Color photograph of the exterior of the Margarita Inn, pictured in February 2023.
1566 Oak Ave., February 2023. Credit: Jenny Thompson

“The Margarita club which has recently been founded here is an institution fated to do great good in the community.”

– “The Margarita Club,” Evanston News-Index, March 9, 1916.

The building at 1566 Oak Ave. – in the news frequently over the last couple of years – was built in 1927 as a residence for working women, known as the Margarita Club.

The building has an interesting history, one that highlights a number of themes. When the Margarita Club was completed in fall 1927, it was celebrated as “a home for women built by women and therefore equipped for their every comfort, convenience and pleasure.”[1] A look into the building’s history suggests a fascinating narrative about how women lived and worked in Evanston and how they built communities in the first half of the 20th century. What follows is a look at the club, beginning with its founding and first “clubhouse,” located just a couple of blocks south of the current building on Oak Avenue.

Black and White photo of two women sitting at desks in a office space.
Evanston workers, c. 1920. Credit: Evanston History Center

The first Margarita Club

In 1910, Northwestern University President Walter Dill Scott observed that housing for women in Evanston had become “an acute problem.” There were simply not enough campus dormitories for female students and the “overflow” had to be “housed in town” – a situation, he said, that presented “difficulties in finding enough rooming places.”[2]

It was not only female students who had difficulty finding housing. Working women also struggled to find suitable and affordable accommodations in the city.

The problem was exacerbated by World War I, as women increasingly ventured into metropolitan areas to take advantage of employment opportunities.

In 1913, out of their concern for the welfare of working women in Evanston, a group of women founded the Girls League of Evanston. They noticed that “after working hours the young girls employed in the five and 10 cent stores and the other shops on Davis St. had no place to congregate except the street corners or the movie shows.”

Living room, women’s residence, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), New York City, 1913. (Good Housekeeping Magazine, April 1913.) In the mid-19th century, the work of housing working women was taken up by various organizations, usually church-based groups, such as the YWCA. In an era of progressive reform, many advocated the idea that single working women in metropolitan areas must be afforded accommodations that offered a kind of “surrogate family” setting. As more women sought employment outside the home, reformers simultaneously sought to “retain control of the domestic realm and to extend that realm to include territory well outside the traditional definition of ‘home.’”[3] Credit: Good Housekeeping Magazine

They rented a room at 520 Davis St. which they “fitted up in a home like manner” and “invited the girls to use it as a club room.”[4] The league’s founders urged Evanston residents to support the organization, arguing that the issue of looking after working women was one of “community interest.”[5] Moreover, they noted, there was a critical need for women’s housing in Evanston.

Newspaper Article Headline
The Inter-Ocean, March 30, 1914. Credit: Evanston History Center

For many Evanston residents, particularly those involved in the city’s many charitable and church organizations, of utmost importance was providing “protection” for the women who came to the city to work, especially those with limited means and without family in the area. These women needed, it was widely believed, “homelike” accommodations at reasonable rates.

Black and white photograph of a man pictured in profile.
Co-founder of the Margarita Club, the Rev. David Phillip O’Leary (1853-1919) grew up in Evanston. He served as Evanston postmaster from 1893 to 1897 and was active in the Democratic Party where he “exert[ed] a marked influence.” For years he ran a coal business from Evanston’s Dempster Street docks. He later became a lawyer and then entered the priesthood, joining the Congregation of Holy Cross. He became a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame and later served as chaplain at Marywood School and St. Scholastica Academy.[8] Credit: Evanston History Center

The Rev. David O’Leary agreed. A lifelong member of St. Mary Catholic Church of Evanston, O’Leary was “cognizant of the many inconveniences to which young girls working in the commercial world were subjected” and so he “resolved to do something to relieve their condition.”[6]

In the fall of 1915, O’Leary and his sister, Ellen O’Leary Lynch, purchased a “handsome private residence” at 1456 Oak Ave., kitty-corner to St. Mary’s at 1102 Lake St. The house (no longer extant) stood on a large plot of land at the corner of Oak and Lake. The O’Learys donated the house and land to St. Mary’s parish for the purpose of establishing the “Margarita Club,” named in honor of their mother and sister.[7]

The Margarita Club was a “benevolent enterprise,” the O’Learys stated, for “girls employed in the commercial world.” “The idea,” the leaders of St. Mary’s explained, was “to furnish girls not in a position to pay a great deal a home with all the comforts and care that they would find with their own people.”[9] The club was partly funded by donations and operated under the supervision of the Rev. Hugh P. Smyth, pastor at St. Mary’s.

