The Western Springs Historical Society is celebrating the premiere of its first exhibit at the Ekdahl House Museum with their Heritage Breakfast on Saturday November 5th between 9:30 and 11:30 am. Residents are invited to Wolf and 43rd Street for refreshments, a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:00 am and the announcement of the winners of the “Why I Love to Live in Western Springs” essay contest.

The home of August Ekdahl stood at 808 Hillgrove Avenue in Western Springs since 1887 when he built the home after immigrating from Sweden. In an effort to further fulfill the museum’s goals of preserving and promoting Western Springs history, the Historical Society acquired and fully restored this 124-year-old home and relocated it to its new home on 43rd and Wolf Road.

“Historical Society volunteers had the vision to save the building in 2008,” said Allyson Zak, president of the Western Springs Historical Society. “Since then, our volunteers have worked to restore the building, collect artifacts and prepare to share this exhibit with the community.”

This is the first exhibit for the outdoor museum. Visitors will be able to walk around the perimeter of the house and look through its windows to see the historically accurate recreations of Mr. Ekdahl’s cobbler shop, as well as the first Western Springs Post Office headed by our first Postmistress, Nancy Watson.

“The building represents the business people who came to Western Springs, settled here and made it the place it is today,” said Hilary Remijas, vice president of the Western Springs Historical Society. “We are excited to re-create what it looked like in the 1890’s for students and residents and hope it will help them understand more about our village’s history.”

In honor of the Cobbler Shop exhibit, visitors are asked to bring a pair of new or used shoes to donate to Soles4Souls (www.soles4souls.org). The Competitive Foot has offered to continue accepting donations until November 12. Each winner of the essay contest will receive a $25.00 roll of gold-colored silver dollars donated by Heartland Bank and have his or her essay published in the Doings. The Grand Prize winner will receive the same awards, as well as a $50 gift certificate to the Competitive Foot, and a $20 gift certificate from the Western Springs Business Association. All winning essays will also be framed and placed in the Water Tower museum to become part of Western Springs history.

The Western Springs Historical Society is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to instilling an appreciation of the village’s history. It operates the Water Tower Museum, maintains the Ekdahl House and Village’s archives, housed at the Grand Avenue Community Center. For more information or to volunteer, visit www.westernspringshistory.org or call 708-246-9230.

Heartland Bank and Trust Company is an independently owned community bank with assets of $1.9 billion. Headquartered in Bloomington, IL, the bank has offices in 30 communities throughout Illinois and Northeast Missouri. The bank offers a complete line of financial services to commercial and retail customers. More information is available on the bank’s website at www.hbtbank.com.

Ekdahl House drawing courtesy of Margaret Prescott.