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 http://archive.org/details/kenilworthfirstfOOkeni 
 
FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 VILLAGE OF KENILWORTH 
 
 1947 
 
Foreword 
 
 THE present booklet arose from action of the board of 
 trustees of the Village of Kenilworth, December 21, 1945, 
 in appointing a citizens' committee to promote and arrange 
 the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of 
 the village, which had occurred February 4, 1896. The committee 
 of twenty-nine persons was headed by the officers of the Kenil- 
 worth Historical Society, who assumed similar offices on the com- 
 mittee: Herbert B. Taylor, chairman; Mrs. Walter Marx, vice- 
 chairman; Mrs. Harold W. McKenzie, secretary; Miss Dorothy 
 Sears, historian. 
 
 Public participation began with a reception, Sunday afternoon, 
 February 3, 1946, at the Kenilworth Club, at which were exhib- 
 ited many photographs and mementoes of early Kenilworth. 
 Several women wore dresses preserved from that former day. The 
 attendance of several hundred citizens indicated the general keen 
 ^interest in the anniversary celebration. 
 
 Still greater did it appear when an audience of 1,600 persons 
 
 -witnessed a picturesque and entertaining pageant portraying high 
 
 ^ lights in the history of the village, June 7, 1946. Pupils of the 
 
 • Joseph Sears school, under the directive genius of Superintendent 
 
 Elmer Nygaard, recreated some of the episodes of the early days 
 
 ^ in costumes of the times, some of them preserved from that era. 
 
 The preparation of an illustrated historical map of Kenilworth 
 ^ is the generous contribution of Carey Orr. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 As a permanent memorial of the celebration, the present book- 
 let was prepared by a committee appointed by Chairman Herbert 
 B. Taylor. This committee was composed of Mrs. Walter Marx, 
 Mrs. Henry A. Zander, Mrs. F. R. Kilner, Herman Gastrell Seely, 
 Oliver R. Barrett and the undersigned. It received the ready assist- 
 ance of representatives of the various organizations in compiling 
 the historical sketches of village groups contained herein. Old resi- 
 dents were generous in their efforts to verify data and to supply 
 needed information, when visited by that indefatigable pair of 
 interviewers, Miss Dorothy Sears and Mrs. F. R. Kilner. Of para- 
 mount value was the file of manuscripts, pamphlets, letters, clip- 
 pings and books loaned by the Kenilworth Historical Society, as 
 well as the private records of the Sears family. 
 
 The glimpses enjoyed of the life of our early villagers and the 
 knowledge gained of the community's growth have made the 
 assembling of this material a pleasure which it is hoped readers 
 will share. 
 
 Frederic R. Kilner, Chairman. 
 
 11 
 
Forecast 
 
 i 
 
 T IS appropriate to record a few paragraphs from the report 
 of the first historian of the Kenilworth Historical Society, as 
 they seem to forecast the pages which follow: 
 
 "There are, so far as this historian can judge, two ways of 
 writing history. One is that which deals exclusively with the past, 
 enabling the chronicler to deal largely with tradition, amplified 
 by such documents and inscriptions, tablets and memorials as have 
 been handed down the ages. # # # The second method is that of 
 assembling only known facts and chronicles which can be sub- 
 stantiated, adding the fewest possible observations. This plan 
 seems on the whole to be the safest, although possibly less spec- 
 tacular a history may result. * * # 
 
 "With the first laying out of our town, we are lucky enough 
 to have those with us who saw the first streets cut through the 
 woodland, and those who, even before that, saw the dream on 
 paper which was to blossom into the reality of today. Let these 
 give us the authentic story of those early times. All I can vouch 
 for is that Kenilworth was once a dream in the heart of a man. 
 He wrote his poems with trees and shrubs; he made pictures out 
 of squares of streets and ground, and he dotted his landscape with 
 high lights of comfortable and beautiful homes. To these homes 
 came people with like ideals to his own. They enjoyed the fresh 
 winds from the lake, the beauty of our native elm woods, car- 
 peted in those days with wildflowers. The long blue line of the 
 
 iii 
 
FORECAST 
 
 lake was then the possession of every one before it was cut off by 
 growing trees and the increasing number of houses. Innumerable 
 wild birds haunted the place, and the little forest beasts were still 
 unafraid. And the early settlers expected to live like all the good 
 people in the fairy stories — happy ever after. * # # 
 
 "The real Kenilworth began in 1889. As towns go we are still 
 very young although we are built on old ground. Tradition says 
 that this whole site was once a farm, and we perhaps are dwelling 
 in the wood-lot of that farm. At any rate our history is in the 
 making, and many of those whose privilege it will be to write the 
 first chapters can speak from their own experience. There will be 
 smiles and tears both in these pages, and deepest of our regrets 
 will be this — that the Dreamer of the dream cannot be with us 
 to see how it all worked out. 
 
 "So this first historian says Hail and Farewell! Farewell to the 
 wildflowers and the birds, to the simplicity and intimate neighbor- 
 liness of the little town as it was when she came bringing her 
 hopes and youth and enthusiasm to the little rented house, the 
 first house of her married life. And Hail to the ones who are 
 coming, with their different ideas, but we hope some of the same 
 ideals. You are changing things, whether you wish to or not. But 
 change it however you may, you cannot take from us who came 
 in the late nineties these priceless memories of a slower, more 
 peaceful and more lovely little town. We who sit upon the side- 
 lines salute you! " 
 
 Anne Higginson Spicer, 
 
 First Historian of the Kenilworth Historical 
 
 Society. 1922. 
 
 IV 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 Foreword i 
 
 Forecast iii 
 
 I The Founding of Kenilworth 1 
 
 II Joseph Sears 13 
 
 III Reminiscences of Early Days 15 
 
 IV Village Progress 21 
 
 V Parks and Playgrounds 29 
 
 VI Schools — Public and Private 35 
 
 VII Kenilworth Union Church 41 
 
 VIII Church of the Holy Comforter 51 
 
 IX Kenilworth Assembly Hall Association 56 
 
 X The Kenilworth Club 60 
 
 XI Kenilworth Historical Society 66 
 
 XII Golf Clubs 69 
 
 XIII The Neighbors of Kenilworth 71 
 
 XIV Garden Clubs 81 
 
 XV Kenilworth Travel Club 87 
 
 XVI League of Women Voters 90 
 
 XVII Kenilworth Infant Welfare 92 
 
 XVIII Skokie Valley Chapter, D.A.R 94 
 
 XIX Kenilworth Activities in World War 1 96 
 
 XX Kenilworth Activities in World War II 103 
 
 XXI Kenilworth Boy Scouts 109 
 
 XXII Kenilworth Girl Scouts Ill 
 
 XXIII Indian Days 113 
 
 XXIV "To Each His Own" 115 
 
Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Joseph Sears 7 
 
 The Home of Joseph Sears 7 
 
 James A. Culbertson 8 
 
 Children's Exercises in Culbertson Gymnasium at Union 
 
 Church 8 
 
 Kenilworth Cadets at Drill 25 
 
 Looking West on Kenilworth Avenue from Beach 25 
 
 Looking East on Kenilworth Avenue, from Union Church to 
 
 Water Tower 25 
 
 Golf and Skating Shelter on Leicester Road 26 
 
 Pump House and Observation Platform on Kenilworth 
 
 Beach 26 
 
 Of the Three Houses in Kenilworth Before the Village Was 
 
 Founded, This One, on Sheridan Road, Remains 43 
 
 Mahoney Farm House 43 
 
 Grave of Eugene Field 44 
 
 Church of the Holy Comforter 44 
 
 First Troop of Boy Scouts 61 
 
 Village Store 61 
 
 First Public School House 62 
 
 Golfers on Links Along Sheridan Road 62 
 
 Rugby School 62 
 
 Kenilworth's Famous Fountain 79 
 
 Kenilworth Hall 79 
 
 Kenilworth Union Church 80 
 
 Kenilworth Assembly Hall 80 
 
 One of the "Indian Trail" Trees (Cumnor Road) 97 
 
 Original Boat and Bathing House 97 
 
 Entrance to Ann Higginson Spicer Memorial Path 98 
 
 One of the Gates Opening Upon the Ware Memorial 
 
 Garden 98 
 
 vi 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 The Founding of Kenilworth 
 
 THE unique character of Kenilworth springs from the 
 desire of its founder to combine in the community the 
 atmosphere of the country and the convenience of the 
 city. The early citizens developed their organizations and institu- 
 tions to foster the spirit of home surroundings that made the vil- 
 lage especially attractive to those whose first interest was their 
 children. 
 
 Joseph Sears, like some other wealthy business men of Chicago 
 in the 1880's, sought a summer home for his children in the rural 
 area of the North Shore. Renting such a retreat in Glencoe, he 
 used to ride on horseback over the stretch south to the borders of 
 Evanston. At first he sought a farm, but subsequently conceived 
 the possibility of a subdivision. The land for the purpose he found 
 in the level area on the lake front between the villages of Win- 
 netka and Wilmette, incorporated twenty years before. 
 
 The tract which he purchased had been assembled by Charles 
 E. Simmons, then living in Oak Park, who was land commissioner 
 of the Chicago and North Western railroad. It consisted of several 
 farms between the railroad and the lake owned by John Schmitt, 
 Jacob Schmitt, Angela Diversey and others. The last-named was 
 the widow of Michael Diversi, or Diversey, who purchased 80.15 
 acres from the United States government in 1841 for $100.19, 
 shortly after the adjoining 159.13 acres had been bought from 
 the government by one Timothy Sunderlin at the same price of 
 $1.25 per acre. This and much other interesting data on the land 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 titles is to be found in the 4 5 -page printed copy of the abstract of 
 title furnished to the original purchasers of Kenilworth home sites. 
 
 November 1, 1889, Joseph Sears purchased from Charles E. 
 Simmons 208.6 acres, for $135,000, a high price for an undevel- 
 oped subdivision tract, in those days and even now. The tract 
 comprised Kenilworth east of the railroad between the North 
 Road (now Winnetka Avenue) and the Daniel Mahoney farm, 
 with the exception of a few acres in a narrow stretch along the 
 Skokie ditch, which was acquired some time later, and a 15 -acre 
 tract on the northeast, which was purchased by Mr. Sears a few 
 days later from Catherine and Adam Weckler for the considera- 
 tion of $15,300. Part of the Mahoney farm became, years later, 
 the McGuire & Orr subdivision at the southern edge of Kenil- 
 worth, and the remainder became Mahoney Park upon the death 
 of the two daughters and son of Daniel, by their gift to the village. 
 
 Recalling her first glimpse of the site of Kenilworth, Mrs. 
 Joseph Sears, in a paper read at the first annual meeting of the 
 Kenilworth Historical Society at her home in 1922, described it 
 as "a thick tangle of woods reaching from the Mahoney farm to 
 the North Road, then nothing more than a wagon track winding 
 through the forest." "Along the lake was a cleared area under 
 cultivation," she added; "a few frame houses and clumps of 
 orchard trees still bear witness to the thrifty farms of the former 
 occupants." 
 
 Those most familiar with the proposed village site, recollected 
 Dr. Rufus B. Stolp, whose birthplace and boyhood home was in 
 Wilmette, were the botany students from Northwestern Univer- 
 sity and the "cow boys" who pastured the animals of Grosse 
 Pointe and Wilmette families in the woods now to be cleared for 
 homes. While the boys gathered a cow or two into the herd from 
 each dwelling they passed, they sometimes received a pail from 
 a housewife in which to bring back raspberries or blackberries. 
 In the fall they gathered butternuts, hickory and hazel nuts. Elm- 
 wood Avenue was known as North Avenue in Wilmette, and only 
 
THE FOUNDING OF KENILWORTH 
 
 a half-dozen homes lay between that village and Winnetka, mostly 
 on the lake shore. Three of these stood alongside the gulley that 
 descended to the beach from Sheridan Road, where Devonshire 
 Lane is now. One was the home of George Kruse, which still 
 stands at 329 Sheridan Road after being remodeled several times. 
 (He soon moved to a house built for him on Ivy Court and lent 
 much practical aid in village projects until his death in 1918.) 
 In another, it is said, were sheltered 28 survivors of the Lady 
 Elgin, wrecked off Winnetka's shore in September, I860. 
 
 Shortly after the purchase of the land, the Kenilworth Com- 
 pany was formed, December 18, 1889. A summer spent in Eng- 
 land several years before, and the memory of the lovely Warwick- 
 shire country, impelled Mr. Sears to choose the name of the 
 community. The original members of the company were Joseph 
 Sears, president; Ingolf K. Boyesen, vice-president; Charles S. 
 Smith, secretary; William H. H. Sears, treasurer, and Joseph S. 
 Mitchell. Later were added Frank P. Burnham and John J. Nutt 
 as directors. The company continued until 1904, when Joseph 
 Sears took over the outstanding stock and became sole owner of 
 the remaining property. 
 
 Dr. Smith attended to the office and sales, Mr. Boyesen to the 
 legal affairs, and W. H. H. Sears, brother of the president, super- 
 intended the improvements, which were launched immediately. 
 Frank P. Burnham was the architect of the railroad station, the 
 Kenilworth Union Church and many of the early homes. 
 
 By the summer of 1890 activity was lively. For the main 
 thoroughfare, now Kenilworth Avenue, a straight line was drawn 
 from the railroad station to the lake, to afford an unobstructed 
 view of the blue waters to homecoming village fathers. Laying of 
 pipes, paving of streets and planting of trees in the parkways 
 followed rapidly. Up the road from the lake shore that is now 
 Devonshire Lane came continual loads of sand for paving and fill, 
 and the performance of the various teams of horses in hauling the 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 heavy loads up the bluff was a matter of rivalry among the drivers 
 and the small boys who watched. 
 
 Within another year, according to the report of the company's 
 secretary December 31, 1891, nearly three miles of main and 
 lateral sewers had been laid, together with connecting stubs to 
 some 200 lots. A water works had been built on the beach at the 
 foot of Kenilworth Avenue, capable of supplying a population of 
 2,000 or more with filtered lake water, and three miles of dis- 
 tributing mains and their connecting supply pipes were in place. 
 The slender cylindrical water tower just west of Sheridan Road 
 and north of Kenilworth Avenue was a conspicuous landmark. 
 A gas works with a capacity of 80,000 cubic feet daily was in 
 operation at the extreme northwest corner of the village, together 
 with three miles of gas mains and their connections. Two and 
 one-half miles of macadam streets — the first on the North Shore 
 — had been paved, as well as more than three miles of concrete 
 sidewalks. The streets were sprinkled on occasion, and they were 
 lighted at night by gas lamps of "boulevard" type. Three houses 
 for as many employees of the village were built on Ivy Court. A 
 store building stood where the northbound platform of the North 
 Shore electric road is today. 
 
 More pretentious evidence of progress was seen. The stone 
 railroad station was of unusual and attractive design. The beach 
 at the foot of the chief avenue had been protected by breakwaters, 
 and the high bluff graded and sodded in places. 
 
 Kenilworth Hall had been built (now remodeled into a resi- 
 dence at 303 Cumnor Road) for the accommodation of Mrs. 
 Babcock's young ladies' and children's school, which had been 
 opened, "furnishing to local pupils and many from neighboring 
 towns very superior educational opportunities and providing a 
 most delightful school home to a number of boarding pupils, who 
 are cared for in Mrs. Babcock's residence, adjoining the school and 
 built for the express purpose." A boys' school had just been begun, 
 
THE FOUNDING OF KENILWORTH 
 
 its three pupils receiving instructions in the Sears home the pre- 
 ceding year. 
 
 Post office, express office, telegraph office and public and pri- 
 vate telephones were in operation. A store building was planned. 
 
 These improvements and institutions were enjoyed by fami- 
 lies in twelve homes, then built and occupied. Two more were 
 under construction, and another dozen were projected for the fol- 
 lowing year. The houses first built, for which Frank P. Burnham 
 was the architect, may be recognized today, in several cases, by the 
 yellow sandstone masonry. 
 
 In a small brochure of sixteen pages and cover, issued by the 
 Kenilworth Company at about this time, were presented halftone 
 reproductions of actual photographs of the principal homes that 
 had then been erected and occupied. The booklet, entitled "Kenil- 
 worth Homes," gave the village the title, "The North Shore Sub- 
 urb." The photographs reproduced bore evidence of the abun- 
 dance of "noble forest trees," of paved streets and sidewalks, and of 
 "boulevard" street lamps. 
 
 The present-day addresses (there were no numbers then and 
 the present street names were given several years later) of those 
 first twelve residences and the names of their first owners follow 
 — all still standing except where otherwise noted: 
 
 William H. H. Sears, 354 Kenilworth Avenue. 
 
 Charles S. Smith, 339 Kenilworth Avenue. 
 
 Frank P. Burnham, 37 Kenilworth Avenue. 
 
 Mrs, Mary Keyes Babcock, 309 Cumnor Road (razed). 
 
 Dr. Charles Adams, 165 Sheridan Road (burned). 
 
 Joseph Sears, 517 Sheridan Road (burned 1945). 
 
 George Ellsworth Holmes, 4 14 Essex Road. 
 
 Howard H. Spaulding, 336 Abbotsford Road. 
 
 John Y. Calahan, 330 Cumnor Road. 
 
 Rollin A. Keyes, 140 Melrose Avenue. 
 
 Guy F. Gosman, 423 Abbotsford Road. 
 
 Benjamin P. Hinman, 241 Kenilworth Avenue (razed). 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Homes other than those named above indicated on the histor- 
 ical map that accompanies this volume are 521 Roslyn, home of 
 Francis Lackner, first president of the park board; 220 Melrose, 
 James Culbertson, first village and first Kenilworth Club president; 
 241 Melrose, A. V. Martin, first church board president; 255 Mel- 
 rose, village trustee Edgar Barratt's home, sold to Judge Eastman, 
 last meeting place of the Neighbors in a home; 165 Kenilworth, 
 John Benham's home, first house built for a tenant; 424 Warwick, 
 George Maher, famous town planner and architect, and his son 
 Philip Brooks Maher, also a noted architect; 326 Essex, Frank Root, 
 loveliest of homes designed by Paul Starrett (519 Warwick de- 
 signed for his bride, Therese Hinman), who later built, among 
 other famous structures, the Flatiron building, Empire State build- 
 ing and Pennsylvania terminal in New York, and Lincoln Me- 
 morial in Washington; 312 Essex, "Tilfredschaden," garden show- 
 place of poetess Anne Higginson Spicer and her husband Vibe 
 Spicer, engineer and inventor; 320 Abbotsford, banker Harry Hall, 
 first village clerk; 433 and 415 Cumnor, Edward Bideleux and 
 Wilson Low homes, early occupied by Taylor brothers, Harry and 
 William, including six little Taylors; 423 Cumnor, Dr. Rufus 
 Stolp, son of Dr. Byron Stolp, pioneer Wilmette physician, and 
 founder president of Kenilworth Historical Society. 
 
 The deeds by which the home owners acquired their lots con- 
 tained rigid restrictions, to preserve the character of the town as 
 visioned by its planners. The lots were of large size; the majority 
 were 100 by 175 feet, and the others varied a few feet in either 
 dimension according to the exigencies of the plat. No alley marred 
 the subdivision. High standards were maintained in the construc- 
 tion of the homes. Business structures were to be similarly regu- 
 lated, so that the entire town might maintain a homogeneous 
 character and the haphazard construction of the usual subdivision 
 might be prevented. These restrictions were incorporated in the 
 village zoning ordinance years later. 
 
