Does Your House Have a History?

Every house has some history. After all, it was built in a community by someone and sold to someone. As an owner of a home built in the late 19th century or the early 20th century in Edgewater, you may want to find out more.

The Edgewater Historical Society is here to help you. We will be offering a series of workshops on researching your home’s history beginning on February 23rd at the Edgewater Historical Society Museum, 10-11:30 a.m. The donation will be $55 per person ($80 per couple). The program will be directed by Kathy Gemperle.

You will have a chance to learn about the architecture of your home through an exhibit at the Museum which will feature the style of homes in Edgewater. There will also be information on two-flats and some multi-unit building built before 1930.

We will also provide some of the details about the subdivision that you live in and how it was developed, including the name of the developer. One workshop day in March will be spent in the library, where much of the information is available. You will be given a list of resources and places to pursue further information, such as past owners and dates of construction. If you have called us in the past because you found the research daunting, this will be your support group. Sign up as soon as possible as space is limited.

Call the museum at 773-506-4849 and leave your name to reserve a space. Send a check made out to the Edgewater Historical Society to the museum attn: Kathy Gemperle. Or contact us through the web site email and we will get back to you.

Want to find out if the City of Chicago has listed your home in its Historic Resources survey? Go to the City of Chicago’s web site and view the list. The listing has the date of construction and the architect if the survey thought your home exhibited some aspects of community history that should be preserved. There are some 107 buildings in Edgewater that are so designated. We believe that there should have been more as we continue our research each year for the Home Tour.

In conjunction with this program, the exhibit at our museum will be focused on the historic homes of our community and identifying the architectural details that make them unique. The exhibit Your House Has a History will open the first week of February and continue to the end of March.