The planned May 30 reopening of Orland Park’s historic John Humphrey House will show off two new rooms along with accessibility, HVAC and electrical upgrades.
The village closed the house at 9830 W.144th Place, which was built in 1881, in September 2025 after discovering structural issues, including a sinking foundation.
Libby Paulson, Orland Park’s heritage sites supervisor, said by the time the village hired contractors, the house’s first floor had sunk so low that a bay window was sitting on top of the grass.
“So when we were speaking with the contractors, they’re like, if this bay window had been two stories, it would have collapsed already,” she said.
After realizing the need to stabilize the house, Paulson said, the village decided to make other interior improvements, such as expanding an entrance to one complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act for accessibility, and providing air conditioning.
She said she’s particularly excited about the air conditioning, as artifacts within the house are supposed to be kept at a controlled temperature.
“It’s also great for me and visitors, because I have done tours of the house when it’s 90-plus degrees,” she said.
Paulson said the opportunity also made way for the restoration of two rooms that were previously used for storage and are being interpreted as the Humphrey family’s servants’ quarters.
“I think this provides a really unique glimpse into what it would have looked like in someone’s house who was rich enough to be able to have a servant living in his home — very different than what the majority of people in Orland during this time would have been able to afford,” Paulson said.
Those rooms will also demonstrate to visitors what the life of a servant, one of whom worked for the family for 20 years, would have looked like.
“Kind of showing the contrast — we have our first village president, a state senator, very wealthy, versus the women who were domestic servants that lived in the home and took care of the home, kind of behind the scenes,” Paulson said.
The house was lived in by family members of John Humphrey, a state senator who became Orland Park’s first village president in 1892, for more than a century.
Humphrey came to Orland Park in 1848 from a small town in England with four of his family members, according to the village. They originally settled along present day 94th Avenue and became farmers, until 1870, when Humphrey began studying law and was elected to the Illinois General Assembly.
He would later become treasurer and supervisor of Orland Township and became the newly-incorporated Orland Park’s first village president in 1892. The Humphrey House was the second home built in the village’s downtown area, according to the village.
Humphrey’s son, also John Humphrey, left the property to the Orland Historical Society in his will, and it was turned over after he died in 1987.
“They did a lot of minor renovations, and I mean, they’re the reason why we have the house and it’s in such good shape today, considering how old it is,” Paulson said.
But when the village received the property from the volunteer-run organization in 2021, Paulson said they noticed structural issues with the house that required more attention.
She said in addition to the $900,000 interior improvements, the village is looking to include maintenance of the outside of the house, such as paint touchups and shutter repairs, in next year’s budget. That project will be of a smaller scale and less costly, and it won’t require the closing of the house for more than a few days, Paulson said.
The reopening of the house is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon on May 30 and will include a ribbon cutting ceremony and light refreshments.
Paulson said after the reopening, she will begin providing free tours by appointment from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Friday and Saturday Members of the public can contact Heritagesites@orlandpark.org or 708-403-6268 for more information.
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