Joseph Sears 
 
 The Home of Joseph Sears 
 
James A. Culbertson 
 
 Children's Exercises in Culbertson Gymnasium at Union Church 
 
THE FOUNDING OF KENILWORTH 
 
 Such an attempt in town planning received widespread atten- 
 tion, and during the Chicago world's fair Kenilworth was visited 
 by many famous architects, including Frederick Law Olmsted, 
 noted landscape planner. The attention of men of means seeking 
 a desirable place of residence was drawn to Kenilworth. The man 
 who was to be the first village president and to contribute in many 
 ways to its progress, James A. Culbertson, inspected the develop- 
 ment, seeking a home nearer his lumber interests at Menominee 
 than his earlier home in Kentucky. With Mrs. Culbertson he made 
 the trip to Kenilworth from Chicago under the guidance of Dr. 
 C. S. Smith, secretary of the Kenilworth Company. "A few days 
 later," Dr. Smith related years afterward, "Mr. Culbertson called 
 at the office and, in his characteristic manner, put the following 
 unusual question: 
 
 "Doctor, I intend to make Kenilworth my home, and how am 
 I to feel sure that all of the promises which you have made in 
 regard to the high character, the restrictions and maintenance of 
 the property will be fulfilled? Do you know of any reason why I 
 should not make this investment?" 
 
 Dr. Smith answered: "I don't believe any such question was 
 ever asked a real estate man before, and all I can say, Mr. Cul- 
 bertson, is that I have not very much money, but all I have is 
 invested in Kenilworth, because I believe in Mr. Sears." 
 
 The substance of such faith was evident in another anecdote 
 related by Dr. Smith. In 1891 Mr. Sears invited about twenty of 
 his personal friends, prominent bankers and business men of Chi- 
 cago, to a picnic luncheon on the shore of Kenilworth, "then in 
 a crude and chaotic state of development." One guest asked the 
 price of the property on which the picnickers were gathered. Mr. 
 Sears referred the question to Dr. Smith, who said the price was 
 $60 per foot. Inasmuch as similarly located property both north 
 and south of Kenilworth was selling at $15 per foot, the answer 
 
 9 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 created laughter. But within twelve months the property was sold 
 at $60 per foot and later became worth $250 per foot. 
 
 Another dozen homes were built in 1892 and fourteen more 
 in 1893, besides the Rugby School and Kenilworth Union Church. 
 Only two were constructed in 1894, probably a reflection of the 
 depression of '93. But activity increased in 1895 and eight dwell- 
 ings were completed. 
 
 Progress toward community activity showed itself in various 
 ways. A volunteer fire department was organized, but complaint 
 appeared that only four or five citizens turned out for drill, while 
 Wilmette mustered twenty regulars. In 1892 twenty-six residents 
 shared the cost of police protection at $2 per month. In 1894 the 
 first garbage collection was undertaken, at $3 per year for each 
 household. 
 
 As will appear in subsequent pages, clubs were formed for the 
 earnest and the sportive, for study and for recreation, antedating 
 the formation of the Kenilworth Club in 1894 and the Neighbors 
 in 1895. 
 
 The latter organization was responsible for the present names 
 of the streets. Upon the request of Mr. Sears and the village trus- 
 tees, members of the Neighbors, meeting at the home of Mrs. 
 Charles Adams in 1899, selected English and Scotch names for 
 the thoroughfares, most of them from Sir Walter Scott's novel, 
 "Kenilworth." Before that time the streets crossing Kenilworth 
 Avenue were named for American authors. Lowell avenue became 
 Abbotsford, Irving avenue became Essex, and Hawthorne was re- 
 named Warwick. Raleigh Road was rejected for Richmond Road 
 for fear, as it faced the tracks, it might be nicknamed "Trolley 
 Road." 
 
 That year the village was trolley conscious. The Chicago and 
 Milwaukee — now the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee rail- 
 road — had built the tracks of its electric line to the boundaries of 
 Kenilworth on the north and south. Passengers were obliged to 
 
 10 
 
THE FOUNDING OF KENILWORTH 
 
 leave the cars at either boundary of the village and walk one-half 
 mile to the other terminus in order to continue their journey. The 
 terms of a franchise were long debated, but finally in 1899, after a 
 session of the village board lasting until 6:30 in the morning, the 
 ordinance was passed and this long inconvenience ended. 
 
 In this era began an organization that, by voluntary subscrip- 
 tion, for many years supplemented the work of corporate govern- 
 ing bodies in maintaining the unusual character of Kenilworth. 
 Under the presidency of its founder, J. A. Culbertson, the Kenil- 
 worth Improvement Association filled the flower boxes at the 
 railroad station and the urns at Kenilworth Avenue and Sheridan 
 Road, planted in the parkways along Kenilworth Avenue the ever- 
 greens that now show their old age, cut the weeds and cleared the 
 rubbish from vacant lots, and financed an annual clean-up day. 
 While the park commissioners and the village board gradually 
 took over such functions, the association continued — under the 
 succeeding presidents, Otto Owen, W. F. Freudenreich and Her- 
 man C. Hintzpeter — until 1933. The final funds, no contributions 
 being solicited in 1932, were expended in planting elm trees on 
 either side of Sheridan Road in the parkways fronting on Mahoney 
 Park, then being developed. 
 
 Through the association began the work of public-spirited 
 citizens in acquiring property defaced by old shacks, livery stables 
 and garages west of the tracks, chiefly on the muddy alley that 
 was called for a time Railroad Avenue and now Green Bay Road. 
 That led to the formation of the Kenilworth Realty Association, 
 which carried the atmosphere of the village west of the railroad to 
 the Ridge. 
 
 As early as 1898 requests were made for the annexation to 
 Kenilworth of the unincorporated territory west of the railroad. 
 Subdivisions comprising small lots and without building restric- 
 tions had been opened to the north of the North Shore Golf Club. 
 Repeatedly the requests for annexation were denied. When real 
 
 11 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 estate subdivisions began bidding for the forty acres of the golf 
 club, it was feared a larger area might be given over to unwelcome 
 subdivisions. In this crisis forty-eight Kenilworth citizens put 
 $292,800 into the Kenilworth Realty Association, the largest part 
 of which was for the purchase of the golf club tract and the re- 
 mainder was used to obtain title to the ill-improved properties 
 mentioned above. Formed in 1920, the association's executive com- 
 mittee was composed of L. M. Willis, chairman; Charles D. Howe, 
 secretary; E. F. Hamm, treasurer, A. W. Hannah, Joseph Joyce 
 and Fred D. Breit. Present officers are H. C. Hintzpeter, president; 
 W. F. Freudenreich, treasurer, and Leon T. Ellis, secretary. 
 
 From the golf course was formed the Kenilworth Community 
 Development, with curving streets and spacious lots, most of them 
 80 by 165 or 100 by 165 feet. Building restrictions were main- 
 tained, parkways planted and much aid given in carrying out the 
 village plan of 1922. Little of the property remains unsold, but 
 only $193,822 has been returned to the investors in a quarter 
 century, so that their contribution to the community has been very 
 real financially. 
 
 12 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Joseph Sears 
 
 JOSEPH SEARS, the founder of Kenilworth, was born in 
 Lockport, Illinois, March 24, 1843, the son of Maranda 
 Blount and John Sears, Jr. Both his father and his father-in- 
 law, Samuel Stedman Barry, were early settlers in Chicago, 
 coming from Bristol, New York, and Salem, Massachusetts, re- 
 spectively, in 1837. 
 
 During the Civil War, Mr. Sears served first as commissary 
 sergeant of the 134th Illinois Infantry and later became regimen- 
 tal quartermaster, with rank of first lieutenant, of the 147th 
 Illinois Infantry. 
 
 When the war was over he returned to marry Helen Stedman 
 Barry. Their children, six in number, were John Barry, Philip 
 Rassalas, Helen Abigail, Marion Louise (died in infancy), Joseph 
 Alden, and Dorothy. 
 
 In 1868, Mr. Sears entered the employ of N. K. Fairbank, 
 with whom his father had had business connections, and became 
 a partner in 1872. In 1880, when the company was incorporated, 
 he was made its vice-president and so served until it was sold 
 in 1889. 
 
 It was at that time that Mr. Sears became interested in forming 
 a company to purchase the land now known as Kenilworth. 
 
 Mr. Sears died in 1912 in his home at 517 Sheridan Road. 
 His widow and family remained in Kenilworth, at 417 Warwick 
 Road, until Mrs. Sears' death in 1932. The old home burned in 
 1945, and the little log playhouse on the property, which had 
 
 13 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 been moved from the city home in 1895, was moved again to the 
 home of Joseph Alden Sears in Northbrook for the enjoyment of 
 his children. 
 
 In 191 1, when Mr. Sears returned from a trip to Europe, where 
 he sought to regain his health, his homecoming was made a heart- 
 warming event by the citizens of Kenilworth, who arranged a 
 bank of American Beauty roses in his home and there presented 
 him with a beautifully bound leather book, the signature of every 
 villager following this illuminated tribute: 
 
 "Kenilworth is your creation. It is the quality of your person- 
 ality that has attracted here souls kindred to your own and bound 
 them to you as with bonds of steel. In it all you have demonstrated 
 your superiority and made possible a community of homes imbued 
 with your spirit, enriched by your labors, and aglow with goodwill. 
 Most that you have done has been for others, and there flows back 
 to you a wealth of appreciation and affection that is constant and 
 abounding." 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Reminiscences of Early Days 
 
 GLIMPSES of the activities of early days are afforded in 
 - extant copies of a few of the issues of The Kenilworth 
 News, published each Saturday during 1893 by the 
 12 -year-old editor and proprietor, John H. Sears. Four pages, 
 7 34x10 V^ inches, carried a front page of news and nearly three 
 pages of advertisements, chiefly of North Shore stores and con- 
 tractors, though an illustrated corset offer was prominent. The 
 Kenilworth Store and the Kenilworth Livery and Boarding Stables 
 were the only local advertisers. Advertising rate, 10 cents per inch. 
 For September 17, 1893, was announced the organization of 
 a Sunday School at the Kenilworth Chapel. Rugby School opened 
 September 1 3 with the names of twenty-nine boys, of which eleven 
 were from Kenilworth and eighteen from other North Shore 
 towns. Two weeks later the candidates for the football team were 
 reported, and the formation of the Athletic Association was an- 
 nounced, with Rufus Stolp, president, and Philip Sears, secretary 
 and treasurer. 
 
 A grand concert was given for the benefit of the church fund, 
 October 26. The Ladies' Society was formed November 13, with 
 Mrs. Sturges, president, Mrs. Ware, vice-president, and Mrs. Smith, 
 secretary. A meeting of the young married people was called 
 November 15, and Mrs. Babcock kindly offered Kenilworth Hall 
 for the business meeting; it was decided to meet every other Friday 
 evening, an initiation fee of $3 was set, and dancing and singing 
 concluded the evening. 
 
 15 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 The Dancing Club held its regular hop Thursday evening, 
 December 21, at Kenilworth Hall, the music provided by the 
 Kenilworth Orchestra, which made its first appearance. This or- 
 ganization, according to club meeting announcements, met every 
 other Thursday evening, the Pleasure Club every other Saturday 
 night, the Ladies' Literary Society every other Monday evening, 
 and the Boys' Club every other Saturday evening. The Music Club 
 met Tuesday evenings in homes, most often the Hinman and Sears 
 music rooms, an unusually gifted group residing in the new suburb. 
 
 The wedding of John Haslam and Laura Derickson, November 
 15, was reported. Invitations were out for that of Frank L. Olm- 
 stead, the Rugby schoolmaster, and Mabelle Weeks, at the bride's 
 home at Boston, November 27. 
 
 Numerous paragraphs recorded personal comings and goings. 
 
 The reason is not plain for the editorial statement in one issue: 
 
 "The editor wishes it clearly understood that he is the only one 
 
 responsible for the quality and character of the News. While the 
 
 paper is published at Rugby School, it merely takes the place of 
 
 bench work in the regular course of study, and is not a publication 
 
 of the school. We hope that our youth, twelve years, will entitle 
 
 us to some degree of leniency on the part of our subscribers. We 
 
 will do the best we can, but can hardly hope to be abreast the 
 
 professional standard." 
 
 # # # 
 
 "Early in 1890," writes Phil Sears, "with Cousin Joe visiting 
 Uncle Will Sears while the town was building, we made arrange- 
 ments with the railroad to flag certain trains after dark with a 
 kerosene lantern." 
 
 •n* «fEr 3f! 
 
 "December, 1890," wrote Mrs. Charles Smith, "the foundation 
 for the railway station was just begun, and the railroad stopped 
 one train in the morning at 9:00 to take Doctor into Chicago and 
 stopped one train which left Chicago at 5:15 to bring him out." 
 
 16 
 
REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS 
 
 "In 1890-91, while our home was building," wrote Ethel Bab- 
 cock Williams, "we were obliged to obtain a permit at the Wells 
 Street station, allowing the one o'clock funeral train, a ride of 
 fifty minutes, to stop." By January, 1892, frequent trains stopped. 
 In 1938, the 5 :48 was the first nonstop train. 
 
 # # # 
 
 "Until the establishment of the Union Church," wrote Ethel 
 Babcock Williams, "we had a bus come from Schwall's Livery in 
 Wilmette every Sunday morning to drive us to the Evanston 
 Church. When the load of girls from Kenil worth Hall dismounted 
 in front of St. Mark's it was an event of such interest to the choir 
 boys that one Sunday when the snow was too heavy for a bus and 
 they sent a very large sleigh in the shape of a scarlet swan, the 
 girls persuaded mother to have the driver stop near Davis Street 
 so they might be spared the smiles of the boys who were generally 
 lined up along the sidewalk awaiting our arrival." 
 
 # # # 
 
 The Skokie was a ditch first dug by early farmers to drain large 
 areas of marsh land around Kenilworth. It ran through the lots 
 west of the school. Mr. Sears, wishing to sell these lots for homes, 
 asked Mr. Baker about the possibility of changing the course of 
 the Skokie. Mr. Baker and Mr. Finnigan went to work on the 
 problem. As a result, the Skokie water now runs through pipes 
 six feet in diameter under the first grade and the kindergarten 
 rooms of the Sears school. 
 
 "The consternation of Joseph Sears and his associates was 
 great," wrote Mrs. Charles Smith of the flood in 1892, "when the 
 flood covered the entire area of their new development for several 
 feet. The downpour occurring at five o'clock, husbands were car- 
 rying their spouses, who drove to meet them at the station, to the 
 front door stoop, and village boys, to their horror, were sailing 
 from the lake in their boats. Frank Burnham, rowing from his 
 
 17 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 house on the bluff at the lake to the station in a dory, played 
 'Lohengrin' on a cornet, with an escort of swimming dogs. Helen 
 Sears and May Hinman, paying their first formal call, had to re- 
 main all night." "The Skokie," recalls Miss Hinman, 'overflowed 
 its banks, completely filling the culvert that should have carried 
 it under Sheridan Road, racing across Sheridan in a grand torrent. 
 'Mark Martin,' the A. V. Martins' dog, was sucked down into the 
 culvert, but to our amazement emerged with no ill effects — Kenil- 
 
 worth's first submarine." 
 
 # # # 
 
 Anne Higginson Spicer, village poetess, wife of Vibe Kieroff 
 Spicer, engineer and inventor, was the originator of the garden 
 club idea in Kenilworth, her home grounds at 312 Essex, then 
 extending to Woodstock, being the garden show place of the North 
 Shore. In "Songs of the Skokie" and "Crookshire Lad," one breathes 
 the air of her beloved village. One of her poems was to become the 
 theme of the cantata "The Last Crusade," which was set to music 
 by John Philip Sousa. Her pen name "Anchusa" appeared beneath 
 her book reviews. With her husband she was the originator of the 
 Arts and Craft Society, working in pottery, copper, brass and 
 
 wood, their exhibitions to bring national fame to Kenilworth. 
 
 # * # 
 
 The main highway between North Shore villages in 1890 was 
 Ridge Road. A dirt road along the lake front was known as Lake 
 Shore Road. It was macadamized through the village by the Kenil- 
 worth Company when homes were built there and later was re- 
 named Sheridan Road. April 14, 1917, marked its completion as 
 a concrete drive from Chicago to the northernmost limits of Kenil- 
 worth. Several hundred Chicagoans, including Mayor Thompson 
 and ex-Governor Deneen, met the North Shore delegation. Vir- 
 ginia Little, chosen by Village President Bull, broke the bottle of 
 champagne to christen the concrete pavement in Kenilworth, amid 
 bombs bursting and flags flying. 
 
 18 
 
REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS 
 
 Early celebrations of the Fourth of July were on residents' 
 lawns, with speeches and music. In 1897 the Kenilworth Club 
 provided funds for a village day-long observance, including flag 
 raising and a parade of decorated bicycles, tricycles and tandems. 
 A tennis tournament on courts near the Rugby School decided the 
 village championship. Contests took place on the beach and later 
 on the school play field. In the evening the entire population gath- 
 ered on the beach for fireworks and to hear the village quartettes. 
 
 # # # 
 
 The first edition of the North Shore Directory, listing residents 
 of Evanston, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka and Glencoe, pub- 
 lished by the Evanston Index Co. in 1904, contained the names of 
 271 persons in Kenilworth. "Domestics" were included, but not 
 children. House numbers were then existent only in Evanston and 
 Wilmette, being adopted in Kenilworth in 1918. So the first entry 
 ran thus: "Allen Leon M (Katherine B wife) ws Abbottsford 
 Road 1st n Woodstock av tel 674, G P A Rock Island R R, La 
 Salle station, Chicago, tel Harrison 4676." 
 
 * # # 
 
 Mail carrier service was instituted in Kenilworth in August, 
 1926. The first carriers were Elmer Anderson and James Mon- 
 
 tanaro. 
 
 # # # 
 
 The frame building which housed the original company store, 
 removed from south of Kenilworth Avenue some years earlier, 
 was torn down in 1933 and a garden planted on the site. A portion 
 of the old store was remodeled to house the neighboring confec- 
 tionery store and North Shore ticket office. The brick store building 
 adjoining was remodeled for use as the village office and police 
 headquarters. 
 
 * # # 
 
 The village expense budget, recalled Charles Ware in 1931, 
 was $1,600 in 1896, $1,890 in 1900 and $4,000 in 1906. (Vil- 
 
 19 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 lage expenditures for the year ending April 30, 1947, were 
 $96,095.) 
 
 First birth in Kenilworth was that of Kathleen Smith, daugh- 
 ter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles S. Smith, 339 Kenilworth Avenue, on 
 March 17, 1891; she died August 25, 1891. First twins born here 
 were Beatrice and Florence (Beggie and Todgie) Pease, 519 War- 
 wick Road, July 6, 1900. 
 
 *?? T? tt 
 
 Because a population of 300 was required by state law for the 
 incorporation of a village, the hope of soon attaining that goal 
 rested on the expected arrival of two babies when autumn arrived 
 in 1895. In December, John D. Haslam made the count 299 and 
 Manierre B. Ware, 300. Incorporation papers were filed promptly, 
 and Kenilworth became a village February 4, 1896. 
 
 20 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Village Progress 
 
 FROM the time of its founding until incorporation, February 
 4, 1896, the village functions of Kenilworth were carried on 
 by the Kenilworth Company under Joseph Sears. The com- 
 pany organized and operated the water works and gas supply sys- 
 tems. Fire protection was furnished by a volunteer fire department. 
 The extent of police protection was a private service to which 
 householders in the village subscribed. Taxation and other gov- 
 ernmental functions were carried on by New Trier township, 
 formed in 1850 and including north shore villages north, south 
 and west. 
 
 Upon incorporation, February 4, 1896, J. A. Culbertson was 
 elected village president; Henry A. Hall, village clerk, and J. Y. 
 Calahan, George Cutter, R. A. Keyes, George A. McClellan, W. 
 H. Sears and A. M. Stearns, trustees. J. Warren Pease was ap- 
 pointed village attorney and Edward D. Parmalee, village treas- 
 urer. The village board controlling our local affairs is similarly 
 organized today. 
 
