Please join the Northwest Chicago Historical Society for a talk on “Your House Has a History”. Author and Chicago house historian, Grace DuMelle will lead us through the hidden history of our house’s past. How to research, what people shared your home before you, the architectural style and when the improvements where done to the house.



House detective Grace DuMelle is president of Heartland Historical Research Service and has been a professional researcher for 20 years. She’s told the stories of humble homes and mansions throughout Chicagoland, including four on the Northwest Side. Some of Heartland's more notable findings:

• Finding the original plans for a home in a 1924 issue of Better Homes and Gardens

• Confirming the characteristics of Mary Todd Lincoln's Chicago neighborhood

• Uncovering an Ernest Hemingway connection in an Oak Park home

• Exposing the falsified advertising claim of a piano and organ factory

• Tracing the American Dream through successive owners of a family-run bakery



Grace is an alumna of what is now Dominican University as well as the Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research. Her award-winning book Finding Your Chicago Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide to Family History in the City and Cook County is in its second printing from Lake Claremont Press in Chicago.



There is NO CHARGE for this event and everyone is welcome. Some of Grace DuMelle’s books, will be available for purchase after the presentation.



We will meet at the New England Inn at 7:00 PM (Cash Bar). Plenty of free street parking on Irving Park and side streets. They also have some great food, so why not come early and have a meal before the presentation.