HMlandmarksseries HEMINGWAY MUSEUM
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” —ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Photography courtesy of Hemingway Museum
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Hemingway THE ERNEST HEMINGWAY MUSEUM AND BIRTHPLACE CELEBRATE OF ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST FAMOUS WRITERS, AND ARE LOCATED WITHIN A SHORT WALK OF ONE ANOTHER IN OAK PARK, SEVERAL MILES NORTHEAST OF HINSDALE By Mike Ellis
AUTHOR’S LIFE AND WORK From left: The Hemingway Museum; Visitors can explore displays of rare photographs of Hemingway, his childhood diary, letters, early writings and other memorabilia.
Greater Hinsdale residents need not travel far to visit the birthplace of one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. Ernest Hemingway, author of A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises, among a host of other novels and literary works, was born on July 21, 1899 on Oak Park Ave. in west suburban Oak Park. The home, which is maintained by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, is a classic Victorian that is open to the public. It was built in 1890 by Ernest Hall, Hemingway’s maternal grandfather and a Civil War veteran. “Ernest spent basically the first six years of his life in this house, along with his three siblings,” foundation chairman John Berry said. Berry said the home—which the Hemingways moved out of in 1905—was converted into a two-flat in the 1910s and 1920s, until the foundation purchased it in 1989. “With some State of Illinois grant money, we got $1 million from then-Gov. [George] Ryan to restore the house,” he said. Today, Hemingway’s birthplace does not contain all of its original elements, but it does feature a number of keepsakes Continued on page 20
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