 Territory west of the tracks was not included in the original 
 incorporation of the village. Property owners in that section peti- 
 tioned for annexation several times, but the proposal was defeated 
 at the polls until 1920. The favorable vote at that time was influ- 
 enced by plans for annexation of the tract to the villages to the 
 north and south, which caused apprehension that their zoning 
 might permit undesirable industrial and commercial use of the 
 frontage along West Railroad Avenue (now Green Bay Road). 
 
 21 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Subdivisions had already been opened in a part of the territory, 
 with narrow lots and low-cost buildings, which prevented develop- 
 ment there of the same type as in the older part of the village. 
 
 To meet the problem, the village board appointed the Kenil- 
 worth Plan Commission under authority of the state law, and in 
 1922 adopted the plan prepared, sketches of which are to be seen 
 at the village office. Some of the projects recommended in the 
 plan have been completed, some have been carried out in a modi- 
 fied form because of changed conditions and others are in abeyance. 
 
 In 1922 and 1923 sanitary sewers, water mains and sidewalks 
 were installed in the annexed territory, although the streets were 
 not paved until 1931. 
 
 The tract of forty acres previously occupied by the North Shore 
 Golf Club was annexed and developed in 1924. The following 
 year Park Drive was widened and paved. Extending and paving 
 Kenilworth Avenue (then Coventry Road) through the garage 
 district southwest of the railroad station was begun in 1928, 
 financed by a special assessment against the property in the 
 vicinity of the improvement. At the same time, the remaining 
 land in the old garage district was condemned, through a general 
 fund bond issue authorized by popular vote, for future use as a 
 site for a village hall and fire station — the triangular tracts at 
 Green Bay Road and Kenilworth Avenue. The Kenilworth Realty 
 Association assisted in this project by donating its holdings in the 
 garage district. 
 
 In 1928, also, the new Kenilworth Avenue railroad crossing 
 was opened and paved, while the old narrow crossing to the south 
 was abandoned. 
 
 Widening Green Bay Road, after revision of earlier and more 
 ambitious plans, was completed in 1931. Parking areas on the 
 west side of the tracks were paved and were landscaped in accord- 
 ance with recommendations of the garden clubs. The garden clubs 
 aided in landscaping the parkway of Park Drive. There, in 1932, 
 
 22 
 
VILLAGE PROGRESS 
 
 the Neighbors planted a George Washington Memorial elm tree 
 in connection with the nation-wide Washington bicentennial cele- 
 bration. 
 
 Accompanying the work of the Kenilworth Plan Commission, 
 studies were made which resulted in the adoption, in 1923, of a 
 zoning ordinance, incorporating many of the private restrictions 
 already in effect in the original development of Kenilworth and 
 establishing new restrictions in the recently annexed territory. In 
 1929 the village board established the Kenilworth architectural 
 commission, with the same membership as the zoning board of 
 appeals, to recommend a general style of architecture for business 
 buildings — confined to lots fronting on Green Bay Road. Recom- 
 mended was "the English style of architecture," the precise mean- 
 ing of which is still debated before the board, though the intent 
 has been consistently carried out. 
 
 Kenilworth was the leader in another form of community 
 improvement when, in 1907, Joseph Sears constructed an electric 
 power generating and distributing system. All electric light cables 
 and wires were carried in underground conduits, to avoid un- 
 sightly poles and wires in parkways. This innovation was dis- 
 approved as impractical and too expensive by Samuel Insull, then 
 a resident of Kenilworth. But by the time Mr. Sears sold the elec- 
 tric light franchise to the Public Service Company of Northern 
 Illinois, Mr. Insull was so convinced of the merits of underground 
 conduits that he is said to have paid more than the sum asked by 
 Mr. Sears (only what the installation cost him) , saying that some- 
 thing should be paid for the risk in such an original venture. Under 
 the franchise granted to the Chicago Telephone Co. in 1898 and 
 later renewed, some telephone lines are underground, but most 
 of them are on poles along rear lot lines. 
 
 The gas works which Mr. Sears had established at the time of 
 founding the village was also sold, with the village franchise, to 
 
 23 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois and then torn 
 down. 
 
 By 1925 the original water works — a kerosene-engined pump 
 in the wooden building on the beach at Kenilworth Avenue — 
 was inadequate for the increased population. The storage tank in 
 the tower on Sheridan Road held only 29,000 gallons and occa- 
 sionally ran dry. So the village purchased the water system from 
 the Sears' heirs. In the spring of 1926 electrically-driven centrifu- 
 gal pumps were installed, a 200,000 gallon elevated storage tank 
 was erected in the northwest part of the village and rehabilitation 
 of the distributing system was undertaken. By 1929 a new pump- 
 ing station and filtration plant was put in operation in the modern 
 brick building on the beach, all provided by the issuance of water 
 certificates payable only out of water revenues without any increase 
 in rates. Further enlargement was made in 1940, by WPA labor, 
 through the construction of a storage basin for filtered water with 
 a capacity of 125,000 gallons. 
 
 When the village acquired the water works and beach property, 
 the bathing beach continued to be operated by the Kenilworth 
 Club for the citizens of the village. The expense was divided be- 
 tween the club and the village until 1930, when it was entirely 
 assumed by the latter, the annual fees paid by the village families 
 for beach tickets defraying most of the annual cost. In the new 
 water works building, space was set aside for a public bath house, 
 equipped by the club and maintained by the village. A sheet-steel 
 jetty extending into the lake from the water works was built in 
 1930, after severe storms had done considerable damage to the 
 beach and to the pier to the south in 1929. Receding of the lake 
 level caused postponement of other plans for shore protection 
 made at that time. But the 11 -year cycle brought a high lake level 
 again, so high that the narrow beach to the south of the water 
 works became virtually unusable, and in 1943 the village pur- 
 chased, at a cost of $8,000, 175 feet of lake frontage north of the 
 
 24 
 
Kenihvorth Cadets at Drill 
 
 Looking West on Kenihvorth Avenue from Beach 
 
 ~"7 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 m§Us^ j 
 
 >*!&**■* 
 
 Looking East on Kenilworth Avenue, from Union Church 
 to Water Tower 
 
 25 
 
1 ./ 
 
 Golf and Skating Shelter on Leicester Road 
 
 
 Pump House and Observation Platform on 
 Kenilworth Beach 
 
 26 
 
VILLAGE PROGRESS 
 
 water works, with a wide sandy beach for enlargement of the 
 bathing facilities. 
 
 For fire protection dependence was entirely on a volunteer 
 brigade drawing apparatus by hand, usually too little and too late, 
 until an agreement was made with Wilmette in 1923 and then 
 with Winnetka in 1929 whereby fire calls are answered by the 
 trained firemen and excellent equipment of the fire department 
 there. 
 
 Though the private protection of early days had been replaced 
 by a police department, this consisted in 1921 only of the chief, 
 a motorcycle patrolman by day and a policeman to answer calls 
 at night. Two additional night policemen were employed that year 
 to patrol the streets in a squad car, paid for by popular subscription 
 the first season, but out of general taxes thereafter. Crime preven- 
 tion has become the primary activity of the department, which 
 now consists of a chief, two lieutenants and six policemen, with a 
 two-way radio system and two squad cars equipped with radio. 
 
 Gas street lamps were first succeeded by the present street 
 lights in 1923 on Abingdon Avenue and Robsart Road, paid for 
 by subscriptions from the owners of abutting properties. Public 
 request brought the installation of an electric street-lighting system, 
 with underground cables, throughout the village in 1926 under 
 special assessment proceedings. 
 
 Until 1920 no village office was maintained, and the books 
 and documents relating to governmental affairs were kept in the 
 residences of the village officers and committee chairmen. When 
 Felix L. Streed was employed as the first village manager, desk 
 space was provided for him in a tailor shop at 409 Richmond 
 Road. When the post office moved to larger quarters in 1923, its 
 former space at 417 Richmond Road was rented for use as a vil- 
 lage office and police headquarters. There the center of village 
 activities has continued. C. M. Osborn succeeded to the office of 
 village manager December 20, 1936. 
 
 27 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 In February, 1939, the Kenilworth Citizens' Advisory Com- 
 mittee was organized, with the adoption of a constitution and 
 by-laws. Thus formal recognition was given to the service of what 
 previously had been a loosely organized committee of citizens 
 occasionally called together to discuss community problems. The 
 committee meets annually or oftener on the call of its president. 
 It consists of the presidents and immediate past presidents of the 
 civic and similar organizations of the village. Its purposes are ( 1 ) 
 to coordinate civic effort, (2) to act as a nonpartisan committee 
 to suggest candidates to fill the offices of the village, the school 
 board and the park board, and (3) to make effective the cooper- 
 ation of all boards and organizations engaged in civic development 
 of the village. 
 
 The present village board consists of Anan Raymond, presi- 
 dent; Roland D. Feltman, Harry W. Lindsey, Jr., Lyle W. Rich- 
 mond, Murdo Ross, Thompson M. Wakeley and Henry C. Hassel. 
 Other village officers are Carl L. Kirk, clerk; Vernon R. Loucks, 
 attorney; George H. Rigler, treasurer, and C. M. Osborn, manager. 
 
 Outstanding citizens have occupied the office of village presi- 
 dent, usually for several terms, as follows: J. A. Culbertson, 
 1896-7; R. A. Keyes, 1897-9; George A. McClellan, 1899-1900; 
 Edgar G. Barratt, 1900-2; Robert H. Van Schaack, 1902-3; 
 William H. Isom, 1903-7; Charles Ware, 1907-9; Victor C San- 
 born, 1909-11; Henry Taylor, Jr., 1911-15; Charles R. Bull, 
 1915-17; William W. Wheelock, 1917-19; Frank R. Young, 
 1919-21; James C. Murray, 1921-27; Ralph R. Hawxhurst, 
 1927-33; Harry P. Harrison, 1933-40; Robert O. Berger, 1940- 
 45; Anan Raymond, 1945. 
 
 28 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 T 
 
 Parks and Playgrounds 
 
 dp* | 1HIS paradise along the railroad," north shore commuters 
 and the Chicago Tribune of 1893 described Kenilworth, 
 its station set in a grove of native oaks and elms. 
 ''Your Garden of Eden," twitted the English friend of Joseph 
 Sears, recalling letters picturing a dream village as he saw 
 houses near the lake rising from treeless meadows along avenues 
 of elm saplings. Virgin woods and meadows provided the parks 
 of the early residents, playgrounds for their children and pastures 
 for their cows. 
 
 To insure the enjoyment of the lake front to the community, 
 the Kenilworth Company in 1898 deeded to the village 980 
 feet of beach south of Devonshire Lane to be known as Lake 
 Shore Park, reserving only the right to remove gravel through 
 the lane, a right forfeited in 1914. But little used, this narrow 
 stretch of beach, except for 175 feet north of the lane, was sold 
 in 1929 for riparian rights attaching to the lots fronting on 
 Sheridan Road, and the Kenilworth Club was relieved of the 
 increasing expense of maintaining the beach playground at the 
 foot of Kenilworth Avenue, although continuing to operate it. 
 Over the waterworks a beach house was built. In 1943, to com- 
 pensate for the loss of beach to the south because of the high 
 water line, 175 feet of lake frontage was purchased north of the 
 waterworks and developed as a beach park, the summer recreation 
 ground of residents today. 
 
 29 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Stores adjacent to railroad stations formed the pattern of the 
 early days, but to Kenilworth in 1893 had come George Maher, 
 architect and town planner, his hobby park railroad entrances. 
 Hearing that, upon the granting of the North Shore Railroad 
 franchise of 1899, the company store, then located where pas- 
 sengers now alight from the northbound North Shore trains, was 
 to be moved to the northeast -corner of Kenilworth Avenue and 
 Richmond Road, he hurried home from a New York trip to add 
 his voice to that of protesting villagers, of the opinion that this 
 corner was eventually to be a park. Joseph Sears placed the store 
 200 feet north of the corner, and in 1900 deeded to the village 
 the small corner areas, to have erected thereon the circling stone 
 benches and urns about the fountain at the intersection, designed 
 by George Maher from funds made possible by the advantageous 
 franchise. 
 
 As early as 1891 the northwest corner of Kenilworth Avenue 
 and Cumnor Road had been sold and later was a number of times 
 resold. Civic pride ran high when, toward the close of 1905, it 
 was learned a store was to be built thereon, villagers suddenly 
 realizing that provision must be made looking toward the future 
 if Kenilworth was to continue the dream of its founder. Working 
 against time, several villagers contributed funds to buy the debated 
 corner, to hold until February 26, 1906, when an election was 
 held for the organization of the Kenilworth Park District. 
 
 The five commissioners elected drew lots for length of term: 
 Francis Lackner, 5 years, and therefore chosen president; A. Shreve 
 Badger, 4; George Maher, 3; William Isom, 2; Victor Sanborn, 1. 
 The president appointed two members as a finance committee and 
 two as a park committee. Two villagers were annually to be 
 appointed by the board as secretary and as treasurer. Meetings 
 were to be held on call of the president, and expenditures were 
 allowed on the vote of three. So through the years the board has 
 
 30 
 
PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS 
 
 continued, except for the change, in 1923, to the election of 
 commissioners on the odd years for 6-year terms. 
 
 Within the province of the park board fall provision for its 
 elections, raising of taxes for construction and maintenance and 
 interest on bonds issued, acquiring and housing equipment, and 
 caring for its properties. 
 
 Boundaries of village and park district do not coincide, the 
 once home site of Joseph Sears, founder, curiously being the only 
 portion of Kenilworth in the Winnetka park district. 
 
 Step by step the new park board set about to realize George 
 Maher's dream of railway park entrances, with all stores west of 
 the tracks. Its first act, April 9, 1906, was to purchase, for the 
 price paid, the debated 125x1 75-foot northwest corner at Kenil- 
 worth and Cumnor and to purchase from Joseph Sears the re- 
 maining 140 feet on Kenilworth, running 113 feet on Richmond, 
 taking a 5 -year option on the opposite 125x1 7 5 -foot southeast 
 corner (minus already deeded corners). The remaining 175 feet 
 on Kenilworth, running 125 feet on Cumnor, Joseph Sears gave 
 as the site of the assembly hall. In 1909 purchases of 75 adjoin- 
 ing feet on the east side of Richmond Road and, in 1917, 73.54 
 feet adjoining the village and railroad owned properties on the 
 west side of Richmond Road, from the Sears estate, effected a 
 park site from the assembly hall to the railroad, screening the 
 tracks. 
 
 The tract on the north side of Kenilworth Avenue, where 
 villagers gather in tribute to their honored dead, became known 
 as Memorial Park. A wild flower path in memory of the poetess, 
 Anne Higginson Spicer, connects it with the village garden. 
 
 The other railroad entrance, at Melrose Avenue, was secured 
 January 14, 1911, when Joseph Sears, his chief incentive ever 
 the children, deeded to the park board the 1^-acre triangular 
 block to the north along the railroad as a playground. Added 
 later were, in 1930, a skating rink, including a small rink for 
 
 31 
 
hockey; in 1934, floodlights; in 1935, a loud-speaker, including 
 player equipment for broadcasting records, and in 1938 a field 
 house. May 2, 1913, the park board purchased from the Sears 
 estate the south side of Melrose facing the playground, bringing 
 to it in 1923 from Fortress Monroe a cannon patriotically to be 
 given in the scrap drive of World War II. 
 
 The third step of the park board was the linking of the Kenil- 
 worth and Melrose entrances, purchasing from the Sears estate 
 25 feet on Richmond Road, in November, 1916, necessitating 
 the removal of the early fire shed, now the dog pound, to the 
 end of the street, and the 140 feet adjoining in November, 1921. 
 From Charles O'Connor was purchased 22 feet in January, 1922, 
 and 63 feet, improved with present village office, contracted for 
 in April, 1923; and from Alfred Crooks 62 feet with the original 
 company store, contracted for in January, 1914, a bond issue, 
 February, 1930, concluding the purchase of both building sites. 
 In 1933 the original company store, except for part now used as 
 the North Shore ticket office and a confectionery store, was torn 
 down and replaced by a modern garden, planned by Mrs. Bentley 
 McCloud, who served for twelve years as the park board's first 
 woman commissioner. When some day a village hall and a fire 
 station rise on the triangles southwest of the railroad station on 
 Green Bay Road, these buildings will come down. 
 
 At the south entrance to the village, on either side of Sheridan 
 Road, is Mahoney park and bird sanctuary, deeded by the Mahoney 
 sisters and their brother on their death in 1929 to the village 
 board in gratefulness for the village that grew up about their 
 homestead. Here gather the Scouts at its council rings and picnick- 
 ing villagers at its fireplace, in the beauty designed by the natural- 
 ist and landscape architect, Jens Jensen. 
 
 In the center of old Kenilworth, at Kenilworth Avenue and 
 Warwick Road, is the Charles Ware Memorial Garden, in 1939 
 the gift of Fannie Ware in memory of her husband and in love 
 
 32 
 
PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS 
 
 of the community church in which they had served since 1892. 
 It was designed by the Cleveland landscape architect, Donald 
 Grey, so that its rare trees and shrubs may flower or fruit through 
 every month of the year. 
 
 In 1920, lest it become the backyard of neighboring villages, 
 west Kenilworth was added, and the early dream of parks at the 
 railroad entrances was expanded, according to George Maher's 
 greater village plan of 1922. A park site was secured west of 
 the station, along Railroad Avenue, now Green Bay Road. In 
 1925 an old road was widened into Park Drive and given over 
 to the care of the park board. Street lights in the area to the south 
 of Park Drive are set in landscaped triangles, guiding one through 
 its curving roads. At the station are landscaped parking areas, 
 looking across Green Bay Road to the landscaped sites of the 
 future village hall and fire station. 
 
 Thoughts turned to west Kenilworth north of Park Drive, 
 July, 1946, when the Kenilworth Advisory Council, composed of 
 the presidents and past presidents of all its village organizations, 
 discussed a possible playground at the entrance of the underpass 
 on Green Bay Road. 
 
 The roster of park commissioners over a period of forty years 
 has included Francis Lackner, A. Shreve Badger, George Maher, 
 W. H. Isom, Victor Sanborn, Herman Kasten, Vibe K. Spicer, 
 George W. Keehn, William M. Stearns, John Benham, Charles 
 Armstrong, Edward Parmalee, James R. Chapman, F. B. Hunt- 
 ington, Alex. W. Hannah, Frank M. Hicks, William B. Fitch, 
 Lloyd M. Willis, Benjamin F. Odell, Maurice L. Jenks, John P. 
 Oleson, Arthur Mcintosh, Walter F. Shattuck, Roy H. Jarrett, 
 E. F. Hamm, George P. Nichols, Charles Howe, Joseph Joyce, 
 Ward Starrett, Herbert B. Taylor, Mrs. Bentley McCloud, John F. 
 White, Herbert Prussing, Leon T. Ellis, Allen E. Bulley, Warren 
 K. Hathaway, Leonard Paidar, Mrs. Gilbert Kelly, Jervis Babb, 
 Frank G. Karslake and Marshall L. Doty. 
 
 33 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 The office of secretary has been filled by Benjamin P. Hinman, 
 Jr. (for many years), F. J. Odell, Herbert B. Taylor and C. M. 
 Osborn, and that of treasurer by Howard O. Edmonds, Robert H. 
 Tinsman, Harry Weese and George Rigler. 
 
