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ILLINOIS i 1BRARY AT URZ/.v .HAMPAIGN ILL HIST. SURVEY
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
http://archive.org/details/wilmettesuburbanOOmulf WILMEITE AND THE SUBURBAN WHIRL
A sequel to "Frontiers of Old Wilmette"
A series of historical sketches of life in the suburb
from the turn of the century
By HERBERT B. MULFORD
Illustrations by Mary Martin Engel
Published under the auspices of Wilmette Public Library
Reprinted with permission from Wilmette Life of 1955 and 1956 Dedicated to
The Third and Fourth Generations of those who made Wilmette a place for pleasant living,
in the hope that they will carry on. Traditional Wilmette Civic Center around Village hall, bank railway station and east-side stores and offices.
New Commercial Center for Western Wilmette around Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. shopping area.
THE GREAT TRANSITION
These two contrasting pictures indicate the sweeping changes taking place in Wilmette through the universal suburban whirl. FOREWORD
Publication of these historical sketches of Wil- mette since the turn of the century has been possible through the fine cooperation of the Wilmette Public Library, Wilmette Life, which published them seri- ally, and civically inspired donors of financial sup- port for the work.
I am deeply indebted for the assistance and coun- sel of Miss Helen Siniff, librarian, Messrs E. W. Weber and Frederick Favor, editors, and Paul Fiorio, planner, of Lloyd Hollister, Inc., publishers of the little volume and to Mrs. Mary Martin Engel for many illustrations.
Wilmette, November, 1956 Herbert B. Mulford CONTENTS PAGE
Our Town—An introduction 7
I Making of a Suburbanite 9
II "Where Shall We Live?" 11
III Moving Day 13
IV Knowing the New Home Town 15
V "Middle Class" 18
VI The 8:08 and the 5:15 20
VII Suburban Patterns 22
VIII Little Melting Pot 24
IX Real Estate Influences 26
X Changing Railways 29
XI How Wilmette Brought Scouting to the Mid-West 32
XII Bridle Paths and Buggy Rides 34
XIII "Get Out and Get Under" 36
XIV Dancing-class and Saturday Nights 38
XV A Piece for the Paper 40
XVI "Perils of Pauline" 44
XVII "Let's Have a Bathing Beach 46
XVIII Corner Drug Store 49
XIX Family Doctors 51
XX Feuding 53
XXI A Birdie 55
XXII Sleigh Rides and Skating Parties 56
XXIII Just Dogs 57
XXIV Good Neighbors 58
XXV Troubadors , 61
XXVI Wilmette Sunday Evening Club 62
XXVII Changing Holiday Customs 66
XXVIII War Years 68
XXIX The Tornado 70
XXX Return To Normalcy 72
XXXI Early Village Planning 73
XXXII Business Wakes Up 75
XXXIII Civic Music 76
XXXIV We Annex Gross Point Village 78
XXXV "Why Shouldn't Girls Play Ball, Too?" 80
5 PAGE
XXXVI Service Clubs and Civic League 81
XXXVII Storm Warnings 82
XXXVIII Power of the Women 83
XXXIX Costs of Expansion 85
XL Run on the Bank 86
XLI Renting a Lamp Post • • 87
XLII Boondoggling 88
XLIII Municipal Confusion 90
XLIV Getting Out of the Red 92
XLV Educating School Boards 94
XLVI Caucuses and Conventions 99
XLVII Cornerstones 101
XLVIII Evanston Did Not Annex Wilmette 103
XLIX "Number, Please" 106
L Suburban Slums 107
LI Municipal Housekeeping 109
LII Ambulatory Post Offices Ill
LIII Defense and War 114 LIV Money and Banking 116
LV Lessons in Civics 118 LVT Community Efforts 119
LVII Adventures With Local History 121 LVIII Wilmette Speeds Up 126 LIX L'Envoi 130
• Appendix • 130
132 Important Dates in Local History .
Changes in Street Names 134
Chicago Regional Planning Association Map 135
Reading References 136
Index 137 OUR TOWN — AN INTRODUCTION
These pioneers were probably simple seeking land and shelter for their families as they aided in open- ing up the Great West to civiliza- tion. In their minds there was prob- ably little thought of populous set- tlement. In the log-cabin era of the neighborhood from about 1825 to 1845, probably few envisioned "greater" Wilmette of a century later, nor did they attempt a soci- ological study of Suburbia. Communities, like people, often told in "Frontiers of Old Wil- develop characteristics by which As mette", the tangible change came they are quickly identified. Some- with railway transportation and the times historical or other significant inspiration of the first group of real landmarks set them apart. Some- estate subdividers and village times it may be strikingly different founders, including John G. Wester- architecture. Again it may be typ- field, Henry A. Dingee, Alexander ically regional markings that McDaniel, Simon V. Kline, and prompt observers to classify them Henry W. Blodgett. The die be- as "Yankee", "New England," was ing cast in 1869, their first "Deep South" or "Middle-western". when map was drawn for subdividing sec- Still others may be singled out dra- tions of the old Ouilmette Reserva- matically as industrial or commer- tion under the unique name of Wil- cial or "melting-pot" in character. mette. The break-up of the Reser- Very likely few of the pioneers vation had begun in 1835, when the who drove an ox-plow around a hol- Ouilmettes sold half their property low square to mark the new court- to become eventually North Evans- house precincts of our first hamlets ton. cogitated over just what sort of town would eventually spring from By 1872, these pioneers had their early efforts. learned that county and township Across Grosse Pointe headland self-government was not close along the old Green Bay Trail we enough to the needs of the people can record half a dozen lake-shore to meet their rising requirements log-cabins which were the seeds of for water, sewers, fire and police future Wilmette. Starting from the protection and good roads. They es- south were those of Stephen Scott, tablished village government. Al- the early school at Canterbury ready church and school needs were Court, the Joel Stebbins Tavern at being modestly met as the popula- Linden Avenue and Sheridan Road, tion of 300 began to be augmented the Ouilmette family homestead by a tiny trickle of people dispos- some hundreds of feet east of our sessed as a result of the great Chi- present waterworks and now lost in cago fire of 1871. Wilmette began to the lake, Lombard Dusham's place recognize itself as destined to be near Elmwood and Michigan Ave- suburban, tied to the future of the nues, the Beaubien-Dennis cabin rapidly growing metropolis. The east of Sheridan Road near Chest- 1870s marked municipal zeal, both nut Avenue, and, further north, out- in Wilmette and in the German side our precincts, the Doyle cabin farming village of Gross Point to where Elizabeth Ouilmette married the west. Progress took over. Michael Welch in 1830. Wilmette was not a ready-made village. It was not bound up to any tract built" Wilmette. A North great commercial or industrial en- Western Railway conductor once re- terprise. It had no focal point like marked to a negligent commuter Northwestern University to direct that, since he came from Wilmette, its destinies. If one dare say that he had better not forget his com- any municipal development is nor- mutation ticket. Yet the village mal or typical, Wilmette grew as lived down all these implied asper- hundreds of other communities sions to become a cynosure of Sub- grew, in what we loosely call "the urbia. American way". Home-building, In successive chapters an effort family, church and school ties, so- will be made to sketch post-frontier ciable, neighborly living and shar- aspects of life in Wilmette in es- ing in a small but effective "melt- tablishing this community of subur- ing-pot" experience,—all these and ban homes and in meeting the un- their related influences and inter- predictable changes brought about ests made for eventual civic con- by the perilous times in which we sciousness of the first order. live. For, notwithstanding the stu- Edna Ferber once called Wilmette significance of our "middle class". A well known Chi- pendous almost cago society editor once advised baffling problems of modern self- young married couples to migrate government, it is a truism that we to any of the North Shore suburbs must continue to live if we are to for gracious living, except "con- aid in solving the issues.