St. Mary Catholic Church in Evanston, February 2023. St. Mary’s was established in 1865. The church at 1012 Lake St. was completed in 1892. Credit: Jenny Thompson
Margaret Masterton O’Leary (1810-1900), namesake of the Margarita Club. (Chicago Tribune, July 9, 1900.) Margaret O’Leary’s portrait hung in both locations of the Margarita Club.[10] Born in Ireland, O’Leary came to the U.S. in 1834. She married John O’Leary (1803-1892), also an emigrant from Ireland, in New York City. They moved to Chicago c.1838 and purchased 160 acres located partly in Ridgeville (later called South Evanston) and partly in Chicago. There, they operated a farm – the site of the first Catholic Mass in Evanston. In 1859, they sold a portion of their land that soon became Calvary Cemetery, consecrated that same year. The O’Learys became wealthy through real estate investments. They lived at 1209 Chicago Ave. and had 10 children. One of their daughters, Margaret M. O’Leary (1848-1907), attended the North-Western Female College in Evanston. The Margarita Club was also named in her memory.[11] Credit: Evanston History Center
Ellen O’Leary Lynch (1839-1940) helped finance the purchase of the house and land for the original Margarita Club. She grew up in Evanston and later moved to Chicago. Her house at 1604 Jonquil Terrace was built on a “parcel of ground” that had once been part of the original O’Leary farm.[12] Lynch lived to be 101 years old. Credit: Chicago Daily News

Upon its founding, the Margarita Club received widespread praise. “Anything that gives the home atmosphere and a little of the home influence to the girls who lack that comfort and help cannot be other than a benefit to those who come within the circle of its influence,” observed a writer for the Evanston News-Index in 1916. “The great majority of the girls who work outside the home feel the need of just such a place as it is hoped to make of the Margarita club. They are independent and, for the most part, independence loving. They do not wish to be wards of any organization nor to be material for the efforts towards social service of others whose only difference from them is one of having been born into a family of better social or financial standing.”[13]

Black and white photo of a man in suit.
The Rev. Hugh P. Smyth served as Margarita Club supervisor. Born in Ireland in 1855, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1881. In 1893, he moved to Evanston after he was appointed pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church, a position he held until his death in 1927. During his years of service, he was said to have made “Catholicity known and respected in Methodist Evanston.”[14] Smyth was also instrumental in helping establish St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. Credit: Evanston History Center

Built in 1894 for Charles Lewis, a Chicago mortgage broker, the house at 1456 Oak Ave. was soon home to the residents of the Margarita Club. The rates were “reasonable” and St. Mary’s leaders explained that the club should not be “considered in any sense a charitable institution.” All residents were employed and each paid modest rent to provide for the club’s upkeep. In no time at all, the club became “self-supporting.”[15]

Sepia photo of three women sitting at a large table working with papers.
Clerks in Evanston, 1918. Credit: Evanston History Center

In 1918, 12 women lived at the Margarita Club at 1456 Oak Ave.[16] Their occupations represented some of the most common jobs held by women at the time. Among them were three teachers, two nurses, two clerks, a bookkeeper, three telephone operators, and a supervisor at the Chicago Telephone Company in Evanston.[17] In 1920, there were 16 residents, including one woman who worked as a telephone operator and lived at the club with her 6-year-old daughter; also in the club that year were two sisters, both of whom worked as bank stenographers.[18]

Sepia photo of a two story brick building with a 1920s car parked at the alley along the side.
The Chicago Telephone Company (later called Illinois Bell), 1520 Chicago Ave., c. 1920. The company was a major employer of women in the early decades of the 20th century. At one point in the early 1920s, more than 103 female switchboard operators were employed there,[19] some of whom lived at the Margarita Club. Credit: Evanston History Center

Also living at the club was the house manager, Mary Montgomery Chard Magill (1853-1925). Born in Buffalo, New York, Magill came to Chicago after her marriage to William Magill, an insurance broker who served as a trustee of Evanston in the 1890s.[20] The mother of seven children, she was widowed in 1905. Magill lived at 1138 Oak Ave. (still extant) before moving north to 1456 Oak Ave. to manage the club on its opening.[21]

