Volunteering again for the 2022 event offered a special touch to my participation as it did last year.
And I brought it even closer to home, physically and metaphorically speaking, by spending 4 hours at the OPRF History Museum on east Lake Street. After having such a great experience volunteering last year, I was eager to do so again. The OPRF History Museum sent an e-mail newsletter with a spot noting that the museum was seeking volunteers. I contacted the museum to state that I was interested, having grown in appreciation for Oak Park over my almost 30 years of making my home here, and especially appreciating the history and the way the museum showcases it. Aware of the coming 30th anniversary of when I first came to live in Oak Park, I felt it was the right time to be part of helping showcase it during OHC.
I started my time there on the morning of Saturday, October 15, around 9:30 to get oriented with Rachel Berlinski, the operations manager, and the other volunteers, in time for 10 AM, when we welcomed visitors. During the 4 hours I was there, I floated around the museum, directing people, and highlighting what was there to see. We had a fair number of visitors come.
The museum is a unique space, thanks to the efforts over multiple years to transform the largely unused former Oak Park Public Works facility into a building that hearkens back to its original use as the Cicero Firehouse from the 1890s. There are many objects from bygone years, like a library card catalog, pictures, signs, a typewriter, and topographical maps.
The upper level has a Wall of Fame that the Rotary Club created, and currently has an exhibit on the process of making fair housing established in Oak Park. Given how much Oak Park means to me, and my appreciation for how history is part of that, I delighted in the chance to showcase the museum's offerings to visitors this day.
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| Here I am posing inside the museum. I think Rachel or one of my fellow volunteers got this photo. All photos in this post are mine, unless otherwise noted. |
A little later that day, I made one of my regular visits to the Oak Park Conservatory, which I do 2-4 times a month. It was included as an OHC site, another great place on showcase in Oak Park.
The next day, Sunday, October 16, was my day to participate in OHC as a visitor. My Mom and I drove around for about 2-3 hours in the afternoon.
First, we visited Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School, on Jackson Boulevard in Austin. Someone on the school's fundraising staff gave us a tour. We first walked down a hall to see the Chapel, a modernistic space surrounded by walls that let in filtered light. After going there, she showed us some of the classrooms, and other spaces like the cafeteria and the gym. We also learned more about the impact the school makes for its students. It helps its students pay for their tuition by giving them real work experience one day a week.
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| Above and directly below are views of the Chapel. |
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| Exterior of the school along Jackson |
We continued the theme of religious sites with a visit to the West Suburban Temple Har Zion on Harlem Avenue in River Forest. There were scheduled talks held throughout its afternoon open visiting hours. Upon arriving, we were directed to a space on the other side of its sanctuary to hear a talk on the Genesis windows. These stained glass windows are amazing pieces of art with great details highlighting so many aspects of Genesis stories that are defining stories of who they are. Subsequently, we joined a presentation at the entrance to its sanctuary on the tapestries, from the artist who created them, a member of the Oak Park Temple just a couple of blocks north on Harlem. These tapestries displayed scenes from the giving of the Law in Exodus, with abstract designs, and create a focal point into the sanctuary where the Torah scrolls are brought out of the ark, a special cabinet. It was great to hear from the artist herself and get a sense of her thought process as she created the artwork.
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| Genesis windows |
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| Flanking the doors to the sanctuary are two of the tapestries, that are designed to bookend the doors |
Mom and I finished by taking in a higher view of things at the One Lake Brewing brewery at Austin and Lake. We walked upstairs to its rooftop terrace, with views that looked out over Austin Boulevard into the West Side and east toward downtown.
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| Artistic feature |
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| View from the rooftop terrace, looking east into Austin, with Lake Street appearing to the left |
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| Here's Mom and me on the rooftop terrace. A fellow visitor took this photo, who I recognized as a CAC docent. |
I always value how OHC gives people the opportunity to appreciate what's in their own backyard in Chicagoland, and showcase what's here to those who come from out of town. There's something for everyone with over 100 sites available many of which aren't typically open to the general public.
Yet my explorations of Chicagoland weren't confined to just that weekend.
Earlier in October, I spent an afternoon at Palmisano Park. It used to be a quarry, and has been turned into a prairie natural area. I enjoyed walking around for a while, appreciating the natural landscapes there that speak what defines Illinois originally, and taking in great views of the skyline.
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| View looking northeasterly toward downtown Chicago |
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| View looking northwesterly toward the pond area in the park |
Later in October, on a wonderfully mild day, after my family visited my grandparents at Lincoln National Cemetery, we drove a short distance away to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie for a short hike. Again, it was wonderful to walk through this restored prairie area, and look at the vast grasslands that are part of Illinois's heritage.
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| Looking west at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie |
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| Looking in a northerly direction at Midewin |
On the final Sunday of October, I attended Mass at the National Shrine of St. Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini in Lincoln Park. I felt it was fitting during the Jubilee Year marking 75 years since her canonization. It's located in what used to be Columbus Hospital, where she served for many years. The sanctuary is an incredibly beautiful space.
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| Inside the sanctuary |
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| The outer entrance of the shrine |
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| Someone at the front desk photographed me in the entryway |
Following Mass, I drove north for a short visit to Little India along Devon Avenue, with many businesses with offerings from India, as well as other places in the Middle East.
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| Above is the view at Devon and Artesian looking east on Devon, and below is at the same intersection looking west. I shopped in the World Fresh Market shown below. |
There's a lot that I can appreciate about living in this area. And throughout the month of October, during OHC weekend, and beyond, by visiting new places nearby and in different areas, I further increased my appreciation for the intricacies of Chicagoland.
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