HISTORIC TRAIL
Through these trees in Gillson Park once wound the Green Bay Road. I MAKING OF A SUBURBANITE
When Mr. and Mrs. Young Cou- when the Young Couples wished to ple, just before the turn of the cen- go to the theater, opera, ball game tury, decided to go suburban and to or other places of Chicago culture pick a domicle in one of the little or recreation. And always there communities on the fringe of Chi- was the question of how much it cago, they were not inventing any- would cost to be a suburbanite and thing. This way of life is common the kindred problems of getting ac- near any large municipality and has quainted and finding congenial soil been since the beginning of re- for their disturbed rootings. corded history. While Mr. and Mrs. Young Couple may not have attained affluence, It was largely a matter of how there much living space the Young Cou- was always the consideration of whether Husband well ples wished to occupy and could was pay for. enough employed so that obligations of suburban life, as compared with The neighborhood names still flat-dwelling, did not present a prob- common on the North, South and lem of what we now call social se- West Sides of Chicago reflect the curity. Normally it seemed that the manner in which earlier housing question of a modest nest-egg en- shortages brought the Young Cou- tered into the making of the sub- ples and real estate subdividers to- urbanite. gether. Lake View, Rogers Park, It might be social treason today Ravenswood, Edgewater Beach, to imply that economic pursuits of Austin and the "largest village in Mrs. Young Couple at that time the world", old-time Hyde Park, rarely entered into consideration. Englewood and numerous others Woman's suffrage was operative in stood for a time to attract attention school elections, but otherwise Wife and then sank almost into anonym- did not have to give much thought ity in greater Chicago. to her franchise or to employment The Young Couples faced numer- outside the household. Mrs. Young ous conditions that prompted their Couple in most cases was "pro- rising interest. There was the lure tected", even though hard-working of the more open countryside, the in the home. desire to escape encroaching conges- But always there was a composite tion, the firm intention to bring up of suburban life which contrasted their children in the best possible sharply with that in a self-contained surroundings away from physical community down-state. For Mr. and contact with vice and crime, and Mrs. Young Couple there were dual their own personal attitude toward aspects of life, dual loyalties and community life as social living. dual responsibilities. They were to There were the additional factors be both of the City and of the Sub- of real estate opportunities and the urb. In most cases their livelihood universal urge to own their own came from gainful employment in home. Probably there was present the City, but their social, political a factor that might be called and religious life pertained to the 1 'hunch". Suburb. They would be asked for Against these the Young Couples charity support by identical organ- possibly measured the difficulties of izations in both places. They would commuting, the time needed for be expected to contribute effort in Husband to go to business and re- both places. And as they would gain turn, and the problems of trains in stature they would be criticized
9 for having deserted many interests tured in the cartoons of the day of the City, although again and which would picture them as con- again they might make great con- stantly catching or missing trains, tributions to both communities. loaded down with bundles which Eventually they would become a they often lost enroute around the type. Often they would be carica- suburban whirl.
EARLY MEMORIAL DAY PARADE
Going to the Baby Show at the Country Club
10 II WHERE SHALL WE LIVE?
A prime influence in suburban life This pursuit entailed visiting friends is suburban transportation. In the who had already cast their lot in a wide Chicago area, early trails of particular community. Time-tables Indians, explorers and missionaries, were almost as essential a piece of the later "traces", the plank-roads promotion literature as the flamboy- and finally steam railway and inter- ant subdivision maps of the day. If urban street railway services the search was to be thorough, it spread out like a fan from the lake meant traveling on some of the lines front. and a first-hand inspection of nu- Along these thoroughfares villages merous villages, which included in- and towns sprang up as Chicago at- quiries of numerous kinds regarding tracted people for business, who in actual living conditions in the speci- turn wished suburban rather than fic suburbs. congested living conditions. At the Then there arose the question as turn of the century, Mr. and Mrs. to whether it was wise to buy or to Young Couple confronted the choice build before having tried living in of nearby semi-suburban living the chosen community for a few space in areas which undoubted- years. Although foreclosed mort- ly would later be absorbed politi- gages and tax foreclosures over cally into Chicago, or of making the many years testify to possibly in- change, once for all, sufficiently at a adequate inquiries and brash as- distance to seem to be immune from sumptions, the steady increase in annexations, at least during their suburban population indicated that life time. Many people guessed the majority seemed to know what wrong. they were doing. Nearby transportation could be When Mr. and Mrs. Young Couple had both by street cars and by the began to experiment along the several Elevated railroad lines. Fur- North Shore, they found consider- ther distant were the villages along able contrast between the villages in such lines as the Illinois Central, respect to costs, modes of life and the Lake Shore and Michigan South- outlook. For the most part other ern, the Chicago and Eastern Illi- young people had bought homes; nois, the Rock Island, the Burling- therefore there was little property ton, the western reaches of the Chi- for rent. If preliminary life in a cago and North Western, the Chi- rented house was a requisite for Mr. cago Milwaukee and St. Paul and and Mrs. Young Couple, that fact again the northern reaches of the might be a determining influence last two named. Interurban systems in choice. If a suitable place could were about to develop by means of be found in one village instead of an- the South Shore, the Aurora and Elg- other, the moving plans would be in and the Chicago, North Shore, and changed. In Wilmette of that epoch Milwaukee. In this epoch, although there was little rental property. In- the automobile would soon come quiry usually revealed that residents into its own, reliance upon it for Hus- owned their homes, even though band's transportation into business equities were often overshadowed by was not a consideration in choosing one, two or even three mortgages. the place of permanent abode. If the new suburbanites succeeded Thus Mr. and Mrs. Young Couple in renting, there was always the plan began a new experience in house- to build. Mr. and Mrs. Young Cou- hunting quite different from their ple joined the numerous band of oth- previous conflicts over flat-hunting. er home-seekers on Saturday after-
11 noons or Sundays and plodded future purposes. At times, as adjustments streets to explore the heavily wood- were being made to fit events into ed vacant acres in the search that business, home, school, church and was to be almost a vocation until social life, the suburban whirl took their wants were filled. The pro- on aspects of a three-ring circus. fusely illustrated real estate pamph- But always there was the serious lets of the day are now very use- conviction and attitude that subur- ful source materials for historical ban life was worth the effort.