In the early years of the Margarita Club, Magill was credited with being integral to its operation. From 1916 until the summer of 1924, Magill managed the club, a position for which she received no compensation. She had insisted on this arrangement since there had been limited funding for the club in its early years. She also provided furnishings for the club.[22]

Color photo taken from across a street of a large brick 4 story apartment building.
Location of the first Margarita Club, Oak Avenue and Lake Street, March 2023. Credit: Jenny Thompson

Although the club was owned and operated by St. Mary’s, residents did not have to be Catholic to live there. [23]

The club was not, however, open to everyone: According to U.S. census records, all residents of the Margarita Club were white. The club operated as both a segregated housing facility and employer, as did the majority of Evanston hotels until the late 1950s and early 1960s. (See more here.)

A year after the end of World War I, Father O’Leary died, a victim of the global influenza pandemic.[24] In the war’s aftermath, Evanston would confront an even greater need for housing.

Cover, building fund pamphlet for a new Margarita Club, 1926.

A second Margarita Club

“[W]e have been building in order to house the new population which is moving into Evanston in undiminished volume.“

– Evanston Review, 1928.[25]

Evanston’s housing shortage became especially acute as the city underwent a dramatic population boom in the 1920s. In 1920, Evanston counted over 37,000 residents. By 1930, more than 63,000 residents were living in the city – a 70% increase from 10 years earlier.[26]

Various solutions to the housing shortage were offered. Citing “the condition of homeless distress and exorbitant rents which is shocking humanity,” John H. Wigmore, Dean of Northwestern University Law School, proposed that rent control be imposed in Evanston.[27] Others proposed constructing more (and taller) buildings. Meanwhile, local want ads revealed the steady stream of women seeking accommodations in Evanston, a trend that intensified after the war.

“Wanted to rent,” Evanston News-Index, Jan. 7, 1919. Credit: Evanston News-Index, January 7, 1919.

The housing shortage prompted some to highlight the advantages of homeowners renting out rooms in their own homes.

“That Extra Room,” Evanston News-Index, Sept. 18, 1922. Across Evanston, some homeowners operated private boarding houses; many of those operated by women were approved by Northwestern University for female students. For example, Ida J. Shotwell (1857-1926) ran a boarding house for many years at her home at 630 University Place. She was “distinguished for her unusual understanding of girls and the exceptional homelike atmosphere she was able to create.”[28] Credit: Evanston News Index

Having newly gained national suffrage, women may have made great strides, but the idea persisted that women who ventured beyond the protection of their families needed to be provided safe, “homelike” places to reside. At the time, this idea was manifest across the U.S., most notably in the large women’s hotels that multiplied in major cities, such as the Barbizon Hotel for Women in New York City, which opened in 1928.

In Evanston, several women’s residences were now operating. By 1919, The Girl’s League, now called The Young Woman’s Community Club, offered two residences for women “of slender means who are employed in Evanston business firms.” They were at 1310-12 and 1458-60 Maple Ave.[29]

“Rooms for Rent.” In total, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 women, who came to Evanston to work, lived at Young Woman’s Community Club residences – “some as transients, some for a few months and some for a period of years.”[30] The club disbanded in 1950. Credit: Evanston Review

As Evanston became increasingly segregated, Black women had a particularly difficult time finding lodgings in the city. In 1924, the Iroquois League Home, at 1125 Ayars (now Garnett) Place, opened its doors to serve as a clubhouse and residence for Black working women. [31] 

Picture of a two story Victorian-style house.
The Iroquois League Home, later called the North Shore Community House. Founded by Cora Watson and Eva Rouse, the Iroquois League was organized in 1917. Credit: New York Public Library

By 1925, Ellen McNamara Reardon (1880-1942) was living at 1456 Oak, working as manager of the Margarita Club. In 1904, Reardon immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland. After her husband died, she supported her two children on her own, making a living as a domestic worker in Evanston.[32]

Reardon’s duties were multiplied by the fact that the little Margarita Club was now bursting at the seams; it was “always filled, usually with 20 or 22 [residents] even though it was judged to only accommodate 16 at the most.” Furthermore, “scarcely a day passed without the painful experience of seeing one or more refused admittance. It is of record that in one week 16 girls were refused because there was no room.” [33]

The leaders of St. Mary’s decided that a larger Margarita Club was needed. A building committee was formed to raise money and a Women’s Committee was appointed whose members would be in charge of the new clubhouse.[34] Loretta Hines served as committee chair.

