Legalized Restrictions In 1920, Evanston City officials paid $6,000 a year to advertising specialist Charles Ward “to extol the advantages of the summer suburb as a summer resort.” [1] The campaign was a success. As a result, in July 1921, City Council members declared that Evanston’s “hometown folks” were being “crowded out of their own […]
Author Archives: Jenny Thompson, PhD, Director of Education, Evanston History Center
Posted inArt & Life
Evanston Dimensions | A shifting shoreline, part 2
Policing the beaches In the direct wake of the 1919 Chicago race riot, Evanston City officials would intensify the monitoring of the City’s beaches. Part of that process involved establishing expanded safety procedures, including hiring more official beach guards (aka lifeguards). Prior to World War I, there were only a handful of official beach guards […]
Posted inArt & Life
Evanston Dimensions | A shifting shoreline, part 1
Beaches today are widely viewed as sites of recreation, relaxing places where land meets sea. But the history of these sites is nothing if not natural. Evanston’s lakefront has undergone both physical and symbolic changes over the years, from being viewed as fraught with peril for ships and bathers alike to being seen as communal […]
Posted inArt & Life
Evanston Dimensions | Cold, Gray Days in Evanston, Part 3
Part 3: How Things Ended 100% American The obituary list grew longer, reflecting an expanding landscape of sorrow across the city. Despite the reality of what was unfolding, some officials tried to maintain morale, often proclaiming that the epidemic was slowing; it was “lessening;” it would soon be over. Just two days before Evanston’s quarantine […]
Posted inArt & Life
Evanston Dimensions | Cold, Gray Days in Evanston, Part 2
Influenza continued to spread across the country. Now, all Americans were instructed that they were required to join in a new kind of fight being waged on the home front. Influenza was an ENEMY.It needed to be COMBATTED.It needed a multi-pronged ATTACK. Just as soldiers overseas suited up for combat, so too did many Americans […]
Posted inArt & Life
Evanston Dimensions | Cold, Gray Days in Evanston
The Evanston History Center is happy to partner with the Evanston RoundTable to share the insights that our expansive collection of Evanston history provides. Public records, newspapers, letters, maps, photographs, and artifacts all carry messages from the past to inform our lives today. The differences and changes can be compelling, disconcerting, educational, but always fascinating […]