Frank Hough died in 1935 but his legacy lives on, surviving through five generations and continuing with two family-owned businesses both nearing a century.

Those two businesses, St. Andrews Golf Course in West Chicago, Illinois, and Wells Street Beach in the Miller section of Gary, are still up and running by family members after Hough founded them in 1926 and 1928 respectively, said great-granddaughter, Mary Ann Best.

“He (Hough) was always about public access to sports and the outside. One of the things my cousin Jerry Hinckley and I are proudest of is the work ethic that has been passed down from generation to generation. The work ethic was something that was important to every generation.

“We all enjoy it and work has never been a bad word,” Best said.

Hough immigrated by boat in the late 1800s as a teen from Canada to Chicago and soon established himself as a businessman and well-known yachtsman among his many endeavors. His granddaughters, Alice Pickford and Marianne Hinckley, and their offspring are carrying on the tradition Hough started, Best said.

Pickford operates Wells Street Beach located in the Miller Beach section of Gary, 9501 Lake Shore Drive.

It’s a summertime job the Gary native has been working for the last 48 years.

Life for her during the summer season is literally working on the Lake Michigan beach where families who become her friends come to park their cars, soak up the sun and eat beach food at the concession known for serving up one of the best double cheeseburgers in the area.

Pickford hopes to pass along the tradition to her 13 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Last summer her great-granddaughter, Ellie, 14, came to work at Wells Street Beach and even 4-year-old great-granddaughter, Mia, helped out by “watering flowers.”

“I hope to pass it along to my grandkids so it keeps going,” Pickford said.

She enjoys going to work each day and seeing the multiple generations of returning families.

“Our customers are as generational as we are,” Pickford said.

Her cousin, Marianne Hinckley, still heads up at St. Andrew’s Golf and Country Club, 2241 Route 59, in West Chicago, during the warm weather season while living in California with family the rest of the year.

Hinckley remembers growing up in West Chicago and opening up the family’s golf business at 4 a.m. while still in her early teens.

“It was a really great life with families on both sides, all work-oriented. I remember my father’s mother telling us to have a good day and showing a fist while telling us, ‘work hard,'” she said. Pickford said she will begin preparing for the summer season in April with the opening of Wells Street Beach “on the first warm day in May but likely sometime in June.”

“When people come to the beach or the golf course they are generally happy people. It’s a nice place to work because people are happy,” Pickford said.

Jerry Hinckley, the son of Marianne Hinckley, serves as the owner and president of St. Andrews Golf and Country Club.

He said it is one of the oldest family-owned public courses in Illinois.

“There are older courses but they have changed hands or are private. In terms of a family that owns and operates the same golf course; we hold that spot,” Jerry Hinckley said.

He said his mom and aunt are “still in the saddle” with his mom heading up the golf course and his aunt, Wells Street Beach.

“It’s been a real family affair throughout the different years and there have been some real challenges,” he said, citing the Great Depression in the early years and even, most recently, COVID.

The family legacy began with Frank W. Hough, who was born in Ontario, Canada, but lived in Chicago for nearly half a century.

Hough and his wife, Margaret, lived in Hyde Park in Chicago but would take the train to Miller then take horses, from their stable, to an area where tents would be set up, according to Best.

“This was before houses were built along the beach. They did eventually build a cottage and that cottage became a year-round home,” Best said.

The Houghs had two daughters, Alice and Grace, and when their father passed, they inherited the properties/businesses, Best said.

There was a decision at some point that Grace, and her husband, Joe Jernsek, would take over the ownership of the golf course and that Alice and her husband, Phil Flanagan, would take the Miller property and business.

The Flanagans had four children, one of whom was Pickford, who manages Wells Street Beach with her family.

“The families always seemed to help each other out for fun and work when needed. That continued through the years with each generation. The two cousins, Alice Pickford and Marianne Hinckley, still enjoy getting together at the beach and enjoying the sand and water just like they did many years ago as kids,” Best said.

Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.