Evanston

Evanston, a city of Cook county, Illinois, U.S.A., on the shore of Lake Michigan, 12 m. N. of Chicago. Pop. (1900) 19,259, of whom 4441 were foreign-born; (1910 U.S. census) 24,978. It is served by the Chicago & North-Western, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul railways, and by two electric lines. The city is an important residential suburb of Chicago. In 1908 the Evanston public library had 41,430 volumes. In the city are the College of Liberal Arts (1855), the Academy (1860), and the schools of music (1895) and engineering (1908) of Northwestern University, co-educational, chartered in 1851, opened in 1855, the largest school of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. In 1909-1910 it had productive funds amounting to about $7,500,000, and, including all the allied schools, a faculty of 418 instructors and 4487 students; its schools of medicine (1869), law (1859), pharmacy (1886), commerce (1908) and dentistry (1887) are in Chicago. In 1909 its library had 114,869 volumes and 79,000 pamphlets (exclusive of the libraries of the professional schools in Chicago); and the Garrett Biblical Institute had a library of 25,671 volumes and 4500 pamphlets. The university maintains the Grand Prairie Seminary at Onarga, Iroquois county, and the Elgin Academy at Elgin, Kane county. Enjoying the privileges of the university, though actually independent of it, are the Garrett Biblical Institute (Evanston Theological Seminary), founded in 1855, situated on the university campus, and probably the best-endowed Methodist Episcopal theological seminary in the United States, and affiliated with the Institute, the Norwegian Danish Theological school; and the Swedish Theological Seminary, founded at Galesburg in 1870, removed to Evanston in 1882, and occupying buildings on the university campus until 1907, when it removed to Orrington Avenue and Noyes Street. The Cumnock School of Oratory, at Evanston, also co-operates with the university. By the charter of the university the sale of intoxicating liquors is forbidden within 4 m. of the university campus. The manufacturing importance of the city is slight, but is rapidly increasing. The principal manufactures are wrought iron and steel pipe, bakers’ machinery and bricks. In 1905 the value of the factory products was $2,550,529, being an increase of 207.3% since 1900. In Evanston are the publishing offices of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Evanston was incorporated as a town in 1863 and as a village in 1872, and was chartered as a city in 1892. The villages of North Evanston and South Evanston were annexed to Evanston in 1874 and 1892 respectively.

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