Black and white photo of a woman in a long dress with a younger man dressed in military uniform.
Loretta Hines (1873-1938), pictured with her son, Edward Hines Jr., 1917. (Chicago Tribune.) Born in Chicago and a longtime resident of Evanston, Hines lived at 1456 Ridge Ave. Just a few years before the building of the second Margarita Club, her son Edward was killed in combat in France during World War I. Hines worked to bring his body back to the U.S. where it was interred at Calvary Cemetery. In his memory, in 1918, Hines and her husband, Edward Hines, a wealthy lumber dealer, founded the Edward Hines Jr. Hospital to treat wounded veterans in Hines, Illinois,, known today known as the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital. Credit: Chicago Tribune

In 1926, the old Margarita Club at 1456 Oak Ave. was sold “at a handsome profit.” [35] A frame house, built about 1879 at 1566 Oak Ave., was purchased with proceeds from the sale. It was planned that this location would soon see the construction of a new Margarita Club.

The architectural firm Miller and Wallace was engaged to design the new clubhouse.[36] (Architect Robert S. Wallace lived at 2404 Ashland Ave. in Evanston and was a member of St. Mary’s. [37]) Meanwhile, residents of the Margarita Club moved into “a comfortable temporary abode” at 1428 Maple Ave. [38]

The new clubhouse would be located next door to a property that had been purchased by St. Mary’s in 1919: the Catholic Woman’s Club building. Founded in 1911, the club moved into the house at 1560 Oak Ave in 1920. The ground floor rooms served as meeting and recreation areas, while the second- and third-story rooms were rented to women.[39] 

Sepia image of a Queen Anne style house.
Catholic Woman’s Club Building, Oak Street, Evanston. Built in 1892 and designed by architect Stephen A. Jennings, the Queen Anne house at 1560 Oak Ave. served as headquarters of the Catholic Woman’s Club from 1920 until 2006.[40] In 2007, Cameel Halim purchased the house with plans to convert it into a museum.[41] It was destroyed by fire in 2011. Today, the Halim Time and Glass Museum stands on the site. Credit: Evanston History Center

The year 1926 would see quite a few changes on Oak Avenue.

In April 1926, the original Margarita Club at 1456 Oak Ave. was razed by its new owners. They asked Father Smyth to name the apartment building they planned to construct on the site. He chose “Churchview.”[42]

In May 1926, the Churchview Building Corporation applied for a permit to build an apartment house at the corner of Lake Street and Oak Avenue, where the Margarita Club recently stood.

Sketch of a fancy four story apartment building with a courtyard and turrets.
Illustration, Churchview Apartments, 1450-1456 Oak Ave. Evanston. (Chicago Tribune, July 11, 1926.) Standing on the site of the first Margarita Club, the Churchview opened for occupancy in October 1926. Designed by one of its owners, Chicago-based architect Samuel N. Crowen, the building (still extant) was designated a local landmark in 1982.[43] Credit: Evanston History Center

Finally, before construction of the new clubhouse began, the house that stood on the site of 1566 Oak was moved across the city to make way for the new clubhouse. (It stands today at 2100 Emerson St.)

Sepia photo of a house on a large lot. The house is a two story house, c. 1890s.
Along “old” Oak Avenue, Evanston, 1912. This house, representative of the structures along Oak Avenue in the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries, once stood at 1567 Oak Ave., across the street from the second Margarita Club. The construction of the second Margarita Club building took place during “Evanston’s most impressive year” as far as construction goes. The year 1927 entered the record books as the year in which the highest number of building permits (1,500) had been issued to date. Many of the city’s older residences were razed at this time.[44] (In 1952, the house at 1567 Oak and three others nearby were razed to make room for the King Home.) Credit: Evanston History Center

On April 14, 1927, the cornerstone for the new Margarita Club was laid. U.S. Vice President and Evanston resident Charles Gates Dawes, along with Evanston Mayor Charles H. Bartlett and other dignitaries, were present for the ceremony.[46] Construction proceeded over the summer.

