The House by the River: A Memoir

Archive

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Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

Name/Title

The House by the River: A Memoir

Entry/Object ID

2025.01.24

Scope and Content

Photocopies of a 22-page memoir written by Dian Gorgas Fitzgerald in 1988. Document includes (high-contrast) family photos and a floor plan drawing.

Context

Dian's memories of "Ingle Brae," her family's rustic summer cottage at 3438 Riverside Drive in Saugatuck Township. Originally owned by the author's mother's Hemingway family, the 1917 cottage was passed down to her grandparents Jean Hemingway and William "Dutch" Gorgas who wed in 1923. The memoir mentions her parents courting, riverside cottagers being seen as less respectable than Lakeshore Drive cottagers, visiting in the fall of 1938 when polio closed Chicago schools, details about the cottage layout and how it changed over time, the furniture including the perfect reading "swing" made from a mattress hung on chains, visiting her mother's friends including Mrs. Perotte, Mrs. Leland, Gail Hutchins, Mary Bell Saunders of the Job House, buying the Chicago Tribune at Pfundstein's newsstand and barber shop, seeing Oak Openings campers, walking out to the shore thorough the Cook-Bennett mansion property, the Big Pavilion, climbing the Mount Baldhead stairs, viewing the annual art exhibits on display on the second floor of the Saugatuck Village Hall. When Dian's parents Jean and William Gorgas retired, they transformed the celotex-walled cottage into an all-season home. Her mother sold the property in 1972. Although it is not mentioned in the memoir, Jean Gorgas was a president of the Saugatuck Woman's Club.

Collection

Literature, poetry and memoir, Buildings: Homes, cottages and private residences, Childhood

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2025.01

Acquisition Method

Found in Collection

Archive Details

Creator

Fitzgerald, Dian G. (Gorgas) 1926-2020

Date(s) of Creation

1988

Dimensions

Height

11 in

Width

8-1/2 in

Location

Filing cabinet

Files Family History

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Gorgas, Jean H. (Hemingway) 1901-1972, Gorgas, William C. "Dutch" 1897-1972, 3438 Riverside/Gorgas Ingle Brae cottage

Create Date

June 24, 2025

Update Date

June 24, 2025