 34 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Schools — Public and Private 
 
 KENILWORTH is justly proud of the Joseph Sears 
 public school, at Abbotsford Road and Cumberland 
 Avenue, where life is so pleasant that the alumni 
 attending nearby New Trier High School cannot resist the tempta- 
 tion to drop in for occasional chats with their former teachers. 
 
 But when Kenilworth was young its educational institutions 
 were operated privately on a fee basis. Almost simultaneously, 
 there came into existence in 1891 the Rugby School, for the boys, 
 and Mrs. Babcock's School, also known as Kenilworth Hall, for 
 the young ladies. 
 
 Headmaster of the Rugby School was Frank Lincoln Olmstead, 
 proud possessor of an A.B. degree from Harvard. His first assistant 
 was Louis Rouillon, a Cornell graduate. Of the eight trustees, 
 four resided in Kenilworth: Guy F. Gosman, W. H. H. Sears, 
 Rollin A. Keyes and Joseph Sears. 
 
 Rugby sought to train its students "in the elements of a good 
 education" and "to meet the moral and physical needs of each, so 
 that all influences shall tend to the development of a manly 
 character." 
 
 The first school sessions were held in the home of Joseph Sears 
 and the first class numbered three — Guy Gosman, Jr., Joseph M. 
 Sears and Philip Sears. Bernie Gosman and Rufus B. Stolp 
 increased the roster to five. 
 
 In 1892 the Rugby School took over an old farm house — 
 since demolished — near the southeast corner of Kenilworth 
 
 35 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Avenue and Sheridan Road, while ground was being broken for 
 a new building. 
 
 The architect was George W. Maher (who also designed 
 Kenilworth Hall) and a prospectus for 1892-93 assured parents 
 that the new home, then under construction, "embodies the best 
 results for lighting, heating and ventilating." 
 
 Rugby experienced its greatest growth during the next few 
 years, increased its faculty to five and had as many as fifty day 
 and boarding pupils. Mr. Olmstead was succeeded in 1894 by 
 William R. Trowbridge, with whom was associated Francis King 
 Cook, founder of the Girton School for Girls in Winnetka. The 
 latter school really began when six (later ten) girls were received 
 at Rugby and received instruction in a room in Mr. Trowbridge's 
 home for three years. It was closed in 1904, the school building 
 being converted into a residence. 
 
 Kenilworth Hall, which housed Mrs. Babcock's school, was 
 completed in 1891, and boasted a chemistry laboratory in the 
 basement, class rooms, and a second floor gymnasium which for 
 years served as a civic center for the soon to be incorporated 
 village. The square-built building at that time was imposing for 
 its size, arched entrance, high basement, spacious first floor and 
 steep roof enclosing the second story. 
 
 As befitted the head of such an institution, Mrs. Babcock was 
 a member of the Chicago Woman's Club and Fortnightly Club 
 and founder and first president of the Kenilworth Literary Society. 
 Her educational domain included Latin, French, mathematics, 
 history and literature. 
 
 From nearby Northwestern University came the instructors 
 in physics and chemistry, and a Swedish ex-army officer taught 
 fencing. The head of domestic science in the Chicago Public 
 Schools rounded out the curriculum with cooking lessons — the 
 '90s equivalent of home economics. In the gymnasium, courtly 
 Eugene Bournique held dancing classes. 
 
 36 
 
SCHOOLS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE 
 
 Like Rugby, Kenilworth Hall was closed in 1904. The build- 
 ing was subsequently remodeled as a residence, at 303 Cumnor 
 Road. Mrs. Babcock's home, which had served as a boarding place 
 for teachers and pupils, was operated later as the Kenilworth Inn, 
 first by a sister of Francis King Cook, until being torn down in 
 1939. 
 
 Meanwhile the public school for District 6 in Township 42, 
 to quote the old records, was organized in 1898 in a one-room 
 frame building near the railroad tracks. The number of rooms 
 was later increased to two. 
 
 The first surviving records of that school, dated September 4, 
 1900, list Miss Martha Foote as teacher of the primary depart- 
 ment. Her pupils, ranging from 6 to 9 years in age, were enrolled 
 as Edwin Badger, Roswell Barratt, Lydia Clark, Roswell Fuller, 
 Ethel Hadley, Shipman Keehn, Ida Miller, Virginia Powell, 
 Warren Pease, the three Taylor boys — Herbert, Vincent and Clive 
 — and Ellery Wood. 
 
 The first school trustees of record were Mortimer Burchard, 
 Warren Pease and Charles Ware. 
 
 That same yellowed school enrollment book shows that Miss 
 Martha Foote later taught the primary and intermediate grades 
 and was joined in 1903 by Miss Mary L. Robinson, of the post- 
 office and station agent Robinsons. Miss Lenore L. Negus was 
 added to the staff in 1904, and Miss M. M. Batterton in 1906. 
 
 The increase in pupils made larger quarters imperative and in 
 1904, Joseph Sears donated the property on which was erected 
 a three-room white frame structure on the site of the present 
 gymnasium. 
 
 What appears to have been the first graduating class started 
 its ceremonies on June 23, 1905. It was an age addicted to elocu- 
 tion, and the stenciled program of the "Closing Exercises of the 
 Kenilworth Public School" included twenty-six recitations. 
 
 37 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 The three-room school building proved inadequate in a few 
 years, and various enforced makeshifts in the way of classrooms 
 resulted. When congestion was at its worst, the first graders con- 
 vened on the stage platform, and the kindergarten and domestic 
 science classes in the guild rooms of the Union Church. 
 
 The school board records of 1911 show frequent consultations 
 with Miss Alma W. Holden, who was apparently serving as prin- 
 cipal. The board that year also retained Miss M. Louise Robinson 
 (who retired in 1941) to teach art and music two days a week. 
 At the time Miss Robinson was soloist in the Kenilworth Union 
 Church. 
 
 In 1912, the school board ended the school congestion (tem- 
 porarily) by erecting, on three additional lots given it in 1911, 
 a brick building that forms the center of the present school struc- 
 ture today. It was named the Joseph Sears School in memory of 
 the village founder, who died January 30, 1912. 
 
 By 1915, the teaching roster had increased to eight: Alma W. 
 Holden (principal), Marguerite McKinley, Olive Coleman, Mar- 
 garet Simpson, M. Louise Robinson, Madge E. Weinland, Mabel L. 
 Almond and Helena Huffaker (part time). 
 
 The salary list for December, 1914, as approved by the board, 
 also carries the name of Jacob Baker officially as school janitor. 
 Baker took on the work for "six months only" in 1911 as a result 
 of a special appeal of the school board. He is still with Joseph 
 Sears School. 
 
 That the artistic side of the school curriculum was not neg- 
 lected in those early days is shown by the purchase of a piano for 
 the school on February 18, 1915. The cost was $159. 
 
 In 1916 the school trustees, after due deliberation, took 
 another step forward, hired Miss Jackson as a playground teacher 
 for 1917, and added manual training to the curriculum. 
 
 The board minutes in 1918 also recorded: "Mrs. Snydacker 
 reported for the educational committee that Miss Alice Wessa had 
 
 38 
 
SCHOOLS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE 
 
 been engaged as principal at the salary of $160 per month, with 
 the option of engaging her next year at $170." Miss Wessa's 
 services were apparently most satisfactory, for she remained as 
 principal for six years. 
 
 The period after World War I saw a rapid growth of popu- 
 lation in Kenilworth and a succession of enlargements to the 
 school property: 
 
 A four-room addition to the school (now the west section) 
 was built in 1922, and construction was started on a two-story 
 twelve-room addition and gymnasium in 1928. This is the section 
 of the Joseph Sears School building that fronts on Abbotsford 
 Road. 
 
 Officially known as the Kenilworth Memorial Gymnasium, in 
 memory of the veterans of World War I, that section of the school 
 property was made possible by donations from citizens and civic 
 organizations and was dedicated on March 9, 1929. 
 
 The brown frame house which houses the domestic science 
 classes and school infirmary, just to the south of the main school 
 building, was purchased in 1928 to relieve the overcrowded school 
 conditions. It was used at that time for the kindergarten and first 
 two grades. 
 
 In 1939 the northwest corner of Abbotsford Road and Cum- 
 berland Avenue was purchased as a site for a future junior high 
 school. 
 
 The man who has made Joseph Sears what it is today, Elmer L. 
 Nygaard, was retained as school superintendent in 1924, and he 
 brought with him R. J. Finnigan as head of manual training. 
 Finnigan and Bob Townley, who joined the school in 1922 as 
 athletic instructor for the boys, have made reputations for them- 
 selves in their respective fields that extend far beyond Kenilworth. 
 
 Perhaps the spirit which pervades the school can best be 
 explained by this remark, made several years ago by Superin- 
 tendent Nygaard in private conversation: "If we can surround the 
 
 39 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 pupils with the right atmosphere, with paintings and the finer 
 things in life, they will look for them when they go out into the 
 world as adults." 
 
 Under Superintendent Nygaard have come not only high 
 scholastic standards, but also a long list of extracurricular activities 
 which set Joseph Sears apart from the average public grade school. 
 To mention only a few, these include the annual school exhibits 
 attended by most of Kenil worth, the masked parade (and lecture 
 on vandalism) on Halloween afternoon, the Christmas pageant 
 and carols, the annual Shakespeare play, Bob Townley's football 
 night, and the recorder groups and school orchestra organized 
 each year by Miss Margaret Davenport. 
 
 Including Superintendent Nygaard, the teaching staff today 
 numbers twenty-four; the enrollment fluctuates between 400 and 
 450. 
 
 Teachers at Joseph Sears School who have given fifteen years 
 or more to the training and teaching of Kenilworth children 
 include Miss Florence Allender, Miss Margaret Davenport, Miss 
 Etta Knudson, Miss Nell Littler, Mrs. Marjorie Mills, Miss Anne 
 Pemberton, Miss Bessie Stark and Miss Edith M. Stryker, Sr. 
 
 Miss Caroline Littler retired in 1945 after twenty years of 
 faithful service to the children in the first grade. 
 
 Presidents of the Kenilworth School board have been the 
 following: M. M. Burchard, 1899-1902; George Keehn, 1902- 
 1905; A. F. Reichmann, 1905-1908; Carl Keith, 1908-1910; 
 George Carman, 1910-1911; Dr. Charles Horswell, 1911-1914; 
 Charles M. Armstrong, 1914-1917; W. F. Zimmerman, 1917- 
 1921; Mrs. Ruth Snydacker, 1921-1923; Alexander W. Hannah, 
 1923-1924; Arthur T. Mcintosh, 1924-1931; Jule A. Petersen, 
 1931-1934; Arthur W. Wakeley, 1934-1937; John Nuveen, Jr., 
 1937-1940; Harry J. Williams, 1940-1943; George H. Rigler, 
 
 1943-1946; Vernon R. Loucks, 1946 . 
 
 Herman Gastrell Seely. 
 
 40 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Kenilworth Union Church 
 
 ON a cold Sunday afternoon, November 6, 1892, Kenil- 
 worth Union Church was dedicated to the worship of 
 God and the service of man. Hardly had the few resi- 
 dents of this small village put roofs on their homes when they 
 gathered together to consider what was to them the imperative 
 obligation of providing a place of common worship. These men 
 and women knew that to have a community there must be a spir- 
 itual unity! 
 
 One of the most striking things about our church and com- 
 munity is that at this early date when denominational interests 
 were all important and doctrinal differences exalted as of eternal 
 significance these men and women founded a church dedicated to 
 the worship of God over and above all minor points of difference 
 of approach. "Recognizing," as they said in their declaration of 
 faith, "the minor differences which exist among believers as being 
 consistent with Christian integrity, we have united as a Church 
 of Jesus Christ upon the great essentials of the Christian Faith. 
 This church was organized for the worship of God and the 
 advancement of His Kingdom. We acknowledge the Lord Jesus 
 Christ as the Great Head of the Church, and receive the Holy 
 Scriptures as authoritative in matters of faith and life. We believe 
 that Christ's Church is one, and pray for the realization of its 
 unity through all the earth." 
 
 During the summer of 1892 the people of Kenilworth, organ- 
 ized as the society, held a number of meetings in the interest of 
 
 41 
 
the church. Under the plan finally agreed upon, the Kenilworth 
 Company, of which Mr. Sears was president, was to build a church, 
 and the society was to supply the necessary furnishings and sup- 
 port the regular services. Accordingly the present chapel was built 
 at a cost of $6,100, and the furnishings were supplied, including 
 the organ, at a cost of about $900. The architect of the building 
 was Franklin P. Burnham, company architect. 
 
 The dedication sermon was preached by the late Dr. Newell 
 Dwight Hillis, widely known pastor of the Presbyterian Church 
 of Evanston, and the late Rev. Louis P. Mercer, of the Church of 
 the New Jerusalem of Chicago, pronounced the dedicatory ritual. 
 The music was provided through the enthusiastic interest of 
 George Ellsworth Holmes and Walter R. Root and consisted of a 
 double quartette from the Church of the Messiah and the Fourth 
 Presbyterian Church of Chicago. The organist was A. F. 
 McCarrell. 
 
 The services of the church during that first year were con- 
 ducted by various clergymen called in from Sunday to Sunday. 
 The names of these early preachers will be of interest both in 
 themselves and for their wide variety of denominational affilia- 
 tion. They included Rev. Louis P. Mercer, mentioned above; Rev. 
 Floyd W. Tompkins, Jr., St. James Episcopal Church, Chicago; 
 Rev. Moses Smith, Congregational Church, Glencoe; Bishop 
 Charles E. Cheney, Reformed Episcopal Church, Chicago; Rev. 
 Herbert S. Leonard, Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilmette; Rev. 
 Thomas A. King, New Church, Englewood; Rev. J. F. Loba, 
 Congregational Church, Evanston; Rev. J. H. Delano, Baptist 
 Church, Evanston, and Rev. Quincy L. Dowd of Winnetka. 
 
 The first permanent pastor of the church was the late Rev. 
 Gerhardt C. Mars, who preached his first sermon as minister of 
 the church on October 22, 1893. At the same time the Sunday 
 School was organized under the superintendency of Mr. William 
 R. Trowbridge. 
 
 42 
 
Of the three houses in Kenilworth before the village was founded, 
 this one, on Sheridan Road, remains 
 
 Mahoney Farm House 
 
 43 
 
Grave of Eugene Field 
 
 Church of the Holy Comforter 
 
 44 
 
KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH 
 
 Dr. Mars' ministry to the community was concluded after two 
 years' service. The second minister of the church was Dr. Charles 
 Horswell, a friend of Dr. Mars and a professor in Garrett Biblical 
 Institute. Dr. Horswell combined his work as a teacher at Garrett 
 and a preacher in Kenilworth. Between the first pastor and the 
 second there was an interim period during which time the church 
 was served by the Rev. Edward Anderson, of Chicago, from 
 December 15, 1895, to June 6, 1896. 
 
 Dr. Horswell's first incumbency as minister extended from 
 September, 1896, to March, 1902, during which time he lived in 
 Evanston. It is interesting to note that the Episcopalians residing 
 in Kenilworth had been using the Union Church building for 
 their evening services, but now were offered complete control of 
 the building for one year. Their occupancy lasted from August, 
 1902, until October, 1903. This is a significant part of our history 
 as a church and our relationship with the Church of the Holy 
 Comforter. 
 
 At the end of this period Dr. Horswell returned to the church 
 October 11, 1903, but this time as a resident minister in the new 
 parsonage, at 522 Essex Road, built by James A. Culbertson on 
 property belonging to Joseph Sears and loaned by them to the 
 church for the use of its pastor. At the close of Dr. Horswell's 
 ministry, the residence returned to its original owners. The society 
 had led a rather struggling existence and it was felt that this was 
 due to not having a minister in actual residence. Evidently the 
 analysis was accurate for under the improved conditions and with 
 the growth of the village the church activities began to thrive. 
 At this time a more thorough organization was effected and a 
 constitution was adopted. 
 
 On January 4, 1904, the first recorded meeting of the Church 
 Guild was held, and in November of the same year the first of the 
 church's rare but renowned bazaars was held. Since this first meet- 
 ing the guild has been a constant factor in the welfare work of 
 
 45 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 the community, meeting regularly on Mondays in the guild room 
 of the church. Its presidents have been Mrs. Grant Ridgway, Mrs. 
 D. F. Peck, Mrs. James R. Chapman, Mrs. John Hicks, Mrs. M. A. 
 Livingston, Mrs. Walter F. Shattuck, Mrs. Ralph W. Starrett, Mrs. 
 Leon T. Ellis, Mrs. Bentley McCloud, Miss Margaret Harris, Mrs. 
 Alfred L. McDougal, Mrs. Gerald F. Pauley, Mrs. Allan T. Gilbert, 
 Mrs. Thompson M. Wakeley and Mrs. Julien H. Collins. 
 
 The first communion service was celebrated on December 2, 
 1906. From the beginning it has been the custom of the church 
 to celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper three times each 
 year, in the autumn at the beginning of the church work, at the 
 first of the year, and at Easter time. 
 
 The beautiful memorial chancel window was presented to the 
 church in 1908 by Mrs. C. K. Parmelee. The text, "Thou Wilt 
 Shew Me the Path of Life," was inscribed on the wall by the 
 Woman's Guild. 
 
 In 1909 Mr. Sears donated to the church a strip of land east 
 of the church property which made possible James A. Culbert- 
 son's gift to the church of a building containing the gymnasium 
 and guild room. George Maher was the architect, and Fred 
 Bulley had charge of the building operations. An afternoon and 
 evening housewarming celebrated the opening on December 29, 
 1909. This gift of Mr. Culbertson's was typical of his far-seeing 
 generous public spirit. From 1906 until his death in 1915 he 
 was president of the board of trustees. The church record con- 
 tains this memorial to him: "He loved the Church; he lived him- 
 self into it; his devotion to it is a most precious memory." There 
 still exists the record book of the church, containing the signatures 
 of the members who joined from its beginning until the year 
 1917, together with record of marriages and baptisms performed 
 by the pastor in that period. 
 
 On Sunday, September 30, 1917, Dr. Hor swell preached his 
 farewell sermon, concluding a long ministry of twenty years. He 
 
 46 
 
KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH 
 
 was succeeded by the Rev. David Beaton, M. A., who preached 
 his first sermon on October 7, 1917. Mr. Beaton, born in Scot- 
 land and educated at the University of Edinburgh, had been for 
 twenty years the minister of the Lincoln Park Congregational 
 Church of Chicago. 
 
 During World War I the work of the church was marked by 
 patriotic activities, Red Cross and united war work. The Red Cross 
 headquarters were centered in the church guild room; likewise the 
 War Camp Community Service, where open house was maintained 
 for the sailors of Great Lakes. 
 
 The Sunday School prospered under the able leadership of 
 John Benham, formerly superintendent of the Sunday School of 
 the Reformed Episcopal Church of Chicago. A genial adminis- 
 trator and universal favorite, he cared for both the spiritual and 
 temporal needs of the school with unbounded generosity. He was 
 ably assisted by Miss Louise Lovedale, of the primary department. 
 The floral Easter service of the Sunday School, which has become 
 an annual observance, was instituted by Mr. Benham. 
 
 Others who have served as superintendents, giving generously 
 of their time, are William R. Trowbridge, Carl Keith, Willam J. 
 Taylor, John Haslam, Charles C. Oliver, Mrs. James R. Chapman, 
 Frank Chafee, Charles D. Howe, Willard T. Carter, Richard T. 
 Carter, C. Russell Small, Arthur Jackson, Miss Ruth Morrison, 
 Miss Gertrude Mcintosh and Robert Hauserman. Since 1921 Miss 
 Virginia Little has been the efficient secretary of the church and 
 until 1941 she was also secretary of the Sunday School. Com- 
 munity work with the children was under the able direction of 
 Mrs. William L. Page and Robert Townley. 
 
