2020 RPWRHS Historic House Walk: A (Virtual) Walk Through Time and Place Instead of spending just one Sunday afternoon touring interesting historic homes in one neighborhood of Rogers Park or West Ridge, in 2020 we extended the tour over five Sundays and the whole community through virtual tours on Zoom. Weekly Episodes of A Walk […]
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.
Tom Nall reports on a new walking tour through West Ridge Bungalow Districts with ties to Chicago’s Prohibition Era history.
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.
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.
Bena Shklyanoy and her family were part of a wave of Russian Jewish emigrants who were allowed to leave the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1979. Her tales of coming to Rogers Park in 1976 are another fascinating chapter in the immigrant history of our neighborhood.
Because the low-lying north side of Chicago barely rose above the level of Lake Michigan, it had to be dried to be made livable. In the latest Living History series talk Richard Lanyon told the story of “draining the swamp” that became Chicago.
In our year-long exploration of Activism, two Living History talks by long-time neighborhood activists illustrated how advocacy for a wide range of causes can lead to important change.