v»
THE ELM FOREST OF THE NORTH,
The Most Beautiful Suburb of Chicago,; Sit tinted on the North Shore and the Sheridan Road, ELEGANT HOMES ON EASY MONTHLY PAYMENT BEAUTIFUL G*ROVE LOTS $250 AND UPWARD. ONLY $5.00 CASH AND $5.00 TKR MONTH.
. A VIEW ON OUR SUBDIVISION. Hare yott ever stopped to reflect that every dollar paid to us hi Monthly Payments to a home is so much SAVBD? The money yon are paying to vour landlord IS &ON EL The money paid to us is BUYING YOU A HOME, which yon will own in a few vcar* will then be worth DOUBLE WHAT IT IS NOW. All lots covered with Beautiful Forest Trees, are X?l feet deep; with htsiklin.u Tcstru such as will -warrant fine | a class of improvements. WE KFWJE ONLY A FEW LOTS LEFT
E In this, our fourth, subdivision. BUY NOW, BEFORE PRICES AKI5 ADVANCED-
I NORTH SHORE DEALERS HAVE ADVANCED THKIR PRICES EXCEPT LS W h
i of \ , has a population about 1,600 people, and is* situated on the Lake Short: hsonedi.-. L< , (t
\ mg the aristocratic suburb of Bvanston, with its fine schools and churches, asai h < >u \ minutes' ride from Welis-st, Depot, and has 42 trains a day on the C. & X. W. Kv. Let n* you this j>roperty before in } you make your purchases any of the prairie suburbs, TO MEANS TO LEY. ** i \r Call at < mr office ior FREE TICKETS for following Trah eh days— It a t,2:202-2' p. ii Office open Sunday mornings from 9:30 to i0;30, aid get ticket I'Ao'clock tram
I T. PAUL I C0.7MaiiTFloorll6 LaSalle Street. Ill MOVING DAY
manded an instant check on the routing of that car. Very promptly word came back that the aforesaid rolling stock was out in the Kedzie Yards, being shunted hither and yon day after day because freight charg- es had not been prepaid. That knot was promptly cut by the relation guaranteeing the charges. What a sight met Husband's eyes when the car door was opened! The lid was off the upright piano and a Having been successful in finding bicycle was nestled among the piano- rent in it a house to Wilmette, be- strings. One chair was broken in necessary for came Mr. and Mrs. seven or eight pieces. A bag of flour Young Couple to get moved. Hus- had been punctured. In close proxi- band was quite seasoned to this or- mity a jug of molasses had been deal. When he had been brought as broken. Flour and molasses in mix- a lad to Chicago's South Side, his ture were splattered copiously on family pursued a course of steady rugs and furniture. It began to look improvement in living quarters as as if suburban life had its penal- economic conditions permitted. ties. From walk-up cold-water flat to But observe the suburban compen- eight-room house had taken four sations hard upon the heels of ad- moves. What with the family being versities. First was an uncommon alternately increased and dimin- landlord. The house, which his fam- ished by marriage and removals of ily had only recently vacated for a members to other areas there had larger one, had been cleaned from been eight more moves before his top to bottom. The newly varnished own wedding had put the couple on floors were protected by news- their own responsibilities. Now came papers. Since it was still chilly the most heroic of all moves. weather, the fire was laid in the fur- In those days there were no fast nace. Coal was in the bin. trucking services. Both time and Wilmette in its frontier days was cost had to be calculated. The up- known locally for its intimate neigh- shot was that a horse-dray carted borliness. Mother, grandmother, their modest household equipment to aunt or cousin was always prompt a South Side freight yard. The goods to see that the newcomer's larder were tied and cleated into position was increased from her own bak- through aid of a relation who had ings. Mr. and Mrs. Young Couple many dealings with the railroads. were quite taken aback to hear from Then began a wait. milkman, grocer and butcher that Railways were not particularly the landlord had all but guaranteed eager to haul household goods. It their accounts about to be opened. seems that such individual shippers This graciousness from a total did not have a good credit rating. stranger spoke well for the commu- Day after day, for more than a week, nity. inquiry at the North Western Rail- It chanced that some of the furni- way station elicited no news of the ture stayed out on the front porch freight car. Then the relation broke the greater part of the day. Chil- in on railway headquarters and de- dren of the neighborhood naturally
13 were curious. Some of them asked followed the renewed friendship. naively, "What's your name? Do you Mr. and Mrs. Young Couple had live here now?" But it was the fa- lived for four years in a flat build- ther of one of these youngsters who ing of 21 apartments and had bare- ly become acquainted capped the climax of events. He with four oth- er couples. Within six months of thought he knew Mr. Young Couple moving to their chosen suburb they from boyhood days on the South were taken into several groups and Side. They had been in the same could rate friends with scores of in- groups years earlier. teresting neighbors. Suburban com- For the newcomers, strangers in pensations could now be chalked up a strange land, this was like a lease on the scoreboard far to overbalance on life. It topped off the day but the initial, and by no means typical, not the string of circumstances that inconveniences of moving day.
