Ridgewood in the Country Club District gives a rare, detailed look at life in this early suburb of Springfield, Ohio. It follows the meteoric rise of Harry Kissell from a go-getting local real estate agent and developer to one of the architects of the Federal Home Loan Banking System, which, in the midst of the Great Depression, saved millions of Americans from foreclosure and permanently opened up the possibility of home ownership to the middle class. Ridgewood in the Country Club District tells the fascinating story of one of the first fully planned suburban neighborhoods in the United States. Developed in the early twentieth century in the bustling mid-sized, Midwestern town of Springfield, Ohio, Ridgewood was at the forefront of the emerging new trend of suburban living. And its developer Harry S. Kissell was one of the nation s biggest proponents of the American Dream of home ownership. Tamara Dallenbach provides an in-depth exploration of the story of Ridgewood s development, the lives of its early residents, its picturesque architecture, and the tales of Kissell s most ardent competitors for the local, high-grade real estate market. She sets Ridgewood in the context of national movements in residential developments, community beautification, and city planning. The narrative follows Harry Kissell from his rise as the proprietor of a local family real estate business and a dedicated community booster to that of a leading figure on the national real estate scene, one who opened up the possibility of home ownership to millions of Americans. Ridgewood in the Country Club District is a saga that spans half a century punctuated by two world wars and the Great Depression. It takes the reader on a compelling journey from everyday life in an early suburb in middle America all the way to the halls of Congress and the Oval Office. Handsomely designed by Wilmington, Ohio publisher Orange Frazer Press, the 350-page book is filled with enough idyllic pictures of the neighborhood to qualify as a story book. But it also provides a readable, insightful history that will enrich local residents' knowledge of the development of Ridgewood and the larger Springfield community and shows how Ridgewood is grounded in the broader social and economic history of its time. Vignettes of life in early Ridgewood, an architectural guide to the homes there, and, inside the back cover, a sleeve that holds a 1931 map of Springfield and a copy of an early Ridgewood promotional map are special pleasures in Dallenbach's book. Beautifully illustrated with handsome typography and photos adjacent to the appropriate text, her book on Ridgewood is as pleasant as a drive down one of the neighborhood's curving streets and as well realized as the development it describes. --Tom Stafford Springfield News-Sun