 While Harry P. Harrison was president of the board plans 
 were inaugurated during 1918 for the enlargement of the church, 
 the installation of a new organ, the rehabilitation of the gym- 
 nasium and the utilization of the church equipment for community 
 service. 
 
 47 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 In January of 1920 the Rev. William A. Colledge F. R. G. S., 
 was called as the successor of Dr. Beaton. Dr. Colledge was born 
 in Edinburgh and was ordained a Congregationalist. He was for 
 nine years professor of language and literature at Armour Insti- 
 tute, where he was an associate of Dr. Gunsaulus. He was also 
 associated for many years with the Redpath Lecture Bureau, from 
 which institution he came to serve as the minister of the church. 
 It was at this time that the board of trustees purchased the home 
 at 319 Richmond Road to serve as the church parsonage. Dr. 
 Colledge continued his pastoral relations with the church until 
 June, 1925. 
 
 On February 28, 1927, a call was extended to Dr. Herbert L. 
 Willett and was accepted. He began his ministry at once, although 
 the family did not arrive until May 1. Dr. Willett had come from 
 Yale University with Dr. William Rainey Harper to the Univer- 
 sity of Chicago at the beginning of its history, continuing his 
 professorship there in the field of Semitic and Old Testament 
 literature until his retirement from the university in 1929- In 
 addition to his multitude of other activities, Dr. Willett was the 
 founder of the University Church of the Disciples on the campus 
 of the University of Chicago. 
 
 On Easter Sunday, April 4, 1930, the Sunday School dedicated 
 memorial windows to Franklin Bellows, Purcell Macklin and 
 Manierre Ware, members of the Sunday School who made the 
 supreme sacrifice in the first world war. These windows are the 
 chief feature of the guild room. 
 
 Dr. Willett's pastorate of the Kenilworth Union Church con- 
 tinued until 1940, when he was made minister emeritus and was 
 succeeded by Dr. Duncan E. Littlefair. Dr. Littlefair came to the 
 church after taking his Ph. D. degree at the University of Chicago, 
 following a year of residence abroad. 
 
 Sunday, November 6, 1942, the church had its golden anni- 
 versary tea in the guild room, presenting each family a copy of a 
 
 48 
 
KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH 
 
 booklet containing a commemorative history, which supplied most 
 of the material for this account. Sunday, December 20, the Sunday 
 School had its golden anniversary Christmas pageant, its two 
 presentations each followed by a tea in the once Culbertson com- 
 munity gymnasium for the reunion of parents and children attend- 
 ing through the years. The children dedicated that day a robed 
 choir of twenty voices and a teachers' reference library. Miss 
 Dorothy Sears, superintendent of the Junior Department and a 
 pupil in its first primary department in 1893, was in attendance. 
 
 Through the years the Sunday School had grown. In October, 
 1893, it was organized under the first permanent pastor, Rev. 
 Gerhardt Mars, with the new master at Rugby, William Trow- 
 bridge, as superintendent, Willie Taylor leading the singing and 
 Mrs. Walter Root in charge of the primary department, in the 
 pastor's study, the now organ loft. Other classes were assigned 
 pews. Attendance was augmented by Mr. and Mrs. Olmstead with 
 the then twenty-eight boys at Rugby School, eleven from Kenil- 
 worth, and "a bevy of pretty girls from Mrs. Babcock's School for 
 Young Ladies, the year preceding the church founding attending 
 St. Mark's in Evanston." Mrs. George Maher remains the earliest 
 teacher still living in the village, her class of eight boys meeting 
 where the organ pipes now stand. In 1906, Mrs. Hermann Kasten 
 spoke to the board feelingly on the necessity of a building adjoin- 
 ing the church for the Sunday School, and in 1910, the use of the 
 new guild room was added. In 1928, the basement of the gym- 
 nasium was remodeled into modern Sunday school rooms, the 
 former bowling alleys now the little children's chapel. Removable 
 partitions in the gymnasium provide rooms for the primary depart- 
 ment. In 1945, the founder's ideal of a nonsectarian unity was 
 adopted by the North Shore in the founding of a Young People's 
 Sunday Evening Club with world-renowned speakers, meeting six 
 times during the season in the New Trier High School auditorium, 
 with Miss Virginia Beaven, from this church, as vice-president. 
 
 49 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Dr. William Robert Hodgson, the present minister, com- 
 menced his work September 17, 1944, coming from fourteen 
 years of service at The First Congregational Church at Moline, 111. 
 He was born in South Shields, England, and was ordained a Pres- 
 byterian and then a Congregational minister. At the close of 
 World War II he was chosen one of three American ministers to 
 represent the World Council of Churches on a commission to 
 Europe, studying the social and religious conditions in the wake 
 of the war, and to make recommendations to the American 
 churches how best to aid the war victims and the rehabilitation of 
 morals and religion. Upon his return he spoke in twenty states 
 delivering the message of his findings. 
 
 Upon Dr. Hodgson's accession, the house at 211 Warwick 
 Road was purchased as the minister's residence, the former parson- 
 age on Richmond Road being sold. 
 
 The original board of trustees of the church was composed of 
 Alfred V. Martin, president; Guy F. Gosman, treasurer; Harry A. 
 Hall, secretary; Joseph Sears, Rollin A. Keyes, Benjamin P. 
 Hinman, George Cutter, George Ellsworth Holmes and Charles 
 McCook. 
 
 Presidents of the board and their terms of service follow: 
 Alfred V. Martin, 1892-1905; Carl Keith, 1905-1906; James A. 
 Culbertson, 1906-1915; James R. Chapman, 1915-1918; Charles 
 T. Chandler, 1918-1920; Frank G. Ely, 1920-1923; Edward F. 
 Hamm, 1923-1925; Theodore E. Moritz, 1925-1928; Leslie 
 McArthur, 1928-1928; H. M. Gardiner, 1928-1931; Harry J. 
 Williams, 1931-1934; George Irving Bell, 1934-1937; A. R. 
 Peterson, 1937-1940; Thompson M. Wakeley, 1940-1942; Julien 
 H. Collins, 1942-1944; Joseph C Beaven, 1944-1946; O. W. 
 Eshbach, 1946. 
 
 Mrs. Walter Marx. 
 
 50 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Church of the Holy Comforter 
 
 THE gray-stone Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter 
 with its rectory occupies the southeast corner of Kenil- 
 worth Avenue and Warwick Road. There the Reverend 
 Leland Hobart Danforth ministers to the needs of some 360 
 families in Kenil worth and the adjacent communities. 
 
 There the chimes, housed in the singing tower, play Brahms' 
 Lullaby every time a child is born in Kenilworth, Winnetka or 
 Wilmette and the rector is notified of the event. 
 
 There also come hundreds of visitors annually to the tomb of 
 Eugene Field, the children's poet, and to the Rector's Garden, with 
 its antiquities from overseas and its scale model of the Holy Land. 
 
 So well known are the tomb and the garden that visitors come 
 from all over the United States and from foreign countries. Dur- 
 ing the Century of Progress in Chicago, the roster contained names 
 from twenty-three nations and dominions outside the United 
 States. 
 
 The Church of the Holy Comforter owes its origin to the 
 visits of the Reverend Henry Gratton Moore, rector of Christ 
 Church, in neighboring Winnetka, to the Episcopalian families of 
 early Kenilworth. 
 
 It was the custom during those formative years, beginning in 
 1899, to hold the church services in the home of some of the 
 Episcopalian families. The report by the Winnetka rector to the 
 Diocese of Chicago that year showed seventeen families on the 
 Kenilworth roster. The diocesan reports showed further that in 
 October, 1900, the fledgling congregation was organized inform- 
 
 51 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 ally as a mission. In his address to the diocesan convention in 
 1901, the bishop noted that "it is cheering to report a new mission 
 beginning in Kenil worth/' 
 
 Shortly thereafter the mission was organized formally, with 
 the Reverend Moore as priest in charge. In October, 1902, the 
 Rev. Freeborn G. Jewett was appointed priest in charge, services 
 being held in the Union Church edifice. 
 
 That year saw the selection officially of the name of the 
 Church of the Holy Comforter. The number of families enrolled 
 was twenty- two; the first treasurer of record was J. E. Lloyd. 
 
 Under the stimulus of a full-time spiritual leader, the Church 
 of the Holy Comforter grew steadily. By the end of the first year 
 the congregation numbered twenty-eight families and 126 souls, 
 of which seventy-two were baptized and thirty-two confirmed. 
 
 The choir consisted of a quartette, and the newly organized 
 Sunday School had seven teachers and forty-two scholars. Pledges 
 totaled $2,096.44 and expenses were reported as $1,728.23. 
 
 The finance committee which started the new mission on a 
 solvent basis included many leaders in the activities of early Kenil- 
 worth. F. W. Wood served as treasurer, his associates being A. S. 
 Badger, M. H. Burchard, H. O. Edmonds, J. L. Ferguson, J. E. 
 Lloyd, J. W. Pease and H. R. Reed. 
 
 The year 1903 saw the preparation of a petition for formal 
 status as a parish, a petition which was acted on favorably by the 
 diocesan convention the following spring. 
 
 The first election as a parish on May 1, 1904, saw Reverend 
 Jewett chosen as rector. The first vestry consisted of A. S. Badger, 
 senior warden; J. E. Lloyd, junior warden; F. W. Wood, treasurer; 
 H. O. Edmonds, J. L. Ferguson, H. W. Irwin, J. W. Pearl, W. B. 
 Mclllwaine, H. R. Reed and W. F. Zimmerman. 
 
 The parish congregation that year included thirty-three fam- 
 ilies, forty-eight communicants, and 131 baptized and fifty-one 
 confirmed persons. 
 
 52 
 
CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMFORTER 
 
 The growth of the congregation made a separate home impera- 
 tive, and accordingly the Babcock School building, at Cumnor 
 Road and Woodstock Avenue, was rented temporarily for Sunday 
 services. 
 
 With characteristic generosity, Joseph Sears, founder of Kenil- 
 worth, donated the lot on which the church buildings now stand, 
 his only condition being that construction start within a reasonable 
 time. That was in 1905 and the congregation, with more courage 
 than cash, responded by borrowing $8,000 on the bishop's signa- 
 ture. The amount in the church treasury at the time the building 
 was started was $45.16. 
 
 Soon after the completion of the new home, the Rev. Freeborn 
 Jewett accepted a call to another parish. His successor was the 
 Rev. E. Reginald Williams, who served as rector through 1913. 
 
 Scarcely a year after the new rector had taken office, the 
 sacristy of the church was gutted by a fire that started in a defective 
 flue. 
 
 Beginning with 1914 and continuing through the troubled 
 years of World War I, the Church of the Holy Comforter saw a 
 succession of rectors and of priests in temporary charge. These 
 included Rev. Edward Lyman Eustis (1914), Rev. Herbert D. 
 Gwyn (1916), Rev. Samuel A. B. Mercer (1922), and Rev. 
 Theodore B. Foster (1922). 
 
 The frequent changes in spiritual leadership had an adverse 
 effect on the congregation, and the influence of the church in 
 Kenilworth during this period at times was at a low ebb. That the 
 parish was kept alive was due chiefly to the efforts of William C. 
 Engler, senior warden and a son-in-law of Eugene Field. 
 
 The turn came in 1923, when the congregation elected the 
 Rev. Danforth as its rector. Quite early in his service, he decided 
 to rehabilitate and expand the properties and give the church a 
 more than purely local interest. Accordingly plans were drawn 
 
 . 53 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 for the rectory, funds were raised, and the ground was broken for 
 construction in 1925. Completion came early the following year. 
 
 At that time, the body of Eugene Field, the children's poet, was 
 resting in an obscure lot in Graceland cemetery. Rev. Danforth 
 suggested reinterment in the newly landscaped cloister close of 
 the Church of the Holy Comforter. After an exchange of corre- 
 spondence, Mrs. Field agreed readily to the change. 
 
 The reinterment in February, 1926, drew a host of Field's 
 admirers and former associates from all over the United States. 
 The impressively simple ceremonies consisted of a service for the 
 dead, read by the Rev. Danforth. 
 
 Present, in addition to Mrs. Field and other members of the 
 family, were such nationally known men as William E. Dever, 
 mayor of Chicago; Victor F. Lawson, owner and publisher of the 
 Chicago Daily News, and Walter Dill Scott, president of North- 
 western University. 
 
 Upon the death of Mrs. Field in 1936, her body was laid to 
 rest beside that of her famous husband. 
 
 The Rector's Garden, which is almost as well known as the 
 tomb of Eugene Field, was begun in 1930. 
 
 The Singing Tower was given in 1937 as a memorial to 
 William O. Belt, who was junior warden of the church at the 
 time of his death. Its melodies are known alike to churchgoers and 
 to homeward-bound commuters at eventide. 
 
 The Lullaby Chimes, which have announced the arrival of so 
 many new members of families in Kenilworth and the adjacent 
 villages, were given as a memorial to Ada Estelle Ketcham on 
 Christmas Day, 1941. 
 
 Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, a quiet corner in 
 the church was set aside as a shrine of prayer for those "who are 
 concerned for and pray for the men and women in the armed 
 forces." 
 
 54 
 
CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMFORTER 
 
 As a symbol of the issues at stake, there was imposed against 
 a simple dossal curtain an ancient crusader's sword carrying the 
 figure of the crucified Jesus. For the aid of those who prayed, a 
 kneeler was provided on which was a book of suitable prayers, a 
 list of those giving their lives to the cause, and a list of all members 
 of the parish in the armed forces. 
 
 Over these intervening years, the congregation has been for- 
 tunate in having as a leader a man who loves Kenilworth and has 
 refused calls from bigger Episcopal parishes in Chicago and other 
 cities. Under his ministrations, the congregation has increased 
 steadily. Today it includes some 360 families, 790 communicants 
 and 1350 baptized persons. 
 
 Nor is the growth ended, for the construction of a new parish 
 house is Rev. Danforth's next goal. Working with him, a com- 
 mittee headed by Harold B. Kraft, chairman, Conger Reynolds 
 and Horace B. Pearson, Sr., has amassed $63,000 for the project. 
 Construction is scheduled to start as soon as building conditions 
 permit. 
 
 As in the early days, the members of the vestry are active in 
 the civic affairs of Kenilworth and the nearby villages. They are 
 Arthur W. Carlson, senior warden; S. William Storey, junior 
 warden; Ellis R. Jones, treasurer; James E. Armitage, Franklin W. 
 Frietsch, William W. Gridley, Elton F. Hascall, Jr., Edwin J. 
 Herrick, Harold B. Kraft, Kenneth D. Miller, Horace B. Pearson, 
 Kenneth H. Thomas, Jesse D. Trump and Norsvin H. Vaughan. 
 
 Herman Gastrell Seely. 
 
 55 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Kenilworth Assembly Hall 
 Association 
 
 « 
 
 DURING the early years, prior to 1906, Kenilworth had 
 no official meeting place for gatherings larger than 
 could be comfortably accommodated in someone's liv- 
 ing room. The auditorium above Mrs. Babcock's School served 
 for dancing lessons, musicals and special meetings too large for 
 a parlor. This was a private building, however, and not always 
 available. As Kenilworth developed it outgrew these facilities, too, 
 so that the need for a community building of some sort became 
 more and more pressing and obvious. 
 
 Out of this need, the generosity of two principal donors, 
 Joseph Sears and James A. Culbertson, and the interest of every- 
 one then living in Kenilworth, evolved the plan which resulted in 
 the erection of the building, designed by George W. Maher, which 
 at once became Kenilworth's official assembly hall, not only in 
 name but in fact. 
 
 The hall was built at a time when such an effort would have 
 been impossible had it not been for the generosity of these two 
 citizens and the willing and eager cooperation of every family 
 then living in Kenilworth. Mr. Sears donated the property upon 
 which the building stands, valued at least at $6,000 at the time, 
 and Mr. Culbertson wrote a check for $10,000. Some eighty 
 residents of Kenilworth subscribed the rest, so that sufficient funds 
 were in hand to start building the original structure in 1906. Tt 
 
 56 
 
KENILWORTH ASSEMBLY HALL ASSOCIATION 
 
 was finished in 1907 and enlarged in 1914 with the addition of 
 The Neighbors room and kitchen, at which time about $14,000 
 was borrowed in order to pay for these improvements. These 
 funds were loaned by members of the association on notes pro- 
 viding for five per cent interest, a precarious "investment," but 
 again an expression of community interest for which Kenilworth 
 is famous. 
 
 In the Assembly Hall centers our civic and our social life; it 
 is there our village fathers meet and it is from there our trustees 
 govern us. It is the home of the Neighbors, who gave their all 
 to it. It is by means of the Assembly Hall that the Kenilworth 
 Club, with its various entertainments, has been able to do so much 
 to stimulate and unify the social life of the Village. 
 
 When the original building was planned, subscribers to the 
 fund were issued certificates of membership, and this list of mem- 
 bers in the association grew during the next eight years to over 
 180. When the improvements were paid for with borrowed 
 money, revenue seemed sufficient to carry the property and, with 
 anticipated new subscriptions, apparently adequate to retire the 
 notes. Rentals from the Neighbors and the Kenilworth Club and 
 numerous outside organizations were the only source of revenue. 
 As years went on, the use of the building by organizations outside 
 of the village became less and less frequent, competing as it did 
 with the many hotels and country clubs on the north shore. 
 
 At the close of World War I, the indebtedness against the 
 property, increased by cost of maintenance over and above rev- 
 enues, had grown to $16,000, with no corresponding way of 
 increasing the revenue without in turn shifting the load to the 
 Kenilworth Club, which by that time had become the principal 
 user. It was therefore proposed, in 1920, that the trustees of the 
 Assembly Hall Association lease the Assembly Hall property free 
 of encumbrance to the Kenilworth Club for a period of twenty- 
 five years for $1 per annum, and the directors of the Kenilworth 
 
 57 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Club agreed to accept this proposition, as soon as sufficient funds 
 had been raised to pay off the indebtedness. 
 
 This required a bit of doing, but nothing is impossible in 
 Kenilworth. Every member of the Kenilworth Club was asked 
 to make a subscription of $100 to the association or bring his 
 present subscription, if less than $100, up to this figure. Every 
 organization helped, and subscribed, and many of the old note- 
 holders donated the amounts of their notes and accrued interest — 
 even those long removed from Kenilworth cheerfully giving the 
 amounts they had loaned years ago. The campaign was a huge 
 success, every note was paid off or cancelled, the building was 
 freed of debt and turned over to the Kenilworth Club in March 
 of 1921. 
 
 In so doing, every member of the Kenilworth Club became a 
 member of the Assembly Hall Association, and at the time the 
 club took charge of the property, by far the majority of families 
 living in Kenilworth were either members of the association 
 and/or members of the club. Thereafter, and for a period of 
 twelve years every new member joining the Kenilworth Club, in 
 addition to initiation fees, current at the time, also made a sub- 
 scription of $100 to the Kenilworth Assembly Hall Association. 
 Half of this subscription went into a building maintenance fund, 
 operated by the Kenilworth Club. The other half was deposited 
 with the Kenilworth Assembly Hall Association for alterations 
 and improvements and for retiring memberships of members of 
 the association who resigned from the association and from the 
 club and who at the same time had moved away from Kenilworth. 
 
 This subscription program was finally discontinued in 1932, 
 when the Kenilworth Club was hard pressed to maintain its mem- 
 bership and initiation fees, and subscriptions in this amount became 
 prohibitive. Fortunately, the building had been maintained in 
 good repair. The club cheerfully shouldered the responsibility of 
 
 58 
 
KENILWORTH ASSEMBLY HALL ASSOCIATION 
 
 carrying on as its part of the bargain and has never failed to 
 maintain the property in excellent condition. 
 
