Ridge Park
History
Ridge Park was the first of five Beverly neighborhood parks created by the Ridge Park District, one of 22 independent park boards consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934. Soon after its 1908 establishment, the Ridge Park District began a search for park property. Enthusiastic residents advocated the purchase of property along Longwood Drive, already the site of "fine homes set in spacious grounds." The park district agreed, and in 1911 and 1912 purchased 9.32 acres of property, including a small, city-owned park. The new park was named Ridge Park for the tree-studded ridge that runs along the park's western boundary, the one-time shore line of glacial Lake Chicago. The park district soon adopted plans for a fieldhouse, and in 1913, installed a water system, a baseball diamond, and a playground, all surrounded by a restful landscape of trees, shrubbery, flowers, lawns, and walks.
The fashionable Beverly district grew dramatically during the 1920s, and by late in that decade, Ridge Park was in need of a much more substantial fieldhouse. In 1929 Beverly-based architect John T. Hetherington redesigned and expanded the brick fieldhouse. The revamped structure included not only the standard facilities for community activities, but also a 500-seat auditorium, an American Legion memorial room, an indoor swimming pool, and a fully-equipped gymnasium. The building also provided a home for the John H. Vanderpoel Memorial Art Gallery, a collection of some 500 works by American painters and sculptors. The Vanderpoel collection was assembled to honor the contributions of Beverly resident John H. Vanderpoel (1857-1911), who taught painting at the Art Institute for more than 30 years and who, with his mentor, Art Institute Director, W.M.R. French, helped to make Beverly a culturally rich community. Most of the works displayed were donated by the artists themselves out of respect for Vanderpoel's genius.
Ridge Park includes a number of monuments to veterans of various wars. In the early 1990s, the park district grouped these together in a single memorial area when the community sought to recognize Beverly resident and U.S. Marine Corps Captain William J. Hurley (1963-1991), who died while on a training mission during the Desert Storm conflict.
