Ridge Historical Society

The mission of the Ridge Historical Society is to preserve and interpret the distinct history of the Beverly Hills, Morgan Park And Washington Heights communities of Chicago. Through its collections and activities, the society will advocate educational programs, exhibits and research that explore the community in relationship to the social and cultural history of the United States.

The vision of RHS is to increase accessibility to the collections; facilitating community-based research; and broadening the scope of the organization's outreach.

Ridge Historical Society is located in the Ridge Historical District of Chicago, Illinois. This area is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District, and is also recognized by the City of Chicago as part of the Longwood Drive Historic District. Since 1972, the society has occupied the Graver-Driscoll House, a 1922 Tudor Revival home by John T. Hetherington.

RHS maintains both Primary Collections and Educational Collections. Special emphasis is given to the geographical and geological background of the area; Native Americans who occupied the area and their culture; exploration and settlement of the area; the life-style and the livelihood of the settlers; history of the community, businesses and industry from the 19th century through the 20th; The development of railroads and how the area was affected by them; educational, religious and cultural institutions; the life-styles of the former communities, and the character of the new communities.

RHS owns archival, artifact and costume collections. The archival collections include photographs, newspapers, phone books, real estate record books, maps, architectural drawings, and thousands of newspaper clippings. The collection is being entered on PastPerfect 3.5.