The Flossmoor Park neighborhood centennial celebration on Aug. 11 included written history on display in the FCC Community House and history written in architecture on the surrounding landscape.
The story of the neighborhood was told by collaborating local historians, Jeff Hamrick, who lives on Gardner Lane, and David Martin, who works for Flossmoor Public Library.
the history of the Flossmoor Park neighborhood that was displayed
in the FCC Community House on Sunday, Aug. 11.
(Eric Crump/H-F Chronicle)
Together, they helped create displays that told of the neighborhood’s founding, the famous golfers memorialized in street names and the nine 100-year-old homes on the walking tour that day.
Hamrick said the pandemic that started in 2020 provided the occasion for delving into the history of the neighborhood.
“COVID hit and I had a lot of time to explore the neighborhood and meet the neighbors, and very quickly wanted to learn more about the origins of this very special, very beautiful neighborhood.”
He found aerial photos from 1925 showing the neighborhood as it was being built.
“I was hooked. I wanted to know everything about those homes,” he said.
David Martin was doing similar research for the library when Mayor Michelle Nelson introduced him to Hamrick, and the collaboration was born.
Martin said what fascinated him about the origins of Flossmoor Park was its connection to Andrew Carnegie, one of the country’s richest and most famous businessmen.
Henry Phipps, the business partner of Andrew Carnegie, became one of the richest men in America in the early 1900s,” Martin said. “And it was his fortune that created the company that created this neighborhood.”
Outside the community house, people enjoyed delightful weather to visit nine homes built in the earliest days of the neighborhood.
Mary and Bert Schepler greeted neighbors strolling by on the walking tour while their daughter, Ruby, took a break from creating sidewalk chalk art.
She said they moved to their home on Evans Road, which was on the tour, because they value the diversity and inclusion of the community. The white couple have a Black daughter.
“We knew we wanted to be in H-F,” she said. “It was important to us for our daughter to see people like her.”
(Eric Crump/H-F Chronicle)
