New Location:
Liberty Center,
6445 W. 27th Place, Berwyn 60402

Event highlights:
- Many dealers featuring antiques and collectibles
- Traditional raffle with a variety of gift baskets – $1 per ticket or $5 for 6
- Progressive raffle for an iPad3 (you could win an iPad3 for less than $5) – See details below!
- Bake Sale and Hot dogs, chips, and soda will also be available until supplies run out
- BHS booth with Berwyn merchandise, Berwyn postcards, custom jewelry and more

Did you know that the Annual Antiques and Collectable Show is one of two major annual fundraisers for the BHS? It’s a lot of fun, and when you attend, not only do you have the chance to see and buy some neat vintage and antique items, you also help the BHS raise money.

Small admission fee of $3.00 which will be used to help pay the mortgage  for the new building and permanent  headquarters of the BHS. as well as  the many necessary expenditures that accompany new homeownership.

If you’re not fan of antiques, still stop by and say hello, you’ll be helping the BHS by supporting a worthy cause!

Details about the iPad3 Raffle:
The BHS is holding a progressive raffle for an iPad3!

There will only be 500 tickets sold. Each ticket will have a number  ranging
from 1-500, multiply the number with 1 Penny and you have your  ticket price.
You will pick an envelope randomly, open your envelope and  find out your ticket
price! Ticket #001 will be $.01…Ticket #500 will  be $5.

Proceeds will benefit the Berwyn Historical Society.
iPad3 Drawing to be held after ALL tickets are sold.

It’s fund-raising time again! The Berwyn Historical Society (BHS) is holding its 22nd Annual Antique & Collectible Sale and Raffle.

Tickets are $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00

The show will take place on
Sunday, April 29th, 2011, at the
Liberty Center, 6445 W. 27th Place, Berwyn, Illinois.
The show will run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

We need your help to make this major fund-raiser for the BHS a success and raise money to help pay for our new building!

Download the raffle purchase form, print it out and mail it in with your payment.
We need to receive your ticket request in the mail by April 27th.
Click here to download the form.

If you are interested please email us (at info@berwynhistoricalsociety.org) a short biography along with a brief letter why you would be interest in serving on the board. Below are a few items we feel are important for a new board member.

To serve as a board member of the BHS, you must be:
• Willing to become member of the Berwyn Historical Society
• Have a passion for discovering, preserving, and sharing the history of Berwyn.
• Prepared to attend monthly board meetings
• Willing to work hard to promote our projects
• Willing to volunteer your time for BHS events. This means some weekends and evenings.
• A “team person,” able to work well with others
• Willing to help promote the organization

Skills that may be useful (but not required):
• Marketing
• Publicity and public relations
• Ability to do research and write articles
• Experience on other boards
• Grant-writing experience
• Museum and archival experience
• Graduate Student in a related field to history, architecture, art, etc.
• Second-language fluency, with ability to speak/translate materials into Spanish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, etc.)

It’s that time of year when, as if to overcome the early darkness, magnificent displays of colored lights pop up all over town. Berwyn becomes a magical place as people share their vision of beauty and meaning with others. It’s a good time to remember how we have been blessed in our community.

The Berwyn Historical Society celebrates the past, commits to the present, and believes in the future of Berwyn. May the spirit of this season—past, present and future—bring out the best in all of us, as we reach out in good will to our neighbors, family, and friends, and especially to those in need.

The Board of Directors of the Berwyn Historical Society wish you a happy holiday season and a safe and prosperous new year. We will strive to serve our community well in 2012.

David Olson, BHS President

Bert Hicks was in his late 90’s and formerly owned Hicks Hardware Store at 6805 Stanley, in Berwyn.

He lived much of his life in Berwyn and knew Berwyn’s history through and through.

There will be a wake for Bert on Sunday, November 20, 2011, from 3 pm to 8 pm, at the Kopicki’s Heritage Funeral Home at 3117 S. Oak Park Avenue in Berwyn.

(Above announcement text was taken from message by Mark Weiner)

The BHS wanted to acknowledge the support by Bert Hicks who allowed us for years to have displays in the windows of his Hardware Store.

You are invited to attend the Annual Meeting of the Berwyn Historical Society on
Sunday, Nov. 13, 2:00-4:00 p.m., to be held at the Fitzgerald’s Side Bar, at 6615 Roosevelt Road.

We will present illustrations and information on our new BHS site at 1401 Grove Avenue, and will detail the progress we’re making in the renovation of the space for office, storage and display of our historical artifacts. We hope to be in the building by early 2012. Being in our own building for the first time ever will help create new opportunities for education and interpretation of Berwyn’s history.

We will also hear reports of the BHS activities throughout the past year, and have the election of officers – three for a full three-year term, and one for a one-year term, to fill a vacancy on the Board.

We encourage you to renew your BHS membership for 2012 on that day, and bring along friends who may be interested in joining our organization.

A cash bar will be available, and light refreshments will be served.

We hope to see you at the Annual Meeting, November 13.

Sincerely,
David Olson
President

As you may know, we have recently acquired a new home at 1401 Grove.  The building is currently undergoing renovations and we hope to be moved in before the end of the year.  Along with our new home, come new responsibilities.  We now have a mortgage, utilities and other expenses, just like a homeowner!

If we can get 20 people to commit to $20 per month, we will cover our mortgage.  We hope that some of our members and supporters will assist us in meeting our goal.

The Berwyn Historical Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law.

Check our 501(c)3 status at Guidestar

The 45-minute tour featured bungalows on Riverside Drive, Maple Ave, and Home Avenue, as well as four of the Berwyn properties on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mention was also made of the numerous neighborhood grocery stores which Berwyn had in the 30s, and the tour passed the new site of the BHS, to be housed in one of those former grocery and meat markets at 14th St. and Grove Ave.

At the request of one of the participants who had lived in Berwyn, we drove by the home he had lived in at 13th and Euclid, which happened to be in the area we were touring.

The group appeared to enjoy the tour very much, and we may host another group from Plymouth Place in the near future. The tour provided a “trial run” for future groups who may desire such a tour.

Bungalows and More… A tour off the Old Plank Rd · Route 66
Sunday September 25, 2011 – noon to 5 pm

The Berwyn Historical Society invites you to participate in “Historic Berwyn’s Bungalow Tour – Bungalows and More” to be held on Sunday September 25, 2011 – from noon to 5 pm.

The 2011 tour will showcase the well-preserved Art Moderne Silhan House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as a range of bungalows and other vintage homes.

Tour goers will learn the history of each home, while gaining valuable ideas and insight for restoring and maintaining their own vintage homes. The 2011 tour’s homes are located in the vicinity of Berwyn’s portion of Route 66, Ogden Ave.

Participants may walk, bike or drive between houses that are stops on the tour.
Bike parking courtesy of Active Transportation Alliance

Advanced tickets prior to the tour are $20. For ticket information please visit the official website: berwynbungalow.org. Tickets on the day of the tour are $25 at check-in at The Berwyn Route 66 Museum located at Ogden Ave. and Home Ave.

All ticket sale proceeds will benefit the Berwyn Historical Society, a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve, protect and promote architectural and historic resources in Berwyn through advocacy and education.

Read the most recent coverage in the Berwyn Life:
Route 66 home to Berwyn Historical Society House Tour;
event to showcase ‘Bungalows and More’

Special thanks to our 2011 sponsors!