Keeping tabs on the progress of the Margarita Club, Evanston Review, Sept. 8, 1927. Credit: Evanston Review

Even before the Margarita Clubhouse for Girls officially opened the doors of its new five-story building at 1566 Oak Ave. in October 1927, it was almost at capacity.[47] A total of 96 women applied to live in the new club. It was promised that they would be “accommodated with every facility for comfortable living while engaged in self-support.”[48]

Part two of the history of the Margarita Club has been posted here on the RoundTable website.

Call for questions

Do you have a question related to Evanston history? Curious about a person, place or thing? The Evanston Dimensions column in the Evanston Roundtable has tackled ghost signs, department stores, beaches, double houses, hotels and more. What would you like to know? Ask away by emailing us at jthompson@evanstonhistorycenter.org. We’d love to tackle your questions and dig into the vast collections at the Evanston History Center to provide some answers!

The Evanston History Center is located in the National Historic Landmark Charles Gates Dawes House at 225 Greenwood St. For more information, visit the center’s website.

[1] “Comfort, Pleasure of Girls are Assured in New Margarita Club,” Evanston Review, August 11, 1927.

[2] “Women’s Quads,” Evanston Review, October 18, 1951.

[3] Jeanne Catherine Lawrence, “Chicago’s Eleanor Clubs: Housing Working Women in the Early Twentieth Century,” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture 8 (2000): 223.

[4] Louise Wallace Hackney, “A Successful Experiment in Cooperative Housekeeping,” Ladies Home Journal, May 1920, 177; “Evanston Girls’ League Needs More Room, Speaker Asserts,” The Inter-Ocean, March 30, 1914; Social Service Directory (City of Chicago, Department of Public Welfare, Chicago, Illinois, 1915), 224.

[5] “Evanston Girls’ League Needs More Room, Speaker Asserts,” The Inter-Ocean, March 30, 1914.

[6] Pamphlet, “The Margarita,” Evanston History Center Archives.

[7] Now known as St. John XXIII Parish. According to one record, the house and land were officially donated to the Catholic bishop of Chicago. “Pastor Picks Name for New Suburban Flat Building,” Chicago Tribune, July 11, 1926.

[8] “David P. O’Leary,” Album of Genealogy and Biography, Cook County, Illinois (Chicago: Calumet Book and Engraving Co., Brookhaven Press, 1895), 37.

[9] “Catholics Will Build Evanston Home for Girls,” Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1926.

[10] “John O’Leary,” Album of Genealogy and Biography, Cook County, Illinois (Chicago: Calumet Book and Engraving Co., Brookhaven Press, 1895), 109-110.

[11] “Evanston Pioneer Known Here Dead,” Waukegan News-Sun, June 3, 1907.

[12] Clyde D. Foster, Evanston’s Yesterdays (Evanston, IL: 1956), 190; “Oldest Living Evanstonian to Celebrate 101st Birthday,” Evanston Review, August 17, 1939.

[13] “Margarita Club,” Evanston News-Index, March 9, 1916.

[14] “Rev. Hugh P. Smyth, LL.D.,” Illinois Catholic Historical Review (10) Chicago: Illinois Catholic Historical Society, 1928, 273.

[15] “Margarita Club Will Have $130,000 Home to Accommodate 200,” Evanston Review, April 22, 1926; Pamphlet, “The Margarita,” Evanston History Center Archives.

[16] Many of the details concerning Margarita Club residents that are shared here were drawn from the U.S. Census records and Evanston City Directories.

[17] House card, 1456 Oak Ave., Evanston History Center Archives.

[18] U.S. Census records, Evanston, Illinois, 1920.

[19] “The Telephone Company–25 Years Ago and Today. Evanston Review, September 14, 1950.

[20] “William Magill,” Album of Genealogy and Biography, Cook County, Illinois (Chicago: Calumet Book and Engraving Co., Brookhaven Press, 1895), 359.

[21] Evanston City Directory, 1912, 381.

[22] “The Margarita Club,” Evanston Review, July 29, 1926.

[23] “Plan $165,000 Club for Evanston Girls,” Chicago Daily News, August 8, 1926. 

