ago, before the Covid-19 pandemic changed almost everything, RPWRHS held its annual member meeting in a spirit of looking forward to a great new year. We’re posting this report now, to remind us all of what our “old normal” lives looked like, as we think about what the “new normal” may eventually bring.
By Kay McSpadden, Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society Board Member On Nov 4, 2019 Marjorie Fritz-Birch spoke as part of the Living History program. Fifty years ago, Her mother Jean Fritz had been one of the jurors at the Chicago 7 Trial, one of the most important and controversial events of 2oth Century Chicago History. […]
Another in our series of Living History talks By Kay McSpadden, RPWRHS Events Chair and Board Member The scale that started it all. Photo by Stephanie Barto. When most people think of Chicago manufacturing, they think of steel, but Andrew Clayman thinks of all the ordinary things that were manufactured in Chicago. He talked about […]
Tom Nall reports on a new walking tour through West Ridge Bungalow Districts with ties to Chicago’s Prohibition Era history.
Tom Nall revisits Rosehill Cemetery on our May 18, 2219 tour and discovers new stories of the people who built our community.
Volunteer Tom Nall’s appreciation of the Chicago Street Grid and its creator, Edward P. Brennan, as presented by Professor Bill Savage of Northwestern University.
Mike Zimmerman grew up in West Ridge in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Now retired, he recently sent us this memoir about his childhood adventures.
Despite a bitterly cold and icy evening, about thirty-five people attended the Living History program, Growing up in Rogers Park and West Ridge, on February 5, 2019. 5 panelists, all current neighborhood residents, talked about what it was like growing up in the Rogers Park and West Ridge of the past.
On Saturday, June 9, after a dreary, rain-soaked morning when the spirits were willing but the sunshine was weak, an eager group met to take the Spirits of Rogers Park/West Ridge at Rosehill Cemetery tour. Indefatigable and resourceful guide Glenna Eaves led twenty-plus tour takers on a 3-hour walkabout of selected grave sites of local notables.
At a Living History program on Wednesday April 11, 2018 at the Budlong Woods branch of the Chicago Public Library, the three editors of The Chicago Food Encyclopedia talked about the importance of Chicago in the history of food, and the importance of food to the history of Chicago.