FIRST BLACKSMITH SHOP Painting by Eugenia Reid Balmes
14 IV KNOWING THE NEW HOME TOWN
As we try to observe the motives Two very tangible records are the and manners of many Mr. and Mrs. surveys of both Wilmette and Gross Young Couples bent upon going sub- Point made by Charles P. Wester- urban in Wilmette, enduring histori- field, son of the earlier surveyor and cal perspective calls for two records: founder. The contrast between the (1) What did the Young Couples find two was that Wilmette was a rapidly positively and negatively in this bud- growing village of homes, whereas ding suburb? (2) What did they bring Gross Point, though incorporated, to it? There are many facets to the continued to show the rural influence answers of both questions. of adjacent farms and truck gardens. Wilmette presented a wonderful ''Profiles of Wilmette" of 1884 dis- landscape, near a wonderful body of closed surface drainage and curbside fresh water, many real estate oppor- ditches with an occasional "big tunities, and a pleasant community ditch". One of these traveled down of neighbors, most of whom com- Wilmette Avenue to help to establish muted to the city. But the village that Indian trail into the confusing was going through a great transition. diagonal highway. The plats also The story of precisely what changes showed a jumble of street names. took place in what decade before the To give the names significant system newcomers arrived depends upon the took changes of more than 40 of them age and date of arrival of the teller and years of work of the Village of the story. But from the date of the Council. incorporation, in 1872, of the tiny This survey only hinted at the ab- hamlet, already some 40 years old, sence of effective local sanitation, to the modernizing which took place village planning, zoning and water almost at the turn of the century, the supply, and the struggling church suburban changes were essentially and school accommodations. For for the sake of convenience based pretty much of this transition period upon pretty old patterns. villagers had to dig their own wells.
EARLY VILLAGE HALL
Following old Library Hall, the first formal Village Hall was erected on the triangle now occupied by the latest Hall.
15 When these went dry they carted tral and Wilmette Avenues, would water from springs up on Ridge build the first formal Village Hall at Road. Cisterns and rain-barrels the present site. When that was out- caught rain off the houses. Toilet fa- grown it would be moved to become cilities of ancient design were to be a remodeled residence at 625 Park had only in out-houses on the back Avenue. Library Hall would also of the family lot. Even after a sewer serve for dances and dancing system was installed and a village classes, the incipient Public Library law abolished the rights to these and numerous types of village privies, debate was hot in the council gatherings. because some die-hards did not wish The first active local Protestant to be pushed around by such health religious cooperative movement had regulations. begun to break up some years ear- The village was laid out upon the lier. It had been composed of Bap- use of horse and buggy and did not tist, Congregational, Methodist, envision the automobile. There was Presbyterian, and Protestant Epis- no effort at railway grade separa- copal denominations. The Congrega- tion. The introduction of the new- tionalists had separated in 1875 and comers to the village scene via the built their first wooden meeting railway was marred by a huddle of house some years later. The first make-shift stores, mostly on West cornerstone for St. Augustine's Epis- Railroad Avenue (Green Bay Road). copal Church was laid in 1898. As the The railway station was on the other wooden sheathing of that building side of the tracks; now it serves as arose, a carpenter was to scrawl the freight house. upon it the legend that on that day Needs were many. There were per- the United States went to war with ennial efforts at town meetings. Spain over the Cuban question and Local newspapers appeared from the sinking of the Battleship Maine. time to time and died. Evanston Young men like David Colbert were tried to annex Wilmette but sufficed to write back to the local paper tell- with supplying the village with water ing of the Cuban campaign. for many years. "Coal oil" for both Entertainment was limited. The homes and street lighting gave way country club was sprouting its wings. to gas. For many years wooden side- A nine-hole golf course was to hug walks sufficed, often on only one side the lake shore. Numerous small of the street. A fire station was to be groups organized to play cards and built on the eastern edge of the pres- dance and to give gracious dinner ent post office grounds; for years parties. As Evanston felt the influ- it would serve a volunteer brigade. ence of Northwestern University, or- Police protection was hardly visible. ganized music, lectures and other When the old frame school house cultural opportunities became avail- was supplanted in 1892 by a new able. The Wilmette Woman's Club brick Central School, it forecast fur- building and the Carnegie Free Pub- ther progress. Now A. E. Logie and lic Library would soon be under way. Miss Katherine Joy (Mrs. David Col- Now and then there was a scurry of bert of Evanston) would supply two interest when Fountain Square in years of high school to local young- Evanston was made the terminus of sters, who in turn would finish at one of the great Chicago bicycle road Evanston. races. By and large, social affairs The Village Council, after years of centered around church and country meeting in old Library Hall at Cen- club.
16 THE EVANSTON PRESS, JULY 23, 1904.
Lake Michigan.
Inlet of th« Canal
NIIi.ES
PLANNING THE DRAINAGE CANAL
Hoyt King, active Wilmette and Chicago civic leader, handled the real estate trans- actions for acquiring the canal right-of-way. The route followed that of the old "Big Ditch", which for more than fifty years drained North Shore farm lands.
17 MIDDLE CLASS
One is forced to go back to the pre- school of novelists began to attract vious quotation of Edna Ferber, that national attention. There were so Wilmette rated ' 'middle class," in many newspapers in Chicago that order to point up a fact that Young the neighboring quarters were called Couples might be slow in under- "Newspaper Row." They were fos- standing. If the salty pioneers who tering the first columnists and car- broke the sod had given way to toonists. The job of foreign corre- "middle class", it was due in part spondent was created. The Asso- possibly to another fact. Evanston ciated Press was coming into flower was long known as the "classical from careful nurture in this same suburb." Northwestern University "Newspaper Row." All this devel- had been operating nearly 50 years oped an overtone which almost put and had turned out many North in the shadow Chicago's reputation Shore graduates. Yet Culture in this as the railroad center and industrial epoch in Wilmette was more poten- giant of America. tial than real. The Young Couples To be blunt, a relatively small were to sense this. They perforce number of Young Couples were col- asked themselves what they could lege trained. Nonetheless, the cul- or should contribute in the circum- tural overtones of the metropolis had stances. What did they bring to the produced a positive effect. The latent community? possibilities for cultural advance- The sobriquet "The Gay Nineties" ment became increasingly apparent utterly belies the Chicago of the to the newcomers. They were to con- epoch from which the Young Couples tribute an insight and a determina- migrated for social living. Never be- tion to produce an environment sec- fore in the Middle West had popular ond to none. This was not snobbish education been so stimulated as by but practical. The growth might be the marvels of the World's Colum- slow. But as one of the steering bian Exposition of 1893. About its group which planned the establish- vacated Midway Plaisance reacti- ment of New Trier Township High vated University of Chicago was ris- School, put it, "If the school board ing to become one of the educational has on it enough college trained cit- wonders of the world. Theodore izens, we shall create a great insti- Thomas was organizing and popular- tution." This vision was borne out izing symphonic music in the new (1899), even if one addition was early Auditorium. Opera from New York to be ridiculed for its "tremendous" was a joy for a short season in the size as "Louis Gillson's Folly." same theater ; with his chums Young The conjunction of many Young Couple had "suped" in many an Couples and their advancing ideas opera. Legitimate drama trod the boards of many fine play-houses. and the wonderful setting of the fron- The Art Institute and Armour Insti- tier village on Green Bay Trail of tute were born. Bands played good the Ouilmette Reservation presented music in all the city parks. John an accepted challenge for all con- Phillip Sousa was the fad. A Chicago cerned. Wilmette marched on!
