NORWOOD PARK — In the late 1980s, the Norwood Park Historical Society saved the oldest house in Chicago from being demolished.
Now, nearly 40 years later, the group is trying to save the house yet again.
Located on a quiet, tree-lined street in Norwood Park at 5624 N. Newark Ave., the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House was built in 1833, when Chicago was still a village. The Norwood Park Historical Society has been maintaining the house for decades, using it as a museum, a place for community meetings and an event space. However, after dipping into funding reserves to pay for a new roof in 2025, the nonprofit desperately needs more donations to keep the house open.
Displays at the Norwood Park Historical Society in the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House — Chicago’s oldest home — 5624 N. Newark Ave., in Norwood Park on Aug. 19, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
The historic home was almost lost for good in the 1980s when a next-door neighbor tried to buy the land to create a cul-de-sac with dozens of new homes, recalled Susan Kroll, a member of the Norwood Park Historical Society board. If the sale had gone through, Kroll said the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House would have likely been demolished.
The historical society held yard sales, neighborhood festivals, sold chocolate Easter bunnies and did “basically anything we could to raise money” and was able to scrape together enough to buy the house in 1987, Kroll said. The house was designated a City of Chicago Historical Landmark a year later and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
“Yes, we saved the house, however, saving it is a constant thing,” Arthur Krumrey, the acting president of the Norwood Park Historical Society, said as he walked past walls of black-and-white photographs on a Wednesday in August.
Keeping the house up and running costs about $250 per day, Krumrey said. With a small stream of monthly visitors, the $5 suggested donation doesn’t even begin to cover the house’s costs, he said. Instead, the historical society relies on donations. Krumrey said fundraising fell short last year, but they hope to raise at least $12,000 this year.
The society is hosting its annual “Stems and Steins” beer and wine tasting fundraiser at the house 3-6 p.m. Sept. 26. You can purchase tickets to the fundraiser here and donate to the historical society here.
“I think most people think the history of Chicago is all Downtown and that’s not true,” Kroll said. “There’s history all around us. Here we are, the oldest existing house in the city of Chicago, nowhere near Downtown.”
The Norwood Park Historical Society is housed in the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House — Chicago’s oldest home — 5624 N. Newark Ave., in Norwood Park on Aug. 19, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Worth Preserving
Krumrey said the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House is “an unnoticed gem in the neighborhood.”
He said the house has been under the radar for years in part because it doesn’t actually own the distinction of being the oldest house built in Chicago, although it is considered the oldest house that exists in Chicago.
The Clarke-Ford House, which was built in 1836 in the area now known as the South Loop, is designated as the oldest house built in Chicago. When the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House was built, Norwood Park was still “nowheresville” and wouldn’t be annexed into the city for another 56 years, Krumrey said.
Krumrey said the history of the Noble-Seymour-Crippen is still deeply linked to the history of Chicago.
English immigrant Mark Noble Sr. and his wife Margaret came to Chicago in 1831 and rented the former home of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent settler, before claiming 150 acres of prairie in current-day Norwood Park. Using lumber from a sawmill he owned on the Des Plaines River, Mark Noble built what is now the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House along Union Ridge, a high point left behind by a glacial lake.
In 1868, Thomas Seymour and his wife Louise bought the home and built an Italianate-style addition. Thomas Seymour was a prominent member of Chicago’s Board of Trade and was a member of the Norwood Land and Building Association. The Building Association purchased a group of farms in the area to create a suburban subdivision, which led to the founding of both the Township and the Village of Norwood Park.
The Norwood Park train station, which still sits just a few blocks away from the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House, also helped bring more residents to the area, Krumrey said.
The Crippen family, who lived in the house for two generations and owned it until the historical society bought it, were very civically involved and sponsored community theater productions, founded a local little league program, sponsored a reading program at Taft High School and raised $750,000 for a World War II hospital plane named “The Spirit of Norwood Park.”
“The families represent the farming era, the village era and the city, neighborhood era which of course we’re still in,” Kroll said.
The Norwood Park Historical Society is housed in the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House — Chicago’s oldest home — 5624 N. Newark Ave., in Norwood Park on Aug. 19, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Today the house is filled with artifacts collected from the neighborhood. Kroll said the historical society, which was founded in 1973, initially started collecting historical items in preparation for the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the Village of Norwood Park, which occurred in 1874.
The artifacts were stored in basements and garages until the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House was bought and turned into a museum. Kroll said being able to look at historical items like buttons from the 1800s or a piece of the Village of Norwood Park’s municipal pumping station helps neighbors better understand their community and its history.
“Having the artifacts allows us to tell the stories of the people, the places and the events of the community,” Kroll said. “These people whose stories we’re telling, they might have lived in your house or they were your neighbors and might have been a significant person at the time.”
Krumrey said the historical society is trying to draw more people to the museum and recently redesigned all its exhibits in an effort to make them more interactive and engaging.
Eventually, he said, he’d love to hire a paid executive director who could keep the exhibits fresh. Currently, all of the historical society members are volunteers.
Displays at the Norwood Park Historical Society in the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House — Chicago’s oldest home — 5624 N. Newark Ave., in Norwood Park on Aug. 19, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Krumrey said he believes the history of the house is “worth preserving and understanding” because it gives residents a deeper understanding of how things have changed, and how things have stayed the same.
“I think it gives people perspective,” he said.
The museum is open for tours noon-4 p.m. Saturdays. You can learn more about the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House and the Norwood Park Historical society here.
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