 For a long period club membership and association member- 
 ship were synonymous, but when compulsory subscriptions ceased, 
 the picture gradually changed. Today, of the 180 original mem- 
 bers of the association, only eighteen now reside in Kenilworth. 
 Of the present active club membership totaling 210, there are 
 but twenty-five members who made a subscription to the Kenil- 
 worth Assembly Hall Association. Of the 560 families in 
 Kenilworth less than eighty-five are members of the association, 
 although one and all enjoy the benefits of the Assembly Hall. 
 
 This brief history of the Assembly Hall should be of particu- 
 lar interest, therefore, to the newer residents of Kenilworth. 
 Kenilworth has always been a community of homes with an 
 unusually strong, closely knit community spirit. It was this mutu- 
 ality of interest and cooperation which made the Assembly Hall 
 possible. It is this same interest in civic affairs and in things of 
 Kenilworth which has made the Kenilworth Club itself the unique 
 organization which it is and has made it possible for them to enjoy 
 the use of the Assembly Hall by an arrangement which is without 
 parallel — a clubhouse without cost which they cheerfully maintain 
 for the benefit of the village as a whole. 
 
 The trustees of the Kenilworth Assembly Hall Association 
 are Percy B. Eckhart, Walter Noble Gillett, Sanford S. Holden, 
 Bentley G. McCloud and Herbert B. Taylor. 
 
 The original trustees in 1906 were Herman W. Kasten, 
 George W. Keehn, Charles K. Blackwood, Grant Ridgway and 
 William F. Wood. 
 
 Herbert B. Taylor. 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 The Kenilworth Club 
 
 IN the articles of incorporation of the Kenilworth Club, dated 
 May 11, 1894, appears the following: "The object for which 
 it is formed is to promote social intercourse and for the 
 advancement and cultivation of friendly relations among its mem- 
 bers. Also to provide literary entertainment and encourage mental 
 culture." 
 
 Since the number of Kenilworth residents was about 150 at 
 that time, it is evident that they felt a common community interest 
 and its expression found itself in the creation of this community 
 social club. All of the residents were invited to join, and most of 
 them became members at that time or shortly after the founding 
 of the club. Its founders and incorporators were: James A. Cul- 
 bertson, M. L. Coffeen, Charles S. Smith, H. A. Hall, Alfred V. 
 Martin, Rollin A. Keyes, H. H. Spaulding, Charles M. McCook, 
 Charles Ware, J. B. Sears, M. L. Gould, Guy W. Gosman, Joseph 
 Sears and George Cutter. 
 
 The first president was James A. Culbertson, and Rollin A. 
 Keyes was vice-president. During the early years meetings and 
 social occasions were held in members' homes. On January 14, 
 1896, the Kenilworth Boat Club was merged with the Kenilworth 
 Club. 
 
 Carrying out the original purpose of its founders, the Kenil- 
 worth Club appropriated money for holding the celebration of 
 Memorial Day for Kenilworth residents in 1896. This custom has 
 been carried through to the present day. Money was set aside for 
 
 60 
 
First Troop of Boy Scouts 
 
First Public School House 
 
 Golfers on Links Along Sheridan Road 
 
 Rugby School 
 62 
 
THE KENILWORTH CLUB 
 
 the selection and maintenance of an ice-skating rink for Kenil- 
 worth residents also in that year. In 1897 suitable arrangements 
 were made for holding the Fourth of July celebration by the 
 Village of Kenilworth. In the same year a golf course was selected. 
 Its site was bounded by Kenilworth Avenue on the north, Leicester 
 Avenue on the west, the lake on the east and Oxford Road on the 
 south. Members and their friends made use of this golf course. 
 
 In 1901 plans were initiated for considering the building of 
 a suitable club house for the Kenilworth Club. They were never 
 completed, however, because the Kenilworth Assembly Hall Asso- 
 ciation came into being at this time. It was this need of a suitable 
 meeting place, on the part of the club, the Kenilworth Neighbors, 
 and the other social and civic organizations in Kenilworth which 
 inspired the forming of the Assembly Hall Association. The 
 original building was completed in 1907, "by and for all the 
 citizens of Kenilworth," and it has been the home of the Kenil- 
 worth Club ever since. 
 
 In 1907 the program of the Kenilworth Club included card 
 parties, dramatic entertainments, stereoptican lectures, dances, 
 musicales and smokers. These were for club members, and guests 
 were permitted — all of which at that time included, for the most 
 part, all of the residents of Kenilworth. In 1909 children's parties 
 were given during the Christmas holidays. 
 
 In the 1919-20 season an item of $2,000 is observed in the 
 account books for beach improvement. Likewise in 1922 money 
 was paid regularly for the maintenance of a lifeguard at the beach 
 by the club. Money was also contributed by the club, along with 
 the park board and improvement association, to meet the expense 
 of the village planning commission toward laying plans for the 
 Village of Kenilworth in its future developments. 
 
 In 1928, $1,500 was given by the club for equipping the 
 beach house at the new waterworks installation. Also lockers 
 were obtained from the Culbertson gymnasium at the Kenilworth 
 
 63 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Union Church at no charge to the club or the village. The club 
 maintained for many years and helped to maintain up until 1929 
 the Kenilworth bathing beach. In the aggregate this amounted 
 to many thousands of dollars. This task was turned over to the 
 village in 1929 as being more properly a part of its responsibility 
 and expense. Also, the skating rink maintenance was turned over 
 to the park board as being an item of expense which properly 
 belonged to it. 
 
 In 1921 the Kenilworth Club leased the Kenilworth Assembly 
 Hall Association properties. The terms of the lease included an 
 amendment as follows: "The Kenilworth Club is free during the 
 term of its lease to permit the use of the assembly hall by others 
 for any social, public or educational purpose." In keeping with 
 this statement we find that the Kenilworth Club has fulfilled its 
 obligations during the past twenty-five years in following closely 
 the terms of its contract with the Kenilworth Assembly Hall 
 Association. 
 
 The Kenilworth Club maintains the upkeep of the Kenilworth 
 Assembly Hall for the use of Kenilworth residents as well as using 
 it for its own individual functions. War bond drives, Red Cross 
 drives, civilian defense meetings, village government meetings, 
 all are held in the Kenilworth Assembly Hall. It has meant that 
 the Kenilworth Club has functioned as an organization which per- 
 petuates the original purposes of its founders in maintaining not 
 only a place for holding all civic and community meetings, but 
 also the spirit of Kenilworth which is unique — a community 
 whose citizens cooperate in doing things for the community for 
 the common good of all. 
 
 The citizens of Kenilworth who have been president of the 
 Kenilworth Club are as follows: James A. Culbertson, 1894-1895; 
 Rollin A. Keyes, 1896; M. L. Coffeen, 1897-1898; George A. 
 McClellan, 1899; Warren Pease, 1900-1901; Dr. W. M. Stearns, 
 1902-1903; Henry A. Hall, 1904; Victor C. Sanborn, 1905; 
 
 64 
 
THE KENILWORTH CLUB 
 
 Herman A. Kasten, 1906-1909; Grant Ridgway, 1910; Bruce C. 
 Crandall, 1911-1912; Percy B. Eckhart, 1913; James C Murray, 
 1914; George W. Keehn, 1915; James H. Prentiss, 1916; Mark 
 W. Cresap, 1917; Karl B. Korrady, 1918; W. Noble Gillett, 
 1919; A. M. Lovedale, 1920; Harry P. Harrison, 1921; Sanford S. 
 Holden, 1922; Clyde P. Ross, 1923; Harry E. Weese, 1924; 
 Leslie McArthur, 1925; Julius A. Petersen, 1926; Herbert B. 
 Taylor, 1927; Louis D. Jones, 1928; J. Ralph Starr, 1929; Arthur 
 W. Wakeley, 1930; Charles E. Driver, 1931; H. W. Bartling, 
 1932; Jacques de LaChapelle, 1933; Allan T. Gilbert, 1934; 
 William W. Sears, 1935-1936; Harry A. Olin, 1937; Thompson 
 M. Wakeley, 1938; Willard T. Grimm, 1939; Leonard J. Paidar, 
 1940; Robert P. Warren, 1941; Roland D. Feltman, 1942; 
 F. David Meacham, 1943; Frank G. Karslake, 1944; James L. 
 Surpless, 1945; William H. Hammond, 1946. 
 
 James L. Surpless. 
 
 65 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Kenilworth Historical Society 
 
 ^ 
 
 IN 1921 at a gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Victor 
 C. Sanborn, the Kenilworth Historical Society was born. It 
 was Dr. Stolp who proposed it, and those present who became 
 its charter members were Dr. and Mrs. Rufus B. Stolp, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Victor C. Sanborn, Mr. and Mrs. Warren Pease and Mr. and 
 Mrs. Edward D. Parmelee. 
 
 The first formal meeting was held October 30, 1922, when a 
 dinner was given at the home of Mrs. Joseph Sears, to which were 
 invited all residents of Kenilworth who had been living in the 
 village twenty years before or earlier. 
 
 More than eighty persons were present to hear the address of 
 welcome by the society's initiator and first president, Dr. Rufus 
 B. Stolp. 
 
 There was no formal program, but papers were read by Mrs. 
 Joseph Sears, who was then in her eightieth year, and by Dr. 
 Charles S. Smith, who had come from New York with his daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. Broadway, to give his recollections of the Kenilworth 
 Company, of which he had been the first secretary. It was ex- 
 pected that as both he and Mrs. Sears might be nervous about 
 appearing in public (Mrs. Sears had never read a paper in her 
 life!), their children had attentively reviewed their papers and 
 they stood apprehensively ready to take their parents' places should 
 it be found necessary! The hour arrived and if there were any 
 nervousness discernible, it was to be found in the children rather 
 
 66 
 
KENILWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 than their parents, who appeared calm and happy in reliving with 
 their friends the memories of olden days. 
 
 Other papers were those feelingly read by Mrs. Anne Hig- 
 ginson Spicer and Dr. Gerhard C. Mars, first minister of the Kenil- 
 worth Union Church. 
 
 After this first meeting the gatherings were held at the Kenil- 
 worth Assembly Hall. 
 
 Dr. Stolp, through the years, made a collection of pictures and 
 lantern slides of early events and landmarks, which have been 
 shown again and again for the interest and enjoyment of all. This 
 collection is one of the society's prized possessions. 
 
 From its inception, membership in the Kenilworth Historical 
 Society has been a coveted achievement. The succulent turkey din- 
 ners, always so ably planned, have been served to from one hun- 
 dred to one hundred and eighty persons from year to year. 
 
 After the first two years, 1922 and 1923, when Dr. Stolp was 
 president, the presidents were approximately as follows: Mrs. 
 Victor C. Sanborn, 1924; Warren Pease, 1925; Leon Allen, 1926; 
 Mrs. Edward D. Parmelee (Vice-president Henry Taylor, Jr., Act- 
 ing), 1927; Charles Ware, 1928; Percy Eckhart, 1929; Mrs. Anne 
 Higginson Spicer, 1930; Bentley McCloud, 1931; Mrs. Mark 
 Cresap, 1932; Ralph W. Starrett, 1933; Mrs. Douglas Flood, 
 1934; Ira Darling, 1935; Miss Dorothy Sears, 1936; Gilbert 
 Kelly, 1937; James Murray, 1938; Mrs. Harry P. Harrison, 1939; 
 James Prentiss, 1940; Harry Weese (in the absence of Major 
 ReedLandis), 1941. 
 
 During the second World War the Historical Society meetings 
 were suspended, Oliver Barrett being president. In the interim 
 Mr. Barrett was obliged to resign in 1945 because of ill health, and 
 Herbert Taylor has ably carried on the onerous duties of president 
 in this busy year of celebrations. 
 
 During the years, many papers of reminiscence have been pre- 
 sented, including histories of the schools, the fire department, old 
 
 67 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 landmarks and Indian days. Many members have written delight- 
 fully of first recollections, while one of Kenilworth's "boys," Leon 
 Ballard Allen, has given a rarely humorous picture of the chil- 
 dren's life in Kenilworth, forty years ago. 
 
 Home talent has provided entertainment at the meetings. Illus- 
 trated talks, skits, dances, theatricals and negro spirituals, delight- 
 fully sung, have been presented from time to time, while on some 
 occasions the members have entertained each other with hilarious 
 costumes of early days. A village "Information Please" quiz pro- 
 gram of a few years ago was received with enthusiasm, but the 
 many questions posed, failed to stump at least one "expert," Mrs. 
 Harry Taylor, who certainly knew her Kenilworth! 
 
 Introduced by Mrs. Charles Ware, who carried on for a num- 
 ber of years, able and complete reports of current history have 
 been made annually. 
 
 The society is accumulating memorabilia of value and it is 
 important that these should be safely preserved. Would it not be 
 wise, in this year of looking back, to turn now and look forward 
 to plan for and acquire a permanent home for the Kenilworth 
 Historical Society? 
 
 Dorothy Sears. 
 
 68 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 Golf Clubs 
 
 * 
 
 EARLY in the history of Kenilworth, about 1897, a nine- 
 hole golf course was laid out along Sheridan Road, by 
 permission of the owners of the unimproved property. As 
 in the case of many other village activities, the Vibe Spicers were 
 the initiators. When the construction of streets compelled the 
 golfers to seek another site, a tract of forty acres was rented — for 
 the annual taxes of $600 — immediately west of the Kenilworth 
 station in 1908, and a course of nine holes was constructed. The 
 club was incorporated as the North Shore Golf Club. 
 
 After occupying the land for several years at this nominal 
 rental, the club sought a long-term lease and planned to build a 
 club house. The new lease was at an annual rent of $4,000, with 
 option to purchase the land for $100,000 and at an increase of 
 $1,000 a year thereafter until the option expired December 1, 
 1923. The Club membership at the time was $125, and at the time 
 the initiation fee was $35 and annual dues were $25. The entire 
 income from dues was less than the proposed rent, but under the 
 president, Hobart Marshall, the members went ahead, not only 
 with the lease, but also with plans for a club house costing 
 $15,000. The directors were authorized to sell fifty new member- 
 ships for $150, an assessment of $150 per member was levied, and 
 annual dues were increased to $75. The golf course was rearranged, 
 extensive improvements were made, and the new club house was 
 dedicated November 3, 1917, with a banquet to George W. 
 
 69 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Maher, architect, and Judson F. Stone, E. H. Stevens and Arthur 
 J. Taylor, the building committee. 
 
 In order to exercise the option to buy the land, each club 
 member was required to contribute $35 each year to a purchase 
 fund. In the fall of 1921, fifteen additional memberships were 
 sold at $275. Annual dues were increased up to $115 the last 
 year the club occupied the Kenilworth site. 
 
 Offers of real estate subdividers before long convinced the 
 club members the site was too valuable for a golf course, and in 
 1923 the premises were sold for $262,000 to a small group of 
 public-spirited Kenilworthians who advanced their own money, 
 without much hope of profit, to purchase this tract so that it 
 might be incorporated into Kenilworth, and developed into home- 
 sites in harmony with the restrictions and traditions existing in 
 the rest of the village. Out of the proceeds were purchased 170 
 acres for $161,000 to establish the present course of the North 
 Shore Golf Club near Glenview. The old golf course was soon 
 covered with homes, from Green Bay Road to Ridge Road and 
 from Park Drive to the Wilmette border. 
 
 70 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 The Neighbors of Kenilworth 
 
 A YEAR before the village was incorporated, the women of 
 /\ Kenilworth felt the need of combining their interests and 
 / % efforts into a club for mutual benefit. The resulting organ- 
 ization has been very active in carrying out its ideals of sociability, 
 service and study. Varied and interesting programs have been given 
 in art, literature, music, education, dramatics and philanthropy. 
 
 Many ways of earning money were formulated, as lectures, 
 musicales, dramatics, suppers, card parties, dances, charity balls, 
 rummage sales, rug commissions, sales of various articles, etc. 
 
 The following material has been selected from the early records 
 and from contributions of later past presidents: 
 
 Mrs. Homer Taylor, First President, 1895-1897. — The Neigh- 
 bors were first called together February 15, 1895, at the home 
 of Mrs. Taylor to listen to "A Talk to Mothers," by Mrs. Alice 
 Whitney Putnam, and to discuss plans for forming a club. Twenty- 
 five women were present, and these became charter members. At 
 the second meeting it was decided that the organization be most 
 simple and be called The Neighbors, that the meetings be held 
 on alternate Fridays from 2:30 to 5:00 P.M. and that all mem- 
 bers should consider themselves at perfect liberty to bring guests 
 to any meeting. 
 
 Mrs. Joseph Sears acted as chairman for the first few meetings, 
 until the election of Mrs. Taylor as the first president. 
 
 A study class began in November, 1895, the meetings being 
 
 71 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 held on Monday evenings. Club meetings were finally changed to 
 Thursdays, which arrangement continued for thirty years. 
 
 A committee consisting of Mrs. Homer Taylor, chairman; Mrs. 
 Babcock, Mrs. Murray Ware, Mrs. Charles Smith, Mrs. E. D. 
 Parmelee and Miss Elizabeth Hinman was appointed to draft a 
 constitution and by-laws. It was decided to organize regularly at the 
 first annual meeting, adopt the constitution and elect officers. This 
 meeting was held at Mrs. Taylor's home, March 7, 1896, followed 
 by the first board meeting. 
 
 The first Men's Night program was February 22, 1896. Miss 
 Mary McDowell, of the University of Chicago Settlement, was 
 the speaker. Among other speakers were Adjutant Turpin, of the 
 Salvation Army, Miss Julia Lathrop, of Hull House, and Dr. 
 Graham Taylor, of the Chicago Commons Settlement. 
 
 March 4, 1897, The Neighbors joined the Illinois Federation 
 of Women's Clubs. Contributions were made each year to local 
 settlements and other charities. 
 
 Mrs. George McClellan, 1897-1898. — It was decided that at 
 least half the programs should be by home talent and should con- 
 sist of an essay on some subject chosen by the club, fifteen minutes 
 of current events and music. The word "essayist" remained in the 
 by-laws until 1934, when it was changed to "guest artist." Some 
 of the topics were "The Art of Housekeeping," "Emergencies," 
 "Fires," "Art" and "History of Kenilworth." Membership was 41. 
 
 Mrs. Homer Taylor, 1898-1899. — Evening meeting addressed 
 by Dr. Graham Taylor, the subject being "The Social Conscience." 
 Mrs. Lucy Fitch Perkins gave a talk on "Design in Common 
 Things." 
 
 Mrs. Charles Ware, 1899-1900. — An Art League was formed. 
 A picture was given to the Kenilworth School. A minstrel show 
 given, the proceeds for charity. Membership increased to 55. 
 
 Mrs. M. N. Bur chard, 1900-1901.— Glee Club formed, with 
 Mrs. H. Taylor, director; Mrs. Ware, assistant, and Mrs. Cook, 
 
 72 
 
THE NEIGHBORS OF KENILWORTH 
 
 accompanist. Fifty books collected for the traveling libraries. 
 Cooking class formed. Membership, 61. 
 
 Mrs. V. K. Spicer, 1901-1902. — Current events eliminated 
 from future programs. Rummage sale held in Gross Point Hall, 
 proceeds for charity. Three pictures were presented to the Kenil- 
 worth School. A New England supper was held at the village 
 school, followed by a spelling bee, with 128 persons present, the 
 proceeds for Allendale Farm. 
 
