Highland Park Historical Society

05/30/2026

Looking down the river from Kanahwa Falls, West Virginia, 1911/ photographed by Jesse Lowe Smith. Smith photographed this site to use in the curriculum at Elm Place School. While there are no notes with the slide one might surmise that this as used as part of discussion of events leading to both westward expansion and the American Revolutionary War.
(Lord) Dunmore's war of 1874 between American colonists and Alqonquin tribes, including the Shawnee, marked the first formal military actions by settler-organized militia, albeit under the aegis of the "Crown." Many bloody native and Civil War battles also took place in this valley.
Kanahwa was the preferred name by many when West Virginia became a Union state in 1863. Legends translate Kanahwa as She-Who-Sings-to-the-Stones. In 2026 the Falls are a short distance from the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve .

05/25/2026

The current North Shore American Legion Post #738 Highland Park, Deerfield, Highwood merged from previous local posts, including the Dumaresq Spencer Post 145.
Chartered by the United States Congress in 1919. Local branches followed. The parent and local organizations advocated for veterans' and survivors' benefits and offered other services, including job placement, health-related services and refreshments. Post offices offered a meeting location, or third space. The Art Center of Highland Park's building was once the local post.
Discussions of the Legion began on the battlefield, especially among the wounded. Efforts to organize began with the armistice.
The current post offers a spectrum of service and support to veterans and their families.
Artifact of the week.

05/22/2026

This holiday weekend, enjoy a walk and open house tour of the historic Highlands with the Historic Preservation Commission! The Commission will host a historic walking tour and open house May 24 and 31, noon to 3 PM both days. The tour will begin at Old Elm Park. Please reach out to Maddy Markle, City Planner, at [email protected], to RSVP or for questions. Learn more at cityhpil.com/hpc.

05/21/2026

The Stupey Cabin will be open Sundays, 2-4PM, excepting June 14 and 21, this summer and fall, beginning June 7. Please stop by! We are also open by appointment.
The Historical Society obtained these photostats from the Royal Prussian Archives in Berlin, Germany in the 1960s. The Prussian script and German language were transcribed and translated by Ravinian Dr. D. Warren Strange.

05/18/2026

Artifact of the Week (is back) . This well-loved ribbon* was awarded as part of the prize for the HP150 contest in three categories by age. For the America250 event the Highland Park Historical Society is again having a contest: "In Pursuit." For more information visit our website events page. We are also looking for volunteer judges!

Other summer events will include the Historical Society's 60th anniversary, the Stupey Open House Sundays, June-October, and more America250 events and reflections.

*in line for conservation

05/07/2026

Join us tonight via Zoom. (DM, email or telephone for link.)
Lake Michigan’s Western Shore: Before and During the American Revolution with Myra Coddens, Genealogist. Tracing our region's contributions to the American Revolution, including battles in Illinois.

Photo credit: Partie occidentale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France où sont les nations des Illinois ..., 1688/ Coronelli, Vincenzo (1650-1718). Cartographe. Bibliothèque nationale de France.

04/30/2026

For the last day of a selection from a favorite Highland Park poet, Lew Sarett (1888-1954) who lived in Ravinia on Green Bay Road +.
"...There is Lew Sarett, a woodsman in a suburb, wearing his heavy cowhide boots on the flat cement walks of the city, an Indian at heart, rich in the council talk of the Ojibways and the Chippewas, interpreter of Indian dreams and philosophies in a noisy, incongruous world. "*
The Prophet of the Thunderdrums
God, let me flower as I will!
For I am weary of the chill
Companionship of waxen vines
And hothouse nurtured columbines;
Oh, weary of the pruning knife That shapes my prim decorous life
Of clambering trellises that hold me,
Of flawless patterned forms that mold me God, let me flower as I will
A shaggy rambler on the hill!
Lew Sarett, "The Box of God."

*Hansen, Harry, 1884-1977. Midwest Portraits: a Book of Memories And Friendships. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1923.
Hand-colored photograph of Columbines, late 1920s, by Jesse Lowe Smith

04/30/2026

Two images, an early 1940s postcard and the other a 1970 slide by Henry X Arenberg, of the rebuilt the Christian Science Church on Hazel Ave. designed by Spencer S Beman (1887–1952), the son of the original 1905 church's architect, Solon Spencer Beman, (1853-1914). The new, larger and ecumenical church welcomed a rapidly growing congregation. It also included glazed windows and other soundproofing on the west side to muffle the sound of the trains. Both local and national growth peaked after 1945 for the practice of Christian Science.

04/25/2026

This is Historical Society is sad to share the news of the passing of former Board member Larry Pasquesi. His work with history and its preservation, especially with the records of the Società Modenese, contributed greatly to our work. We send our condolences to his spouse Maria.

View Laurence Carl Pasquesi's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.