18 h R
YE OLDE TOWNE FOLKES
This is how local society of 1916 recalled the origins of the village at a banquet and story-telling fete in Brown's Hall on Wilmette Avenue. In the group are numerous leading men and women from whom many of these sketches were gathered. The rules of this organization provide that members must have resided in Wilmette 25 years or more. The society of Ye Olde Towne has passed on to the third genera- tion of those who saw the incorporation of the little hamlet.
19 VI THE 8:08 AND THE 5:15
time advertising placards told of events of some local interest. There C3 was a constant chatter of gossip by the commuters. In years to come this often would be political, for one station agent of nearly 50 years tenure, Earl E. Orner was to be -ap^ Tfi : ^2* i 5 s**fifi ' I/yt//' «i^BL« [a] village clerk for some 25 years and p5|figBm™ Ki also serve as village president. All ^>l|**a local news worth knowing passed -l& -?5 ®^i ~% l W -"- " -^^^nWI L~s£rr^ through the wicket or side-door of his office. Sooner or later everybody in Wil- But it was on the trains that mette, and in the Village of Gross acquaintances were made and often Point, too, for that matter, passed cemented. Rarely did a suburbanite through the North Western Railway sit alone on his daily trips. Rarely station. That was before the Ele- did he walk alone from the Kinzie vated pre-empted a right-of-way Street station to the Loop. On every across Laurel Avenue, and the North side were companionable men. Not Shore and Milwaukee started its so often in morning hours were there hectic career from Evanston north- women in those days. On the trains ward through the shoreline villages. there often were informal meetings True, the St. Paul station at Maple of members of various boards of Avenue and Third Street, named municipal government, who could Llewellin Park, a was meeting place not get all their business ironed out for the suburbanites of the south- at the formal meetings. Much more eastern edge of Wilmette. But at the often, especially in the "smoking base of the triangle made by West car", were continuous-performance Railroad, Central and Wilmette Av- games of cards. enues, "the station" was the news- Possibly most important of the iest spot in town. events on the trains was the stimulus Mr. Young Couple soon realized of the newspaper reading habit. Al- that here and on the 8:08 to the City though Mrs. Young Couple normally and the 5:15 returning home, one had the advantage of the papers Hus- should grasp opportunities if one was band brought home, the habit formed to get acquainted and become on the suburban runs became so oriented to suburban life. deeply ingrained with him that it "There are three kinds of us not only became a necessity but a people here," volunteered one of the powerful educator. more sophisticated neighbors. "You Of course, there were numerous are a worker, a clerker, or a shirker, minor adventures en route. One soon according to the train you take." learned that it was possible to lose And this in a degree reflected the things from the hat-rack overhead. activities of the early rising crafts- Flowers for Wife's anniversary, a leg men, of whom there were not many, of lamb bought at advantage near the white-collared juniors who might the Wells Street bridge, when the be on their way to executive posi- terminal was at Kinzie Street, cer- tions, and the still more substantial tain haberdashery not procurable in men who seemed to have arrived. the home town,—these and many In the station the Chicago news- other valuable impedimenta were papers were for sale. From time to often lost. So Mr. Young Couple
20 schooled himself to put his hat in to the station. For the most part the rack alongside other valuables, the commuters footed it and enjoyed knowing that he would not leave the possible mile at each end of the the train bare-headed and empty- city journey. The cab became more important handed. Shot through the many ex- as the suburbanites went to visit relations elsewhere in the periences were the drolleries of metropolitan area or caught pre- "getting bridged." cisely ordered specials for theater From the more distant ends of the or opera. When the event was for village occasionally a horse-drawn the family, it usually ended with cab might convey the more opulent "Daddy, carry Baby."
CHICAGO AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY STATION
C. & N.W. RY. STATION ONCE A RAILWAY STATION now North Western Freight house
21 VII SUBURBAN PATTERNS
From the turn of the century to of establishing a committee for a the on-set of World War I, suburban given street, which would collect a life in Wilmette was more concerned few dollars to mow overgrown grass with local than with national or in- and weeds and plant or trim a few ternational affairs. Serious as they trees in default of such action by might be for individuals and for later the Village Council or subdividers. national government, the Spanish- Sometimes it took the more compre- American War, the freeing of Cuba, hensive form of the Men's Club, a its Piatt Amendment and yellow new Civic Association, or special in- fever plague, the acquisition of quiry commissions from the newly Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the developing Woman's Club, parent Panama Canal and the protection for groups or an occasional church the Gulf of Mexico, seemed almost group. mere episodes. The acquisition of the Underlying many of these transi- Philippine Islands, their long suze- tory action groups, which were often rainty, the annexation of the Sand- groping to find the way to right wich Islands (Hawaii) and the action, there were several strong political challenge of "American Im- influences. One need not call them perialism" and "benevolent assim- pressure groups to bring up invidious ilation" of brown-skinned peoples comparisons with similar pressures were subjects for academic discus- of the great metropolis. These in- sions or for political maneuvers fluences, nevertheless, existed and more than for keen analysis and they, in part, determined the flow civic commitment. Local affairs of Young Couples from the city to were a constant preoccupation. Wilmette. Historical hind-sight now shows us When Northwestern University the somewhat rule-of-thumb de- was chartered by the State of Il- cisions by which bevies of Young linois, the sale of intoxicating liquors Couples, unconsciously in many was banned by the state within four cases, were taking steps to solve miles of the then Evanston campus. current local issues, which in fact This line ran up to the separating were setting patterns for suburban Ridge Road between Wilmette and life for years to come. There were the Village of Gross Point. The re- over-riding attitudes which cropped sult was a line of saloons along the up whenever an issue impinged on west side of that street which made certain preconceptions of this type the German village "notorious" in of life that was the goal of the the Chicago press for years. "Row- Young Couples. Scores of minor dyism, violence and frequent chal- issues were allowed to jog along, to lenges for disrepute persisted" until be set in grooves by some "leader". the two villages were merged in 1924. But let the question of "flat build- But after the repeal of the Volstead ings", racial intrusions, "political Act, prohibition through local option control" of the public schools or became a basic issue again until even beach regulations touch too settled by plebiscite of the whole closely upon imagined "individual Township of New Trier. rights" and issues were joined in Of an entirely different type was such fashion as to spill blood in the constant influence of real estate small-time political rows. owners, both individual and sub- Repeatedly there were efforts at dividers. Constant was the rising organizing for civic purposes. Some- influence of the increasing number times this went only to the degree of churches and their advocacy of
22 action tending toward morality. of the Elevated Railway system, Educational influence was enhanced the good roads campaigns as the by the establishment of New Trier result of the arrival of the auto- Township High School (1899), by the mobile. The "Big Ditch" gave way proximity of Northwestern Univer- to the North Channel of the Drain- sity and the reputation of ''Classical age Canal that reversed the flow of Evanston", and by the steadily in- the historic Chicago River. Dis- creasing influx of new college people semination of local news passed from the growing generation. The through numerous experimental newspaper reading habit was having stages. a beneficial effect. Each of these influences in a During the period before World measure set patterns for themselves. War I one may with some justifi- In turn they tended to persist for cation draw a parallel with Chicago years. Each of these patterns experiences of the 1890' s. Wilmette many saw the development of the North calls for a record of its own forma- Shore and Milwaukee Electric with tion before going on to some of the its feeder pleasure-grounds of great basic changes which, in later Ravinia Park, the switch over from years, were to play upon suburban the St. Paul railway, the extension life as seen through Wilmette.