[24] “The Rev. D. P. O’Leary Victim of Influenza,” Chicago Tribune, January 13, 1919.

[25] “Substantial Growth,” Evanston Review, January 12, 1928.

[26] City of Evanston, “History and Demographics,” https://www.cityofevanston.org/about-evanston/history-and-demographics.

[27] “Would Control Home Renting by Commission, Evanston News-Index, January 21, 1921.

[28] “Death Takes Ida Shotwell After Lingering Illness,” Evanston Review, June 10, 1926.

[29] “Young Woman’s Community Club,” Evanston Review, April 4, 1946. For a time, the Girls League/Young Woman’s Community Club offered rooms “rent free” to working women in a “nine-room dwelling” owned by the Woman’s Club of Evanston. The house (no longer extant) was at 614 Church St., just west of the Woman’s Club building on Chicago Avenue. Evanston (Evanston: Kiwanis Club of Evanston, 1924), np; “Woman’s Club Reflects on Past, Marks 50th Year of Clubhouse,” Evanston Review, March 28, 1963.

[30] “Young Woman’s Community Club,” Evanston Review, April 4, 1946.

[31] Morris Robinson, Jr., A Place We Can Call Our Home (Evanston, IL: Shorefront, 2013), 37-38.

[32] “Catholics Will Build Evanston Home for Girls,” Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1926.

[33] Pamphlet, “The Margarita,” Evanston History Center Archives.

[34] “Extend Aid to Margarita Club,” Evanston Review, August 25, 1927; “Plan $165,000 Club for Evanston Girls,” Chicago Daily News, August 8, 1926. 

[35] Pamphlet, “The Margarita,” Evanston History Center Archives.

[36] “Let Contracts for New Margarita Club at End of Week,” Evanston Review, September 9, 1926.

[37] The firm had just opened an office at 134 North LaSalle St. in Chicago. “Architects,” The American Contractor, May 8, 1926, 29. Wallace was killed in Chicago in 1930 when he inadvertently got hit in the crossfire during a police chase. “Robbers Shoot Architect to Death in Auto,” Chicago Tribune, December 20, 1930.

[38] Pamphlet, “The Margarita,” Evanston History Center Archives.

[39] “Catholic Women Buy Bargain Home Through Fr. Smyth’s Foresight,” Evanston Review, July 5, 1928; “Catholic Woman’s Club to Celebrate Golden Year at April 26 Luncheon,” Evanston Review, April 13, 1961.

[40] For Sale, Evanston Review, April 6, 2006.

[41] Karen Berkowitz, “Clock Museum Wins Council’s OK,” Evanston Review, April 12, 2007.

[42] “Pastor Picks Name for New Suburban Flat Building,” Chicago Tribune, July 11, 1926.

[43] “City of Evanston Landmarks,” https://www.sitevistamaps.com/evanston/index.php?showonlyp=yes&project=yes&c=6&p=515.

[44] “1927 Record Studded by Notable Buildings,” Evanston Review, January 5, 1928.

[45] “Houses to Come Down on Site of King Home,” Evanston Review, February 28, 1952. The building at 1555 Oak Ave was purchased in 2017 by Cameel Halim, owner of the Halim museum across the street. In early 2023, Halim applied for a special permit to convert the property into an “apartment hotel.” Matt Simonette, “King Home ‘Apartment Hotel’ Proposal Moving to City Council,” Evanston Roundtable, January 12, 2023.

[46] “Church, State Dignitaries Lay Cornerstone,” Evanston Review, April 14, 1927; “Dawes to Attend Club Corner Stone Laying,” Chicago Tribune, April 10, 1927.

[47] “Nearly Every Room in Margarita Club is Rented,” Evanston Review, September 29, 1927.

[48] “Swedish Baptists Celebrate Jubilee,” Chicago Tribune, August 28, 1927.

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  1. Thank you for this well-researched and interesting story. I learned so much about this area of Evanston’s built environment and how it came to be, and why, and by whom. Looking forward to part 2.

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  2. A fascinating local history with wonderful photos. I look forward to the second installment. It’s humbling to think that in one or two centuries there will be stories about Evanston buildings that are going up today. People will no doubt read about the one that is replacing Vogue Fabrics or the one that’s rising up where Burger King used to be.

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