 Mrs. Bronson Peck, 1902-1905. — Christmas sale for charity. 
 Christmas dinners for poor families in Chicago. Supper held at 
 the school house, followed by dancing and merrymaking. Cour- 
 tesy of The Neighbors extended to the teachers of Kenilworth 
 School. The proceeds of Mrs. Trowbridge's book, ' 'Birds and 
 Flowers of Kenilworth," to be given to the Art League. First real 
 birthday celebrated February 18, 1904. Membership, 82. 
 
 Mrs. V. C. Sanborn, 1905-1907.— In 1905 an agricultural 
 project, "The Frenzied Farmers' Fair," was held on Mrs. Spicer 's 
 grounds, proceeds for the building fund. January 6, 1906, sub- 
 scribed $1,000 for building fund of Kenilworth Assembly Hall. 
 A letter was sent to the village board asking that the live trees 
 growing in the streets of the village be spared, which was done 
 for a number of years until it was advisable to straighten the 
 streets. April 25, 1907, the last regular meeting of The Neigh- 
 bors was held in a home. Mrs. Eastman was the hostess. Furnished 
 Neighbors room. $50 for juvenile books for the Clara Gould 
 Library in Kenilworth. 
 
 Mrs. V. K. Spicer, 1907-1908. — First meeting in The Neigh- 
 bors room of new Assembly Hall was held October 10, 1907. 
 Programs for the year to be on American topics. Prize offered to 
 grade school for best plans for beautifying school grounds. Prize 
 offered for the best Neighbors' song set to the tune, "Auld Lang 
 Syne." The Year Book for 1909-1910 contains Neighbors' song 
 
 73 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 No. 6 written by Mrs. Kasten. Proceeds of "The Dark Opera" 
 held in new Assembly Hall aided the philanthropy fund. 
 
 Mrs. V. C. Sanborn, 1908-1909. — The first charity ball was 
 held in the Assembly Hall, November 7, 1908. During the sum- 
 mer entertained women from University Settlement with a 
 box picnic. Contribution for shrubs for the school grounds. Percy 
 Eckhart entertained the club on the first of several occasions with 
 his beautiful travel pictures. Membership, 103. 
 
 Mrs. James E. Keith, 1909-1911. — Entertained the Tenth Dis- 
 trict Federation. Held a housekeepers' exhibit in large hall. Enter- 
 tained the children of the Kenilworth School. Membership, 114. 
 
 Mrs. P. B. Eckhart, 1911-1912. — Plans made for creating 
 interest in a new school building. Plans for the purchase of a 
 grand piano, Mrs. Cline to be chairman. Bought eyeglasses for 
 two neighborhood children, supplied coal and money for a needy 
 family. Membership, 124. 
 
 Mrs. V. C. Sanborn, 1912-1913. — A series of lectures on par- 
 liamentary law was conducted by Mrs. Plummer. It was an- 
 nounced that women could vote for university trustees and to be 
 sure to register. April 13, 1913, established the Isabelle Lovedale 
 memorial dining room at Park Ridge School for Girls. Later, 
 through Mrs. Sanborn's efforts, the Health Center at Gross Point 
 was opened, and during World War I she rendered many hours 
 of valued service to the community. Membership, 133. 
 
 Mrs. Calvin S. Case, 1913-1915. — Joined the General Feder- 
 ation of Women's Clubs. The philanthropy, educational and liter- 
 ature committees presented a number of programs during the year. 
 The charity ball added $300 to the philanthropy fund. Furnished 
 the Lovedale memorial dining room at Park Ridge, Mrs. Ware 
 chairman. The Neighbors chorus sang on several programs. Mem- 
 bership, 153. 
 
 Mrs. Charles Ware, 1915-1917. — Purchase of Steinway grand 
 piano, Mrs. Cline chairman. Department meetings were held 
 
 74 
 
THE NEIGHBORS OF KENILWORTH 
 
 regularly. The education department held a series of evening 
 meetings, with Prof. Arthur Guy Terry as speaker. Young ladies' 
 auxiliary was formed, with four members. Mrs. Ware served as 
 president of the Tenth District Federation of Women's Clubs in 
 1919. Membership, 175. 
 
 Mrs. V. K. Spicer, 1917-1918. — Devoted largely to emer- 
 gency bureau activities, Mrs. Spicer took charge of a village war 
 garden and enlisted the services of our grammar school boys. 
 One evening entertainment was given for the benefit of the A. 
 Courtney Campbell, Jr., memorial fund. Membership, 201. 
 
 Mrs. Charles T. Chandler, 1918-1920. — Kenilworth emer- 
 gency work, which included the Red Cross, community gardens, 
 Navy Club at Waukegan and the Uncle Sam's Club in our village. 
 Members of Neighbors subscribed $95,500 to the Fourth Liberty 
 Loan. Twenty-fifth birthday party celebrated. Boys' Glee Club, 
 directed by Mrs. Hulburt, gave a program. Membership, 215. 
 
 Mrs. Calvin S. Case, 1920-1922. — Dues were changed to $10, 
 $3 of which was for the philanthropy fund. The charity balls were 
 discontinued. Membership, 236. 
 
 Mrs. Mark W. Cresap, 1922-1924.— Joined the Conference 
 of Club Presidents and Program Chairmen. Monthly meetings of 
 art and literature departments. Gallery tour at Art Institute con- 
 ducted by Mrs. Pauline Palmer. Morning programs on current 
 events by Miss Julie Adams. 
 
 Mrs. John Howard Jones, 1924-1926. — Collect for Club 
 Women introduced into Year Book. Through infant welfare com- 
 mittee $1,500 was contributed to New Trier Station. Rugs and 
 curtains purchased for Isabelle Lovedale memorial dining room 
 at Park Ridge School and yearly contribution increased to $25. 
 Membership, 266. 
 
 Mrs. J. K. Farley, Jr., 1926-1928. — Regular meetings changed 
 to Tuesdays. Built up Junior membership from two to twenty- 
 eight members; they organized as The Junior Neighbors of Kenil- 
 
 75 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 worth, with Bernice Bulky as first president. They furnished gifts 
 and clothing for a dependent girl for a year. They took charge of 
 the Red Cross membership drive, soliciting the entire village 
 Armistice Day afternoon. Membership, 278. 
 
 Mrs. C. Howard Bent, 1928-1930. — Special parties for sev- 
 enty-one new members were held for the first time. Junior and 
 department meetings supplemented the regular meetings. Annual 
 joint meetings with the Kenil worth League of Women Voters 
 were inaugurated. Active members of thirty consecutive years' 
 standing became eligible for emeritus membership. $1,000 con- 
 tributed to Kenil worth Memorial Gymnasium. Membership, 330. 
 
 Mrs. V. K. Spicer, 1930-1932. — Men's Night program con- 
 sisted of an "Old Fashioned Town Meeting." Other events were 
 the Birthday Party, "The Pageant of Shawls" and Reciprocity 
 Day. Membership, 336. 
 
 Mrs. C. Howard Bent, 1932-1934. — Seventy-six new members 
 admitted. During these depression years expense saved by issuing 
 monthly bulletins instead of Year Books. Encouraged better movie 
 programs in the neighboring theaters by commending the good 
 shows at each Neighbors meeting. The Kenilworth welfare work 
 becoming too great for the philanthropy department; the village 
 board made it a project of the village. Some thirteen families were 
 being cared for. Membership, 280. 
 
 Mrs. Henry G. Zander, Jr., 1934-1936. — Meetings changed to 
 large Assembly Hall to accommodate increasing attendance. Pro- 
 grams developed to please various tastes, with emphasis on inter- 
 national affairs. Membership, 260. 
 
 Mrs. George W. V aught, 1936-1938. — Two Men's Night pro- 
 grams, two gallery tours and morning book reviews. Membership, 
 270. 
 
 Mrs. Cecil W. Meredith, 1938-1940.— -Eighth grade children 
 of Joseph Sears School entertained at a meeting to hear a talk on 
 
 76 
 
THE NEIGHBORS OF KENILWORTH 
 
 "Bird Lore" by Cleveland Grant. Bechtel's crabapple blossom 
 chosen as club's flower. Over two years before Pearl Harbor, in 
 1939, the Neighbors sent a petition to the President of the United 
 States and to Congress protesting against the granting of credits 
 and the shipments of equipment and raw materials to the Japa- 
 nese military government. Celebrated the fortieth birthday party 
 with talks by early members. Membership, 292. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon C. Beebe, 1940-1942. — A table and chairs were 
 purchased for the platform, also two spotlights and a large Ameri- 
 can flag. The National Anthem used for the first time to open all 
 regular meetings. Kenilworth Red Cross unit organized. Recipi- 
 ent of complete collection of Year Books for historical records. 
 Established the Fannie Manierre Ware memorial fund at Park 
 Ridge School for Girls. Membership, 300. 
 
 Mrs. Paul C. Govts, 1942-1944.— -During the World War 
 the Neighbors furnished and maintained a recreation room at 
 Fort Sheridan and one at Camp Skokie from proceeds of two 
 bridge parties, each netting over $600. Christmas parties given 
 for soldiers by members and their husbands. Membership, 324. 
 
 Mrs. John S. Holmes, 1944-1946. — Annual birthday luncheon 
 and Men's Night were the high lights. February 20, 1945, cele- 
 brated fiftieth anniversary. Part of the program consisted of a skit 
 which was a resume of the history of the club, written by a member 
 and enacted by members wearing typical costumes of various 
 periods of club history. Regular expenditures for philanthropy 
 for the two years amounted to $2,375. Additional contributions 
 were directed toward agencies helping the war effort, such as 
 Red Cross, Salvation Army, Travelers' Aid, Seeing Eye; also New 
 Trier High School and nurse's scholarship at Evanston Hospital. 
 Membership, 436. 
 
 Many other women have rendered valued service to The 
 Neighbors through the years. Some of these are Mrs. Maher, Mrs. 
 Parmelee, Mrs. William Taylor, Mrs. Henry Taylor, Mrs. Pease, 
 
 77 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Mrs. Stolp, Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Keehn, Mrs. Ridgway and Mrs. 
 Cline, and time will add many more honored names. 
 
 Not to be forgotten is Mrs. Anna Richter, who has been our 
 efficient and faithful cateress for over thirty years. 
 
 Mrs. J. K. Farley, Jr. 
 
 
 78 
 
^■x^. : 
 
 Kenilworth's Famous Fountain 
 
Kenilivorth Union Church 
 
 Kenilivorth Assembly Hall 
 
 80 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Garden Clubs 
 
 The Kenilworth Garden Club 
 
 ON May 28, 1915, ten neighbors of Mrs. Anne Higginson 
 Spicer received post cards inviting them to her home 
 "for a cup of tea and to form a garden club." The 
 neighbors who responded to this invitation and thus became 
 charter members of the first garden club in Kenilworth were Mrs. 
 Charles R. Bull, Mrs. C. K. Blackwood, Mrs. William B. Fitch, 
 Mrs. E. D. Parmelee, Mrs. E. J. Phelps, Mrs. James H. Prentiss, 
 Mrs. Grant Ridgway, Mrs. Victor C. Sanborn, Mrs. E. F. Snydacker 
 and Mrs. Rufus B. Stolp. These charter members were joined some 
 months later by another small group of gardeners, which brought 
 the total membership up to twenty-five. For ten years the 
 membership was limited to that number. 
 
 From 1915 to 1925 Mrs. Spicer remained at the head of the 
 organization, directing its work, and giving advice and aid to new 
 members who entered the club to fill the vacancies left by those 
 who moved away. It was due to her influence and prestige that 
 the Kenilworth Garden Club was invited, in 1923, to become a 
 member of the Garden Club of America. 
 
 In her memory the little winding path leading to the artistic 
 formal garden in the park near the station was named the Anne 
 Higginson Spicer Memorial Path, and in 1938 a more permanent 
 memorial was placed at the end of the path and dedicated to both 
 Mr. and Mrs. Spicer. This memorial is a bronze figure of a water 
 baby guarding a bird path, modeled by the distinguished sculp- 
 tress, Ruth Sherwood. It was the gift of a number of Mrs. Spicer's 
 friends. 
 
 81 
 
During two June days in 1930, the club held a garden fair, 
 following the pattern of an old English Fair held annually in 
 Chelsea, England. This attracted wide attention in Chicago as 
 well as in the North Shore towns. The proceeds were used for 
 village planting. 
 
 The beautifying of the village has always been one of the 
 expressed purposes of the club. As early as 1924 an effort was 
 made to cooperate with the village authorities in planting flowers 
 and shrubs. In 1931 the Kenil worth Garden Club and the Kenil- 
 worth Home and Garden Club combined their efforts to encour- 
 age the planting of flowering crab trees in the gardens and along 
 the village parkways. Since then, through the efforts of the two 
 clubs, more than six hundred crab trees of many different varieties 
 have been planted. 
 
 Every week during the summer months flowers are sent to the 
 city to be distributed under the auspices of the Plant, Fruit and 
 Flower Guild among hospitals, settlements and homes where 
 flowers are a rare treat. 
 
 From 1941 to 1945 the club's activities centered almost 
 entirely around war projects, now mostly ended, though it will be 
 necessary to provide flowers in Army and Navy hospitals for some 
 time to come. 
 
 Probably the club can soon revert to its original purpose which, 
 in the words of the by-laws, "shall be to stimulate the knowledge 
 and love of gardening, to aid in the protection of native plants, 
 and to encourage civic planting.' ' 
 
 The presidents who from the beginning have directed the work 
 of the club are Mrs. Vibe K. Spicer (Anne Higginson Spicer), 
 Mrs. Rufus B. Stolp, Mrs. E. J. Phelps, Mrs. Douglas Flood, Mrs. 
 Mark W. Cresap, Mrs. Gilbert W. Kelly, Mrs. Bentley G. 
 McCloud, Mrs. Hugh A. Foresman, Mrs. Sidney Y. Ball, Mrs. 
 Harold F. Tideman, Mrs. Harry J. Williams and Mrs. John 
 Nuveen, Jr. 
 
 82 
 
 
GARDEN CLUBS 
 
 The club membership is now made up of forty-nine active 
 gardeners, some of whom live in the neighboring village of 
 Winnetka. 
 
 Mrs. Gilbert W. Kelly. 
 
 The Kenilworth Home and Garden Club 
 
 On March 12, 1923, a group of fifteen Kenilworth friends 
 met at the home of Mrs. Frank Cherry and organized the Kenil- 
 worth Home and Garden Club. Three of this original group are 
 still active members: Mrs. Walter Marx, Mrs. John Oleson, Mrs. 
 John Marshall Roberts. The purpose of this club was: "To pro- 
 mote interest in beautifying the home, to stimulate the love and 
 knowledge of gardening amongst amateurs, to aid in the protec- 
 tion of native trees, plants and birds and to encourage civic plant- 
 ing." The membership was limited to twenty-five, but has since 
 been increased to forty as a result of greater activities. 
 
 Three meetings are devoted to home programs and the rest 
 to gardening and horticultural problems with civic interest para- 
 mount. The programs are generally provided by the members. 
 
 The club is a charter member of the Illinois Garden Club and 
 has had several members on that board of governors and has 
 exhibited and won prizes in every one of its garden shows. Its 
 herb garden in 1931 won the gold medal for the outstanding 
 exhibit of the Illinois Garden Show of that year. 
 
 The club's vegetable arrangement won the silver medal, the 
 second highest award of the entire show, at the twenty-third 
 national flower and garden show of the Society of American 
 Florists in 1942. Entering three arrangements, the club won three 
 first prizes in the Chicago Garden Festival in 1943. 
 
 The club is a charter member of the Chicago Plant, Flower 
 and Fruit Guild and sends flowers and fruits through the summer 
 
 83 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 and gifts at Christmas to that organization for distribution to the 
 needy. A book is in preparation on the club's outstanding service 
 performed during the war years at Great Lakes and Fort Sheridan 
 hospitals. Generous contribution was made to the landscaping 
 of Vaughn Memorial Hospital. 
 
 In 1931, the club established a library of valuable garden 
 books, which was donated to the North Shore Garden Center. 
 
 Planting elm trees from the south limits of Kenilworth to the 
 North Western freight house on Green Bay Road was one of the 
 club's early activities. 
 
 When the golf grounds in west Kenilworth were subdivided, 
 the club obtained and consummated plans for the development 
 of Park Drive and have since planted specimen trees there. 
 
 The club in cooperation with the Kenilworth Garden Club 
 landscaped the grounds of the Sears School when the addition was 
 completed in 1929. 
 
 In 1930, financing the services of Jens Jensen, the noted 
 naturalist and landscape architect, the club was instrumental in 
 developing Mahoney Farm into the beautiful park it is today. The 
 club also donated wildflowers from members' gardens and has 
 since planted specimen and memorial trees there. Gifts of mem- 
 bers include also the stone fountain and pool, the large martin 
 house and a bronze marker giving a brief history of the property. 
 
 As their contribution to the Lincoln Memorial at Springfield, 
 the club built a stone council ring in 1939. 
 
 One Sunday each year the club gives flowers to decorate the 
 altars of the two Kenilworth churches. 
 
 In 1941 Kenilworth Clippers was organized and sponsored by 
 the club as a junior auxiliary. 
 
 Following the depression, the club had vacant lots plowed in 
 west Kenilworth in 1932 through 1934 and in the war years 
 from 1940 to 1945 for community gardens, helping the amateur 
 gardeners with tools, seeds, soil preparation and advice. 
 
 84 
 
GARDEN CLUBS 
 
 Presidents of the club have been Mrs. Frank W. Cherry, Mrs. 
 Charles R. Erwin, Mrs. Charles D. Howe, Mrs. Henry Taylor, 
 Mrs. Theodore Moritz, Mrs. William W. Wheelock, Mrs. Alfred 
 R. Hodge, Mrs. Frederick Bulley, Mrs. Frank C. Nason, Mrs. 
 Herman G. Seely, Mrs. Arthur J. Lindsley, Mrs. William F. 
 Freudenreich, Mrs. Richard C. Johnston, Mrs. J. Wilson McAllis- 
 ter, Mrs. Peter S. Barton, Mrs. Frederic R. Kilner and Mrs. 
 Clemens A. Storch. 
 
 Mrs. Richard C Johnston. 
 
 Kenilworth Clippers 
 
 In the fall of 1940 the Kenilworth Home and Garden Club 
 conceived the idea of organizing a younger group to carry on their 
 activities. They discussed this with Mrs. William C White, Mrs. 
 David B. Sterrett, Mrs. Thilo M. Best and Mrs. Fred L. Stone, 
 and suggested that daughters of the senior club be included. So, 
 in February of 1941, these women met with the following daugh- 
 ters of the senior group, and organized: Mrs. John Nason, Mrs. 
 William Yonkers, Mrs. Marshall Branch, Mrs. Ernest Humphries, 
 Mrs. Charles Rockcastle and Mrs. F. Postin White. 
 
 The constitution drawn was similar to that of the Kenilworth 
 Home and Garden Club. Kenilworth Clippers was the name 
 chosen. 
 
 It was soon found desirable to affiliate with the Plant, Flower 
 and Fruit Guild, and the Garden Club of Illinois. 
 
 In the five years of its being, the activities of this young club 
 have been many. Through the Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild, 
 the members have contributed hundreds of bouquets of garden 
 flowers, as well as canned goods and jellies, which have gone to 
 Emerson House. At Christmas time they have sent small gifts. 
 During hostilities they sent fifteen dozen cookies each week to the 
 USO in Highwood. 
 
 85 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 For two years the members also took flowers to Fort Sheridan 
 twice a month, where they arranged bouquets for the hospitals. 
 And they helped in decorating Christmas trees for Camp Skokie 
 in Glenview. 
 
 The Clippers have been prominent among other clubs in their 
 displays at flower shows, having won a red, white or blue ribbon 
 each year. 
 
 From the original group of fourteen members, the club has 
 grown in size to the present number of thirty. 
 