Whistling to the Birds fountain in the outdoor reading garden of the Public Library
23 ;
VIII LITTLE MELTING-POT
Closely entwined with the physical and business factors in the develop- ment of the suburb were several spiritual and intellectual influences which might be termed those of a tiny melting-pot. One of these was the very practical problem of the use of the mother tongue. Another was the difference in ideas of religions faith and worship. A third was the difference in customs concerning the contrasting uses of public and OLD GROSS POINT VILLAGE HALL church-related schools.
In the earliest frontier days there olic Church and the Wilmette Evan- was a period when European politics gelical Lutheran Church, both to be might have put the North Shore in erected on the east side of old Wil- the French tradition, like Quebec mette. of today. That was overcome first by Meanwhile, the Yankee Protestant British and then by Yankee customs influence had been felt from the ear- but this was in the area nearest the liest days on old Grosse Pointe at lake. In the neighborhood west of the the log-cabin school house at present old Ouilmette Reservation influ- the Sheridan Road and Canterbury ence was almost wholly German. Court, later replaced by the frame To the east there was the prompt school, which in turn was also the acceptance of American concepts of North Ridge Meeting House. As civic tax-supported, state-controlled pub- leaders were getting ready to incor- lic schools actually run by local citi- porate Wilmette, they organized the zen boards of education. Moreover, Wilmette Evanglical Association of the religious leanings were essen- five Protestant denominations, and tially Protestant Christian. Luther L. Greenleaf gave them the To the west, centering on St. land under the present Methodist Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Church. About the same time the the mother tongue was German and Henry A. Dingees gave the land at the expression of faith was Roman Central and Tenth street for a public Catholic. This entailed as a matter school. of course the use of parochial instead Here we see two distinct types of of public schools wherever possible. For several generations German dominated in spots in an otherwise English-speaking suburban area. This extended into the Lutheran fam- ilies. Thus St. John's Lutheran Church used German for some time. Indeed, in both Roman Catholic and Lutheran circles it was the need for churches in English that forced both these early churches to turn to Eng- lish. Moreover, the English influ- ence largely determined the estab- OLD GROSS POINT SCHOOL lishment of St. Francis Xavier Cath- Now used as Legion Post headquarters
24 life in an American setting. In time Wilmette in 1924, there were contin- German was largely eliminated. uous misunderstandings because the Public schools were developed in Gross Point School District was not both the Gross Point and the Avoca merged into the Wilmette public regions, but parochial schools served school system. Comparisons were of- possibly a third of the children of ten disparaging. Newcomers in the greater Wilmette. Mallinckrodt High Indian Hill region thought they had School was developed in association the privileges of the Howard School, with Maria Immaculata Convent on which they did not. Meanwhile High- Ridge Road. With the development crest School was built. Shortly after- of New Trier Township High School wards the two school districts did there was greater use of this aspect merge and the old Gross Point school of public education by all religious house became post headquarters of faiths. The Lutherans conducted no the Peter J. Huerter Post of the schools. The Roman Catholics con- American Legion. Avoca School Dis- tributed greatly to New Trier High trict, with its expanding Wilmette School through long membership on population, maintained an independ- its board of education by Father ent existence outside the rapidly ris- William Netstraeter. ing life and reputation of the Wil- One historic aspect of the consoli- mette public school system. dating influence of the public schools Integration of the whole western came out of the Gross Point public area of Wilmette of today was slow. school. Carved out of the Nanzig Not only in language and religion but property at Wilmette Avenue and in joining western areas to the Wil- Ridge Road, then in School District mette Park District, in lifting heavy No. 40, it had served the English loads of mortgages and tax delin- speaking people of that area who quencies of many subdivisions dur- wished public education. Service was ing the depression and in stimulating quite inadequate. After Gross Point home development. Progress took Village had been merged into greater years of strenuous effort.
