Oak Park in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Pleasant Home

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 27, 2025

1. Pleasant Home Marker

Inscription. 1897 CE

John W. Farson engages architect George W. Maher to design Pleasant Home

Oak Park has a population of around 5,000

Erected 2012 by Park District of Oak Park.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Parks & Recreational Areas. A significant historical year for this entry is 1897.

Location. 41° 53.065′ N, 87° 48.128′ W. Marker is in Oak Park, Illinois, in Cook County. It is on South Marion Street 0.1 miles south of Pleasant Street, on the right when traveling north. The stone is a part of the labyrinth located on the western edge of Mills Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 217 Home Avenue, Oak Park IL 60302, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Greater Chicago.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At

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least 25 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Village of Oak Park (here, next to this marker); Herbert S. Mills (here, next to this marker); The Kettlestrings (here, next to this marker); Mills Estate Purchase (here, next to this marker); Mills Park Labyrinth (here, next to this marker); Pleasant Home Foundation (here, next to this marker); First European Settlers in Illinois (here, next to this marker); Potowatamie (a few steps from this marker); Oak Savanna (a few steps from this marker); End of the Wisconsin Ice Age (a few steps from this marker); Hunter Gatherers (a few steps from this marker); Oak Park Sand Spit (a few steps from this marker); Beginning of the Wisconsin Ice Age (a few steps from this marker); Sabre Tooth Tigers (a few steps from this marker); Mills Park and Pleasant Home (a few steps from this marker); The Age of Mammals (within shouting distance of this marker); Illinois Tulley Monster (within shouting distance of this marker); Amphibians (within shouting distance of this marker); Ancient Illinois Climate (within shouting distance of this marker); Cambrian Sea (within shouting distance of

Mills Park labyrinth image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 27, 2025

2. Mills Park labyrinth

this marker); Volcanoes (within shouting distance of this marker); Solar System (within shouting distance of this marker); a different marker also named Mills Park and Pleasant Home (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); a different marker also named Mills Park and Pleasant Home (about 500 feet away); a different marker also named Mills Park and Pleasant Home (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Oak Park.

More about this marker. The stone is one of about 20 pavers in Mills Park that show the history of Oak Park from the dawn of the solar system through 2012. The pavers are part of a labyrinth embedded into the ground near the western entrance into Mills Park.

Pleasant Home is about 500 feet northeast of this labyrinth.

Regarding Pleasant Home. John Farson was an affluent banker who acquired a lot at the corner of Pleasant Street and Home Avenue for $20,000 in 1892, at that time the largest price ever paid for a residential lot in Oak Park. He later acquired adjacent lots for gardens, which today make up Mills Park. George Maher was a prominent Prairie Style architect. Farson's family

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 27, 2025

3. Mills Park labyrinth

sold the home to Herbert Mills, who owned a company that manufactured coin-operated machines, in 1910.

Related marker. Click here for another marker that is related to this marker. The Mills Park Labyrinth marker page includes a list of all 21 stones in the labyrinth in chronological order

Also see . . .
1. Pleasant Home history. Pleasant Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

Excerpt: "The architect of Pleasant Home, George Washington Maher (1864-1926), was first listed in city directories in 1883 as a draftsman for Chicago architects Augustus Bauer and Henry W. Hill. Maher left their office by 1887 to take a position with architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. There he worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, George Grant Elmslie, and Cecil Corwin. The commission from John Farson for Pleasant Home initiated a new period in his work, a series of grand houses set on large estates often appointed by the Midwest’s finest artists and craftsmen.

"George Maher wrote about the need for a new American architecture. His work is aligned with the progressive
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 27, 2025

4. Mills Park labyrinth
A nearby historical marker says that the labyrinth's artistic style was inspired by the architect George W. Maher, who designed the Pleasant Home, located in this park.
architects in Chicago who developed a new approach to design free from historical references. Maher and his contemporaries, now known as the Prairie School, embraced many of the ideas of the arts and crafts movement: truth to materials, a belief in fine craftsmanship, and a desire to incorporate the local environment in their buildings and its details."

(Submitted on March 28, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

2. George W. Maher Society official site. (Submitted on March 28, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Pleasant Home image. Click for full size.

December 4, 2021

5. Pleasant Home

Credits. This page was last revised on March 31, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 28, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 101 times since then and 15 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 28, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 3, 4. submitted on March 27, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 5. submitted on August 17, 2023, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.