The upcoming Spring House Walk sponsored by The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest will offer an opportunity to visit five stunning, historically significant homes.
The event is from 1-5 p.m. May 3. Visitors will tour the first-floor rooms of each of the houses, where volunteer docents will share stories about the design and history of each home, and about the former residents.
Tickets to the 22nd annual event, which are $40 or $35 for Historical Society members, are available at 708-848-6755 or oprfmuseum.org.
“We switch off every year between featuring houses in Oak Park and houses in River Forest,” said Rachel Berlinski, Operations Manager of the Oak Park River Forest Museum. “This year, we knew that our walk was going to be in River Forest. We were focusing on looking for houses in the northeast corner of River Forest because we have never featured that section of River Forest in any of our previous tours.”
“I basically coordinate all the moving parts,” said Andrea Garren, the Spring House Walk Manager. There are a lot of moving parts, including 80 volunteers.
She was also involved in the house selection process. Her responsibility included finding out “logistically if the house would work well for the walk.
“It needs to have flow because we’re going to be moving several groups of eight people at a time through the house,” Garren said.
Garren basically handles all of the many little details that make the annual walk a success.
Gen Jones, the Historical Society board of directors vice president and a volunteer who lives in River Forest, agreed to let her house be featured on the walk. She also was chosen as the house selection chair.
They asked Jones, “What are some interesting houses that you think we should ask to be on the Walk?” Berlinski related. “That’s how we ended up finding four other houses.”
When they studied the selected houses, they discovered each had something relevant in common, Berlinski reported.
“Each of them was first owned by somebody who was a prominent business person. It’s a real testament to the village’s history and what it means to be a River Forester,” she said.
That discovery led to the theme of this year’s walk — American Dream Homes.
Gen Jones and her husband, Alex Jones, were delighted to be a part of the Walk.
“Our house is a very prominent home in River Forest. We absolutely love the house and we really like to share it with the community,” Gen Jones explained.
The first owner was William Sloan, owner of the Sloan Valve Company. The house was completed in 1926 so it is turning 100 this year.
“My husband and I think of ourselves as the custodians of the house,” Gen Jones explained.
“One of the most interesting things is the original owner, William Sloan, was the inventor of the tankless flushing toilet,” Alex Jones said. “Clearly that influenced the design and the architecture. We have a total of 12 bathrooms between the main house and the coach house. And each one has one of his tankless flushing toilets in it.”
The couple believe they are the ninth owners of the house. They also discovered that the second owner at one time owned the Chicago White Sox.
The architecture is another interesting element of the house, Alex Jones added. “It’s a really nice example of a brick colonial with a Spanish-style roof, and a couple of Spanish-design elements throughout the house, like arched doorways,” he said. The house has a lot of original elements, including light fixtures, the downstairs flooring, and the tile in all twelve bathrooms.
One other special element, Gen Jones revealed, is that “We have a secret tunnel that runs from the main house to the coach house.” That won’t be on the tour, though.
Gen Jones is enjoying the fact that after living in the house for ten years, she is learning new facts about it from the researcher who has been studying it. “This house just keeps on telling stories,” she said.
Marie Mensah and her husband, Ekow Mensah, own another house that is in the Spring House Walk. Mensah has been intensely studying the history of her home, including all the people who have owned it. “One of my goals is to pay tribute to my house,” she said.
The house, which the Mensahs have owned for three years, has a long and interesting history. “The very first owner of my house is the grandson of the founder of River Forest,” Mensah reported. The owner’s name was Sidney Steele and his grandfather was Ashbel Steele, one of the first permanent settlers in River Forest, who served as the coroner, sheriff and postmaster. Sidney Steele started Continental Can Company.
The house will be 100 years old in 2027, and Mensah is already planning a celebration. “I want to throw my house a hundred-year birthday party,” she laughingly revealed.
“I’ve been delighted to be working with all of the volunteers who have been putting the walk together,” said Berlinski, the operations manager.
That includes five volunteer researchers — each studying the history of one of the houses on the walk. Each house also has a House Captain, working with the volunteer docents in each room.
Berlinski reported that the Spring House Walk is one of The Historical Society’s biggest fundraisers every year. The proceeds are used for “keeping the museum going and being the community storer of historic archives, and all of the programming we do,” she said.
Garren added, “We’re also expanding the museum to make it more community-focused. We’re going to install an elevator and there’s going to be a community meeting space.”
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