NEW FACES ON RIDGE ROAD
Once the area was dotted with saloons
25 IX REAL ESTATE INFLUENCES
Having become householders through benefit of mortgage and sub- divider, Mr. and Mrs. Young Couple assumed a continuous attachment to what happened to Wilmette real es- tate. They soon observed two con- flicting monetary interests in this important topic of conversation. One was their own investment, which they expected to utilize and at the same time to enhance in value re- gardless of wear. Whatever affected this value was good or not so good. The other monetary interest was that which set up real estate as a commodity to be bought and sold for TORNADO TAVERN Old Henry Gage House at Sheridan immediate profit. Here the measure Road and Chestnut Avenue, now torn of excellence was what could be got down. It lay in path of tornado oj out of subdividing, irrespective of 1920. It was then a road-side restau- what eventually happened to the land rant and polling place. and to the community because of the land's use. These two interests met from the historic blight and slums in historic clashes. Constantly first which had influenced treks from Chi- land uses entailed blunders; many cago to Wilmette. On the other hand, people seemingly could not learn there were those who insisted that something could be done about the blunders, especially to avoid new ones. The wonderful lake shore presents some of the dramatic changes in- volved in these basic conflicts. Very early civic leaders realized the civic worth of this land. The idea was in- troduced of aquiring for public use the whole lake front in Wilmette. The price mentioned was about $3,000. Property interests that would be af- fected by increased taxes obstructed the movement, which was too weak for success. Before anything like comprehen- sive village planning got under way, two contributing factors developed. The Sanitary District of Chicago bought Wilmette land and dug the north channel of its huge drainage system so as to connect at our door- way the lake and the North Branch of the Chicago River. This line fol- INDIAN TRAIL TREE lowed somewhat the line of the chan- at 932 Greenwood Avenue nel of the older "Big Ditch", which
26 in frontier days had drained nearby helped to operate the later organized farm acres. The dredging piled up recreational services. huge spoil banks to disfigure the A Park District policy was be- landscape for a long time. Mean- coming effective to retrieve as much while the Wilmette Park District was of the bad effects of the original lake- established. A new group of vigor- front blunders as possible. Houses ous Wilmette personalities began to along the east side of Michigan Ave- create Washington (now Gillson) nue south of Lake Avenue were Park adjacent to the mouth of the bought and removed, revealing the canal. A yacht harbor was created. double row of trees down which in Then a whole procession of events frontier days had creaked the ox- followed over many years. carts and Conestoga wagons in the Farther north Morris Wilson of ruts and chuckholes of Green Bay Evanston had acquired large acre- Road. age and later gave it to North- Equally impressive, though not western University. For some years wholly achieved by public policy, enough land was leased to maintain destiny was institutionalizing the a nine-hole golf course along the lake front. After a great controversy, shore. The corporate Village of Wil- the Village Waterworks was built op- mette acquired land from Lake to posite the country club. Squatters' Forest Avenue on the east side of shacks were driven out. The yacht Michigan Avenue. The old pickle and harbor became a scene of great ac- vinegar works in that area dis- tivity. The park was landscaped appeared. Fishermen had small anew with added shore acres from shacks at the foot of the lake cliffs, spoils of harbor dredging. The U. S. and small piers jutted out into the Coast Guard Station was moved lake near open sewers where young- from the south side of old Grosse sters went in swimming. Pointe in Evanston to opposite the north side of the Pointe beside the The up-coming Ouilmette Country harbor, and the Sheridan Shores Club bought land for its club house Yacht Club became a neighbor. at Michigan and Lake Avenues, to Opposite, on the north become a center of increased social bank of Grosse Pointe, Benjamin Marshall, activities, now replaced by Michigan the famous architect, Shores Club. Both north and south built his fab- ulous studio-mansion, famed around along Michigan Avenue arose nu- merous mansions. the world, but a generation later to be sold and later razed to save taxes. As Washington Park took on its At Linden Avenue and Sheridan earliest shape, the fact that much of Road, it took a generation to rear the it was built upon property of the San- sky-reaching Baha'i House of Wor- itary District disturbed the park ship, dedicated in 1953, and sur- trustees. Perennially they negotiated rounded by expansive gardens which with sanitary trustees in the hope contribute to making this spot one that this land would be given to Wil- of the most photographed in Amer- mette outright. Just before Sanitary ica. Farther south within the ex- District elections there would be treme limits of Wilmette rose the vague promises, which were buildings of the National College of promptly forgotten after the elec- Education. Strangely, this institution tions. But improvements continued. disowns Wilmette as its location by Land along the canal banks was claiming Evanston as its situs, landscaped for the Community Golf though, locally tax exempt, it claims course operated jointly by Evanston and receives Wilmette municipal and Wilmette recreational leaders. services free of charge. Income was shared between the two If Village and Park District pol- communities and Wilmette's share icies enabled the community to cor-
27 U4 J
i }i i;
EXPANDING HIGHER EDUCATION IN WILMETTE 'Kindergarten college" and laboratory school become National College of Education. rect in part the first lake-front decent planning around Teatro del blunders south of Chestnut Avenue, Lago and the shops of Spanish Court. nothing similar occurred in notor- The area took on the worst aspects ious "No Man's Land''. Private en- of Coney Island. Numerous discus- terprise here fell on its face. Win- sions to produce a buffer zone park, netka capitalists seemingly bent as did Kenilworth with Mahoney upon giving this area an Edgewater Park, failed to accomplish anything. Beach tone, attempted the bizarre at The annexation of the area to the Spanish Court, following the plant- corporate village provided the occu- ing of the first gas station in this pants with water, sewer, fire, police then unincorporated territory. Mir- and similar municipal services. At alago, the dance hall, went up in the same time it presented one of the flames, to produce litigation over most difficult problems for solution, water supply and fire protection. either by municipal action or through prices Vista del Lago, built like an ocean private enterprise. Property the area too badly liner, for a time was patronized as were too high and blighted to cpen the way to simple a club, but fell into rot and decay. development. liquor of- "The Breakers" never got beyond Rowdyism, fenses and worse became at times the grand staircase stage and still disfigures, though picturesquely, a public disgrace. Zoning was always the shore line near the famous a major stumbling-block. The real Gage's piers that once served to estate history of the north end of Wil- stop the ravages of erosion on shore mette's lake front bogged down in acres. Shacks sprung up like mush- the conflict between private profit rooms to challenge the efforts for and community welfare.
28 X CHANGING RAILWAYS
~^~EZZ^>-<^~^ urbs closer together socially. By special service for New Trier High *o ™«>\ School students, the line was a real WM f m£ boon, to be recognized almost plain- WwrmL JfNJk tively in later years when North Shore went on strike and buses had ^^&H^ to be substituted. Mr. Frost had de- veloped at Ravinia Park a ''high- toned" playground, movie center and music pavillion that would be- ^^^^^M come internationally famous for op- era, ballet, and symphonic music. Very much like the development The location of Fort Sheridan and of suburban life produced by the Great Lakes Naval Station meant pioneering community around the immense feeder patronage in war North Western Railway station in- years. stead of around the hopes of lake- This line, however, had its trou- borne transportation was the effect bles. It offended Wilmette citizens of the coming of two additional rail- by hauling freight through its way lines. streets. Stormy meetings of protest Albert G. Frost in 1899 had were held in the Woman's Club. For pushed the North Shore and Mil- years the road ran its trains with- waukee Electric to Church Street, out consent of local franchise. With Evanston, southward through the the immense expansion of Chicago shore-line suburbs. The promise of and the competition of automobiles numerous stops through Wilmette and trucks, as well as the Elevated brought eager consent for the tracks line, serious problems of operating to use Depot Place (now Greenleaf costs arose. Although the federal Avenue). This brought all the sub- government aided both this line and
When the North Shore Electric Began Service This opened an important era in suburban traffic in 1899
29 the North Western in depressing Lines through Evanston to the ter- tracks through Winnetka, owners of minus at Fourth Street and Linden the system abandoned the shore line Avenue, Wilmette, likewise greatly services but wished to retain the influenced real estate development western Skokie Valley line and to and business enterprise for the sub- add buses through the shoreline urb. Access to Wilmette came about suburbs. through an over-night preemption of At one time one could buy a Laurel Avenue, a devious move round-trip ticket to Ravinia Park, which angered citizens. In time this including admission to the concert, was forgotten. The so-called Ter- for 35 cents. Service in train fre- minal shopping center developed quency steadily declined. The long apace by the addition of stores, history of this line reflects both con- parking lots and the erection of buf- structive and destructive influences fer zone multiple dwellings and on suburban life. apartment buildings. The extension of the Elevated These transportation facilities also ~ (HOW WE LOOKED AT MID-CENTURY Flash-back in history at the demise of the North Shore Electric Line, Courtesy of Chicago Tribune.
