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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Tickets to the 22nd annual event, which are $40 or $35 for Historical Society members, are available at 708-848-6755 or oprfmuseum.org.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe switch off every year between featuring houses in Oak Park and houses in River Forest,\u201d said Rachel Berlinski, Operations Manager of the Oak Park River Forest Museum. \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI basically coordinate all the moving parts,\u201d said Andrea Garren, the Spring House Walk Manager. There are a lot of moving parts, including 80 volunteers.<\/p>\n
She was also involved in the house selection process. Her responsibility included finding out \u201clogistically if the house would work well for the walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt needs to have flow because we\u2019re going to be moving several groups of eight people at a time through the house,\u201d Garren said.<\/p>\n
Garren basically handles all of the many little details that make the annual walk a success.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They asked Jones, \u201cWhat are some interesting houses that you think we should ask to be on the Walk?\u201d Berlinski related. \u201cThat\u2019s how we ended up finding four other houses.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Marie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PPN-L-RIVER-FOREST-HOUSE-WALK-0430-02.jpg\")
Marie and Ekow Mensah\u2019s house, which has a connection to one of the founders of River Forest, is among those featured in the Spring House Walk presented by The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest. (The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest)<\/p>\n
When they studied the selected houses, they discovered each had something relevant in common, Berlinski reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of them was first owned by somebody who was a prominent business person. It\u2019s a real testament to the village\u2019s history and what it means to be a River Forester,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That discovery led to the theme of this year\u2019s walk \u2014 American Dream Homes.<\/p>\n
Gen Jones and her husband, Alex Jones, were delighted to be a part of the Walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur house is a very prominent home in River Forest. We absolutely love the house and we really like to share it with the community,\u201d Gen Jones explained.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband and I think of ourselves as the custodians of the house,\u201d Gen Jones explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most interesting things is the original owner, William Sloan, was the inventor of the tankless flushing toilet,\u201d Alex Jones said. \u201cClearly 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The architecture is another interesting element of the house, Alex Jones added. \u201cIt\u2019s 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,\u201d he said. The house has a lot of original elements, including light fixtures, the downstairs flooring, and the tile in all twelve bathrooms.<\/p>\n
One other special element, Gen Jones revealed, is that \u201cWe have a secret tunnel that runs from the main house to the coach house.\u201d That won\u2019t be on the tour, though.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cThis house just keeps on telling stories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cOne of my goals is to pay tribute to my house,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The house, which the Mensahs have owned for three years, has a long and interesting history. \u201cThe very first owner of my house is the grandson of the founder of River Forest,\u201d Mensah reported. The owner\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The house will be 100 years old in 2027, and Mensah is already planning a celebration. \u201cI want to throw my house a hundred-year birthday party,\u201d she laughingly revealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been delighted to be working with all of the volunteers who have been putting the walk together,\u201d said Berlinski, the operations manager.<\/p>\n
That includes five volunteer researchers \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
Berlinski reported that the Spring House Walk is one of The Historical Society\u2019s biggest fundraisers every year. The proceeds are used for \u201ckeeping the museum going and being the community storer of historic archives, and all of the programming we do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Garren added, \u201cWe\u2019re also expanding the museum to make it more community-focused. We\u2019re going to install an elevator and there\u2019s going to be a community meeting space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The upcoming Spring House Walk sponsored by The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest will offer…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":750694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[64,960,232039,5404,232040,17073,1108,14685,14686,14689,20240,5386,1818,14692,14693,728,14703,4329,14710,1072,14717],"class_list":["post-750693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-business","tag-chicago","tag-clarendon-hills","tag-cook-county","tag-darien","tag-dupage-county","tag-elmhurst","tag-elmwood-park","tag-franklin-park","tag-hinsdale","tag-home-and-garden","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-la-grange","tag-la-grange-park","tag-local-news","tag-oak-park","tag-real-estate","tag-river-forest","tag-things-to-do","tag-western-springs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116461787493920377","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}