Frank Lloyd Wright came to Chicago in 1887 and received training under two influential architects, Joseph Lyman Silsbee and Louis Sullivan.  Wright went on to produce two of his earliest independent commissions in 1893— the Winslow House in River Forest and the Bagley House in Hinsdale. A study in contrasts, the large Winslow House pointed the way to Wright’s mature Prairie Style, while the modest and more traditional Bagley House enabled Wright to design an open floor plan with simple connections to the outdoors. 

The bucolic Village of Hinsdale was on a train line with frequent passenger service. A group of businessmen had built the small Highland train station, east of the village center, in the early 1870s.  Two decades later, Frederick and Grace Bagley purchased a lot nearby, in the newly-created Highland Subdivision to build a summer residence for their growing family.

Wright’s uncle Jenkin Lloyd Jones had ties with the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale. He spoke at the church’s 1887 dedication and the pastor, William Channing Gannett, was a friend of both Jones and Wright. Soon after arriving in Hinsdale, Gannett founded the Fresh Air Association. Grace Bagley became active in this organization which provided summer respite for underprivileged women and children from Chicago.