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14 | November 21, 2018 | The glencoe anchor Sound Off
glencoeanchor.com
Glencoe: Yesterday and Today
GHS salutes and thanks a beloved volunteer
Glencoe Historical
Society
Contributing Columnist
The Glencoe Historical
Society was
established in the
1930s, but by the 1970s, it
had become a shadow of
its former self.
The GHS had sponsored
some housewalks — notably
one in 1969 for the
Village’s centennial and
then another couple in
the 1970s, but aside from
special events, the society
was somewhat moribund.
The 1980s, however,
brought new life to the
group and the main
“architect” behind that revival
was Ellen Paseltiner,
who — with her husband,
Scott, and children Sarah,
Adam, and a bit later Harris
— lived on Maple Hill
Road, in a Homer Sailordesigned
home.
Ellen, who grew up in
the Washington, D.C. area,
had been an attorney for the
National Trust for Historic
Preservation. When the
family moved to Glencoe,
she brought her knowledge
of historic places, her
eagerness to educate people
about history and her drive
to make things happen. The
Glencoe Historical Society
has been indebted to her
ever since.
Ellen was the society
member who drew up,
funded and supervised
the Village’s first historic
building survey, with the
aim of using the results to
identify Village residences
that should be landmarked.
She gathered a group of
more than a dozen people
to walk the Village streets,
record information and
follow up with research at
the Cook County Recorder
of Deeds office,
the Ryerson and Burnham
Library at the Art Institute
of Chicago, and wherever
architectural information
could be found.
Those survey results
were the basic building
blocks of a re-energized
Historical Society.
As the GHS’s role in
the Village increased, its
membership exploded and
its activities expanded to
year-round exhibitions and
programming.
After the survey’s completion,
GHS went to the
Village seeking a historic
preservation ordinance.
From that came today’s
ordinance and the Glencoe
Historic Preservation Commission
to implement it.
The survey information
also became the basis
Please see ghs, 15
Ellen Paseltiner is a longtime volunteer with the
Glencoe Historical Society. Photo Submitted
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