History

The house at 1602 West 108th Place was built about 1865 for Erastus and Mary Lavinia (nee Wilcox) Barnard. Their families had come west to homestead and farm. The Wilcox family arrived in 1844 and the Barnard family in 1846. Erastus and Mary wed in 1862 and lived in a one-room cabin on his 80 acres of land at the foot of the hill on the east side of the very sparsely populated Blue Island Ridge. 

After Erastus returned from a brief deployment in the Civil War, which included taking part in Sherman’s March to the Sea, the family built their first home. It was originally located in a grove of trees surrounded by a slough at what some might now consider the heart of Beverly Hills, 103rd and Longwood Drive. 

How it was forgotten and recently found

The house was modernized and moved nearly a mile in 1924 to its current location in Morgan Park. And then it was basically forgotten. 

The Barnard family and their descendants recorded and preserved as much of their own history and the community’s history as possible. Large collections of their manuscripts, reminiscences, letters, papers, and photos, spanning from pre-Civil War through to recent times, are held at the Newberry Library and Ridge Historical Society. Despite the family preserving as much local history as they did, local historians believed that their first house was long gone. Research completed in 2025 confirmed this was their forgotten first house. 

The family's importance

This family and house is historically significant. They were among the earliest settlers to this once remote area, nearly 12 miles from Chicago. The two-acre Amy L. Barnard Park, just two blocks south of the original site, was donated by Erastus to the City after the family’s only child died at 20. The Barnard and Wilcox families sacrificed much for the Civil War, including losing two of their own. A Barnard sister was one of the very first female principals in Chicago, credited with creating the first ungraded classroom in Chicago for children with special needs and she defended the rights of Black children to attend school. A nearby CPS school still bears her name, Alice L. Barnard Elementary. 

This was a principled family that made a big impact. They were involved in government and local development, helped form early churches, and kept history alive. However, perhaps their most important impact was done quietly...

Helping Freedom Seekers

In Mary Lavinia Barnard’s reminiscences, she wrote, “The 60s was the decade of the Civil War. A few times my husband would find a fugitive slave laying in the hay of the manger where he could feel the warm breath of the cattle. We don’t know if the other farmers had similar experiences because we never told. You didn’t know which side they were on”. 

These instances of helping Freedom Seekers happened just a few years before they built this house, while they lived in their one-room cabin.  Erastus and Mary were not part of the Underground Railroad, but they did what they could to help their fellow man escape human bondage. 

Current status of the house

The exterior appears to have been minimally altered in the past 100 years and proudly displays a charming mix of 1920s modernizations with some original Italianate details. The house has no historic landmark designations, but its recently identified historical significance should make it eligible for landmark designations. 

Unfortunately, the house has received minimal maintenance recently.  It is currently in an estate.   We need the community's help to save it.