30 brought in hordes of picnickers and Mr. and Mrs. Young Couples helped sight-seers with later years. As the to bog down all sorts of conferences. Wilmette beach and park gained re- The problem of grade separation in nown, partly through summer con- the center of town was not solved. certs in the park bowl, very serious These same types of problems problems of rowdyism arose, at were knocking at the doors of all times calling for protection by vigi- Suburbia. Reliance on the automo- lantes. bile worked to bring dispersion of The type of services by the three marketing centers in areas where lines of railway varied greatly from off-street parking could be had. time to time, especially in the in- Population increase contined as a frequency of trains. With the finan- tremendous factor for years. Park- cial necessities of the three systems ing meters were installed at the constantly before the public, there busiest streets. Congestion was was always the problem of instabil- mounting. In later years the whole ity of service. Action in the courts complex of suburban life was to and at various types of hearings change. The suburban whirl became was constant. Lethargy of many in many respects a merry-go-round.
CONTRASTS OF RAILROADING How the first trains were hauled through Wilmette in 1854 and how the North Western runs today.
31 XI HOW WILMETTE BROUGHT SCOUTING TO THE MID-WEST
It was just the right sort of a sum- felt that the work, while having its mer night to have a campfire in the headquarters in the Congregational back yard. The four men wanted a Church, should be community wide hot snack of some sort; so they roast- in its inclusion. ed weenies over the open fire. Two "Several meetings were held dur- of them had sons twelve years old ing the summer, invitations being and they wished to know how ef- sent to all who were interested. Fath- fective Boy Scouting in England was er Vattman, who had been an army under the famous Baden-Powell. So chaplain and who was a personal the four fell to discussing boys and friend of Theodore Roosevelt, was how best to aid in developing their of great assistance during the forma- characters. tive period, with his enthusiastic ad- The place was the yard of Alonzo vice and counsel.
J. Coburn at 400 Eighth Street, Wil- "It was decided to form Troop 1, mette. The time was the summer Wilmette, Boy Scouts of America. of 1910. The men were Arthur L. Mr. Rice was the first scoutmaster Rice, Coburn, the Reverend Roy E. and Mr. Coburn was assistant scout-
Bowers, then the new minister of the master. . . . Actual work with the First Congregational Church, and Dr. boys began in October, 1910. We met Lucius O. Baird, western superin- Saturdays at 2 p.m. in the basement tendent of the American Missionary of the Congregational Church, but Association. most of the work was done out of They had read many articles then doors. Among the men who aided current of many methods for intrig- early in the work were Mr. J. R. uing boys into wholesome activities. Harper, C. A. Lundberg, Dr. F. A. The new English method that was Karst, W. H. Kleinpell, and Mr. B. rapidly being organized in our east- Frank Brown, superintendent of Lake ern states appealed to the little View High School. We had no finan- group. They decided to give it a try cial backing; the boys paid small and to form the first troop of Boy dues and purchased their own uni- Scouts of America to be organized forms and equipment. If we needed west of the Allegheny Mountains. money for some special event, we That was Troop 1 of Wilmette. It begged it and got it. If the boys still flourishes under its unique hon- needed instruction in certain mat- ors authenticated by the first scout- ters, which the scoutmasters were master's commission issued to Mr. not able to give, we went over the Rice on October 28, 1910, and pre- names of the men in the village who served in their scout-room in the were trained along the particular line First Congregational Church. needed and they simply had to come The history of those early days is in and share in the work. important to the members of all "We worked first with the English troops in Wilmette. It is contained manual and were filled with joy when in a manuscript written by Mr. Co- the first American manual and the burn for the history files of the Wil- first scoutmasters manual were pub-
mette Public Library, from which lished. . . . The scout work was re- quotations are made: ceived with such enthusiasm by the "The two ministers were of the boys that we soon had 120 boys en- opinion that the work should be con- rolled. When this point was reached fined to the boys who were attend- we divided the troop and Troop 2 ants at the Sunday school of the Con- was formed, which met at the Meth- gregational Church. The other men odist Church. Boys of all church af-
32 filiations were included in these work number 1030 individuals in Wil- troops, Protestants, Catholics and mette and there are 352 registered Jews." adults. The growth over 1955 was 12 The memoirs continue with aid in per cent. to in charac- health given by Dr. M. C. Hecht, The movement aid ter building for girls lagged some- drill by Captain George R. Harbaugh and garden work by Mr. Kleinpell. what behind that for boys. For a time the Fire Girls had a popu- There are stories of the first Fourth Camp lar appeal that was lost when the of July celebration which began with first joiners outgrew their childhood an over-night hike to New Trier High participation. To fill this the Wil- School. Also of the first camp at gap Saugatuck, Michigan. One high light mette Girl Scouts came into being was when Cornelius Van Schaack at the Methodist Church in 1921 un- der the initial guidance of the min- bought out a whole refreshment stand ister, the Reverend Gilbert Stansell. at the ball game at Evanston and Shortly a council was organized to tossed its contents to the boys in hold the together. the bleachers. Women of the village work The appeal of scouting popu- did their share at refreshment tents. was lar troops In time Mr. Rice was made scout and new were organized commissioner and Mr. Coburn be- wide-spread. Professional guidance was obtained. The Community Chest came scoutmaster, to be succeeded gave its support and popular finan- later by Captain Harbaugh. cial drives, cooky sales and other The start of scouting had been efforts produce a summer camp. The made. Its significance may be grasp- spread of Girl Scouting by 1955 pro- ed by these figures of 1, 1956: May duced the following record: Brown- ten cub packs with 543 cubs enrolled; ies 445; Intermediate Girl Scouts 474; eight Boy Scout Troops with 372 mem- Senior Girl Scouts 58; adults 386. bers; six Explorer posts for those Brownie troops numbered 30; In- of 14 years or more with 115 explor- termediate troops 37, and Senior ers. All told boys and youth in the troops 2.
FIRST SCOUTMASTER COMMISSIONED IN 1910 stouts of nm