 Mrs. Thilo Best was the first president. She was followed by 
 Mrs. William Schweitzer, Mrs. Harvey Scribner and Mrs. George 
 Rigler. 
 
 Mrs. George Rigler. 
 
 Kenilworth Junior Garden Club 
 
 The Kenilworth Junior Garden Club was organized in March, 
 1932. Its first members were daughters and relatives of its spon- 
 sor, the Kenilworth Garden Club, but later other members were 
 taken in. Membership was limited to thirty. 
 
 As a member of the Illinois Garden Club, the Kenilworth 
 Juniors have participated in its flower shows and in its Plant, Flower 
 and Fruit Guild contributions. It has held many flower shows of 
 its own, as well as frequently exhibiting in those on the North 
 Shore. 
 
 During 1941-43 the club furnished a day room at Fort Sheri- 
 dan. During 1944-45, due to outside war undertakings of its 
 members, it became inactive. In 1946 it hopes to renew its 
 activity. 
 
 Presidents during the past fourteen years have been: Mrs. Otis 
 Heath, Mrs. Robert Olmsted, Mrs. Allan Bulley, Mrs. Herbert 
 Lucas, Mrs. Harold McKenzie, Mrs. Leonard Paidar and Mrs. 
 LeRoy Shelton. 
 
 Mrs. Leon Ellis. 
 86 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Kenilworth Travel Club 
 
 ON the discolored pages of a faded blue notebook are 
 recorded, in the immature handwriting of the present 
 writer, the first notes of the study class which was the 
 beginning of the Kenilworth Travel Club. 
 
 The first meeting was held at the home of Mrs. J. Murray 
 Ware, October 14, 1895, called by a committee appointed by the 
 Neighbors for the purpose of organizing a study class. Associated 
 with Mrs. Ware on this committee were Mrs. Trowbridge and 
 Miss Hinman. A new committee, formed to plan the program, 
 was composed of Mrs. Ware, Mrs. Trowbridge and Mrs. Wardwell. 
 
 An imaginary journey was decided upon as the subject of 
 study, and at the third meeting, October 28, 1895, it was decided 
 to invite men as members and to meet on Monday evenings. 
 
 Enthusiastic acceptance of this invitation sped the progress 
 of organization, and a typed program was drawn up with the 
 assistance of George Cutter, who had traveled in Russia. It had 
 been decided to travel to the North Cape, through Sweden, Nor- 
 way and Russia, and this program, which still exists among the 
 archives of the Kenilworth Historical Society, bears eloquent testi- 
 mony to the thoroughness and seriousness of these travelers. 
 An unescapable condition of membership was the obligation of 
 each member to write a paper on the subject assigned him on 
 the program. In spite of this hardship, membership was at a 
 premium. 
 
 87 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 That first year of the Travel Club culminated in an unforget- 
 table evening at the Adams' home on the lake, when a few privi- 
 leged guests were admitted, rich costumes of the countries visited 
 were worn, the house was transformed into a Russian bazaar, we 
 all tasted vodka, caviare and Russian cigarettes and played we 
 were really there! Such final meetings became the tradition of 
 the Travel Club. 
 
 The minutes of 1899 evidence an interesting study of China. 
 Mrs. Adams and Mr. Barrett were joint presidents, and Sam 
 Merwin was secretary for the first few meetings, after which Ben 
 Hinman became secretary. The final meeting, "An Evening in 
 Japan," was held at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Adams. 
 
 In 1900, the first printed program of the Travel Club 
 appeared. The subject was Africa, and in fourteen meetings the 
 club covered its geography, ethnology, history and religions. Mr. 
 Morse and Mrs. Adams were presidents, Mrs. Trowbridge, secre- 
 tary. A costume party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Spicer, April 
 23, was the finale. 
 
 Many new members marked the year 1901, when Warren 
 Pease was president, Mrs. Spicer, vice-president, and Mrs. Trow- 
 bridge, secretary and treasurer. Subject, Spanish America. Final 
 meeting was at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Maher, at which Mrs. 
 Trowbridge was elected president and Miss Hall, secretary, for 
 the ensuing year. 
 
 Italy was visited in 1902, and the final meeting at the home 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Maher was a regular program followed by elec- 
 tion of Mr. Sanborn, president, Mrs. Harry Taylor, vice-president, 
 and Mrs. Morse, secretary and treasurer. 
 
 In 1903 the meetings were held every two weeks and subjects 
 chosen at the writers' will. The next printed program was for the 
 year 1906 and was entitled "Bits of Travel." 
 
 "The Old World and the New" was the subject for 1908. 
 From 1909 to 1916 there was no general title for program; the 
 
 88 
 
KENILWORTH TRAVEL CLUB 
 
 subjects were individually chosen, and the programs were models 
 of good taste in printing and format. The approach of our 
 entrance into World War I was in the air, and although officers 
 were chosen for 1917, Mrs. Spicer for president, Dr. F. H. Martin, 
 vice-president, and Percy Eckhart, secretary and treasurer, there 
 were no minutes for that year or afterward. 
 
 Lucy Duncan Hall. 
 
 89 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 League of Women Voters 
 
 IN 1926, just seven years after women were granted the ballot, 
 the Kenilworth League of Women Voters was organized. 
 Previously a small group of civic-minded women became 
 affiliated with, and attended the meetings of, the Winnetka League. 
 
 In 1926, however, it became apparent that the Kenilworth 
 group was strong enough to form its own organization. Accord- 
 ingly, in May of that year thirty-four women met and organized 
 the Kenilworth League of Women Voters. The object of the 
 league then formed was the same as it is today, namely, the 
 political education of its members in order to aid in the develop- 
 ment of an intelligent electorate. 
 
 Mrs. Mark W. Cresap was the organizing chairman and the 
 first president of the league. Mrs. E. F. Snydacker succeeded her 
 in the presidency. It was the unremitting efforts of Mrs. Snydacker 
 that held the league together during the critical years of the depres- 
 sion, when many new organizations failed. Following her, in the 
 order of their service, were Mrs. Harry Olin, Mrs. Robert P. 
 Warren, Mrs. Ardis M. Kennedy, Mrs. George I. Bell, Mrs. Harry 
 J. Williams and Mrs. George Siebel. 
 
 The league now has a membership of 116. Once a month 
 from October to May luncheon meetings are held to discuss and 
 to help clarify important governmental issues, both domestic and 
 foreign. Study groups are held in the homes on government and 
 foreign policy, government and economic welfare, government 
 
 90 
 
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS 
 
 and social welfare, government and its operation. After thorough 
 study of these issues, the league uses its influence in the halls of 
 Congress and in the General Assembly at Springfield. Its influence 
 is also felt in the affairs of Cook County and the local community. 
 The league is a nonpartisan organization, endorsing principles 
 rather than parties or personalities. 
 
 Mrs. Gilbert W. Kelly. 
 
 91 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Kenilworth Infant Welfare 
 
 WISHING to interest younger women in Infant Wel- 
 fare, for which it made collections for Seward Park 
 station, the Neighbors of Kenilworth relinquished 
 all associations when in January, 1932, Phyllis Ruf (Mrs. Kelsey 
 Sanders), inspired by her mother's interest, organized such a 
 group with five other young Kenilworth women as charter mem- 
 bers: Katherine Stolp, Alice Clause, Helene Seibold, Avis Lundahl 
 and Virginia Prussing. 
 
 From the beginning, meetings were held the second Tuesday 
 of every month from 11:00 to 3:30 at the Kenilworth Union 
 Church, including business, luncheon served by members, and 
 sewing and knitting for the Jack and Jill Shop. This began as a 
 traveling suitcase of infant's wear, salable to members and friends; 
 today it is exhibited each Friday at the Hearthstone House, Win- 
 netka, and at clubs desiring. To promote friendliness, Jack and 
 Jill sewing and cutting meetings are held in the homes. 
 
 To Kenilworth and Highland Park-Ravinia is allocated Seward 
 Park station, at Sedgwick and Elm Streets, Chicago. At two weekly 
 conferences throughout the year, Thursday and Friday, Kenilworth 
 volunteers assist the doctors and nurses and do clerical work for 
 this prenatal and baby clinic, considering this its most important 
 service. Kenilworth's quota of the $10,000 annual budget is 
 $3,100. Toward this last year the Kenilworth Community Chest 
 gave $1,500. The remainder was raised through dues of $5 per 
 
 92 
 
KENILWORTH INFANT WELFARE 
 
 member, profits of the Jack and Jill Shop, a rummage sale and a 
 cocktail party at the Saddle and Cycle Club. For the second time 
 Kenilworth went over the top, to the total of $4,575. From this, 
 $500 was sent as a gift to the nurses' insured retirement fund. 
 In 1946 the $2,400 profits on a Packard made possible contribu- 
 tions of $4,700. 
 
 From six to sixty active members, its quota, the group has 
 grown during its seventeen years. Membership is by invitation 
 and now includes friends along the North Shore. 
 
 93 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Skokie Valley Chapter D.A.R. 
 
 THE Skokie Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution was organized December 31, 1925, by 
 Mrs. Israel C. Cope at her home, 239 Essex Road, Kenil- 
 worth, to which suburb she had moved in 1910. There were 
 thirteen charter members, residents of the North Shore, namely: 
 Mrs. Israel C. Cope, Mrs. Percy B. Eckhart, Mrs. Mark W. Cresap, 
 Mrs. Edwin Hedrick, Mrs. Karl Korrady, Mrs. Grant Ridgway, 
 Kenilworth; Mrs. George J. Pope, Glencoe; Mrs. Frederick Besley, 
 Waukegan; Mrs. Albert H. Veeder, Winnetka; Mrs. Edward L. 
 Scheidenhelm, Wilmette; Mrs. Charles S. Jackson, Miss Carol 
 Jackson, Hubbard Woods; Mrs. Robert Schrefler, Evanston. 
 
 The objects of the Skokie Valley Chapter were in general the 
 same as those of the National Society of the Daughters of the 
 American Revolution; that is, "Historical, Educational and Patri- 
 otic." More specifically, the objectives include perpetuation of the 
 memory of the founders of American independence; preservation 
 of historical records, documents and objects; marking historic sites 
 and fostering patriotism through education. 
 
 Eight regents have served the chapter during the two decades 
 of its existence. They were Mrs. Israel C Cope, Mrs. Frederick 
 Bowes, Mrs. Charles Jackson, Mrs. Jesse K. Farley, Mrs. George 
 Shipman, Mrs. Wilfred Nabors, Mrs. Otto Ruth, Mrs. David 
 DeCamp. 
 
 In promotion of patriotic education and good citizenship the 
 
 94 
 
SKOKIE VALLEY CHAPTER D.A.R. 
 
 chapter has helped in the free distribution of D. A. R. citizenship 
 manuals to new citizens, presentation of flags to Girl Scout organi- 
 zations, awarding of prizes to Illinois high school students for 
 essays on patriotic subjects, contributions to southern schools 
 approved by the D. A. R., welfare work at Ellis Island, marking 
 of historic sites and Red Cross activities in World War II. 
 
 In 1934 a bronze tablet was placed on the north post of the 
 lych-gate of Christ Church, on Sheridan Road, in Winnetka. The 
 inscription thereon commemorates the site of the first Winnetka 
 Church, the first cemetery consecrated in 1876 and also the site 
 across the street of the first inn, called the "Lake View" or "Patter- 
 son Tavern," on the old Indian Green Bay Trail used by Marquette, 
 Hennepin, Joliet, La Salle and Tonti. 
 
 A detailed and comprehensive account of the settlement and 
 history of the North Shore was compiled by Mrs. E. L. Scheiden- 
 helm, a charter member, and is preserved in the archives of the 
 chapter. 
 
 Mrs. Laura Durgin. 
 
 95 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Kenilworth Activities 
 in World War I 
 
 AUGUST, 1917, Kenilworth blossomed out as the premier 
 yLA patriotic community of the nation in a number of press 
 / \ dispatches. There was not a drafted boy or unmarried 
 man left when the conscription bill was passed. All enlisted 
 before the draft came. Only six were exempted because of physi- 
 cal disability. Ranking among its officers was Major Franklin 
 Martin, of the National Defense Council, internationally famous 
 physician, for his work in mobilizing the medical profession of 
 the United States to receive decorations from three governments. 
 A bulletin board operated by the Kenilworth Club registered all 
 the news of the enlisted. Backing them was one of the unique 
 organizations of the war, the Kenilworth Emergency Bureau. 
 
 Kenilworth Emergency Bureau 
 
 In March, 1917, several women, responding to a call by Miss 
 Dorothy Sears to consider doing Red Cross work, formed instead 
 the Kenilworth Emergency Bureau to assist the government to 
 provide efficiency in the conduct of the war, the supporting of 
 the Red Cross its chief function. Officers were Mrs. Franklin 
 Martin, president; Mrs. V. K. Spicer, vice-president; Miss Dorothy 
 Sears, secretary; Miss Caroline Harris, treasurer. It was soon to 
 include the following: 
 
 96 
 
One of the 'Indian Trail" Trees (Cumnor Road) 
 
 .m^s* 
 
 *&*■£ 
 
 Original Boat and Bathing House 
 
 97 
 
Entrance to Ann Higginson Spicer Memorial Path 
 
 One of the Gates Opening Upon the Ware Memorial Garden 
 
 98 
 
KENILWORTH ACTIVITIES IN WORLD WAR I 
 
 Red Cross Auxiliary 24 1: By late summer the six homes 
 offered as meeting places expanded to the Assembly Hall with all 
 villagers welcomed and by late November to the more spacious 
 quarters of the Union Church, membership including over three- 
 fourths of the women and girls of Kenilworth. By women work- 
 ing under four divisions — hospital garments, knitting, surgical 
 dressings and refugee garments — 56,140 articles were turned out 
 and large collections of clothing for Allied relief made. Knitting 
 was done for men of the Battleship Illinois and drafted men from 
 the New Trier district. Comfort kits were furnished and at Christ- 
 mas 100 bags sent. Of the 180 pupils at the Joseph Sears School, 
 125 were organized into a Junior Red Cross, sewing, knitting, 
 sorting safety pins, raising money by articles made and sold. The 
 group meeting in the interest of the American Fund for French 
 Wounded, begun in the home of Mrs. Grant Ridgway as the 
 initial war effort, affiliated, adding their quota. Charles Ware was 
 associate director of the Central District of the Red Cross Asso- 
 ciation and chairman of the Red Cross drive for Kenilworth. The 
 men's Red Cross drive, headed by Mark W. Cresap, canvassed 
 every home, and among North Shore villages Kenilworth took 
 the lead. 
 
 Council of National Defense: Through this affiliation, 276 
 women registered at the annual meeting of the Neighbors, offer- 
 ing an amazing variety of talents, one item offering interpreting 
 in seventeen languages. One hundred and twelve children were 
 weighed and measured, leading after the war to the Gross Point 
 Health Center. 
 
 Community Gardens: After disking, plowing and planting the 
 former athletic field at Leicester Road and Woodstock Avenue, 
 offered by the Sears Estate, and the lot of the Holy Comforter 
 Church, the services of the boys were enlisted in raising crops. 
 The money realized was used in adopting a French war. orphan. 
 
 Uncle Sam's Club: Recognizing its facilities and the efficiency 
 
 99, 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 of its emergency board, the War Recreation Board of Illinois 
 requested that Kenilworth form a club for uniformed men to be 
 known as Uncle Sam's Club. This "blithy" was organized under 
 the chairmanship of Mrs. Charles Ware, depending upon the com- 
 munity for its personal and financial aid. The Union Church 
 offered its gymnasium, its guild room was converted into a lounge, 
 an outdoor playground opened from 2:30 to 11:30 each Sunday 
 and suppers served at 10 cents per plate. The Kenilworth Club 
 opened its tennis courts and the beach and boathouse for swim- 
 ming. Kenilworth men conducted games, singing and automo- 
 bile rides. Kenilworth matrons and grand matrons of World 
 War II recall the tea dances in the gymnasium in World War I. 
 
 Food Conservation: The women met every Friday to hear dis- 
 cussed the latest food administration orders and receive recipes. 
 Again the village made headlines: "Kenilworth Pioneers in 
 Wheatless Drive — Takes Leading Part in Food Conservation of 
 Nation." 
 
 Patriotic Rallies: These brought the nation's foremost speak- 
 ers, spurring the villagers on. For these the Boy's Home Guard, 
 the Men's Home Guard and High School Cadets formed a double 
 rank as escort, extending the entire length of the Assembly Hall. 
 
 Extra Village Activities: Contributions were made through 
 the Y. W. C. A. to the Great Lakes Hostess House and to the 
 Ravinia Canteen, official headquarters for uniformed men in off 
 hours, each North Shore town taking its turn at serving the 800 
 boys per night. One worker and two board members were given 
 the Illinois Training Farm for Women at Libertyville. The Navy 
 Club at Waukegan, where every eighth week were provided food, 
 musical and dramatic entertainment, was the village war pet. 
 
 Liberty Loan Drives: Through four Liberty Loan drives, 
 James Prentiss, chairman, saw Kenilworth over the top. Its pur- 
 chase of Liberty Bonds during World War I amounted to over 
 
 100 
 
KENILWORTH ACTIVITIES IN WORLD WAR I 
 
 one million dollars, or more than $5,000 per family or $1,000 
 per person, including the nearly five per cent of its population 
 that had volunteered for services before the first draft. 
 
 Memorials 
 
 In the Kenilworth Club hung the pictures of our boys who 
 fought in Europe. In the French Aero Club of America hung a 
 plaque presented by France as a memorial to the dead of the 
 famous LaFayette Escadrille, one of its eleven names Courtney 
 Campbell, Kenilworth's first gold star. The American Friends for 
 French Wounded in Kenilworth, affiliated with the Red Cross, 
 assisted by the Neighbors, fostered the Andrew Courtney Campbell 
 Memorial Hospital behind the lines. 
 
 Three memorial windows in the guild room of the Kenilworth 
 Union Church were dedicated by the Sunday School to its three 
 Gold Stars: Franklin Bellows, Pursell Macklin and Manierre 
 Ware. In 1929 the Joseph Sears School gymnasium was dedi- 
 cated as the village memorial. In 1927 Charles and Fannie 
 Manierre Ware placed in the park across from the Assembly Hall 
 a memorial granite block with bronze plaque designed by the 
 Chicago sculptor Albin Polasek, inscribed, "Let us make earth a 
 garden where the deeds of the valiant may blossom and bear 
 fruit." It is dedicated to Kenilworth's five gold stars: Manierre 
 Barlow Ware, 1895-1918, 1st Lieut., 362nd Inf.; Franklin Barney 
 Bellows, 1896-1918, 2nd Lieut., 50th Aero Squadron; Charles 
 Pursell Macklin, 1898-1918, 1st Lieut., Royal Air Force; Andrew 
 Courtney Campbell, 1891-1917, Sergt.-Pilot, LaFayette Esca- 
 drille; Walter Schulze, 1893-1919, Capt., 138th Aero Squadron. 
 
 Here each Memorial Day, following a parade, services are 
 held to honor Kenilworth's war dead. At the Memorial Day 
 services in 1919, students marched from the school to the Assem- 
 
 101 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 bly Hall, singing "The Star Spangled Banner" and the "Battle 
 Hymn of the Republic," the glee club sang and Virginia Hedrick 
 recited. Musical numbers were also given by Mrs. J. A. Smale 
 and the Montague Opera Quartette. The invocation was by the 
 Rev. David Beaton, the address by the Rev. F. W. Gunsaulus and 
 the benediction by the Rev. H. B. Gwyn. 
 
 - r ■■■■»! •, S 
 
 102, 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 Kenilworth Activities 
 in World War II 
 
 American Red Cross 
 
 THE Kenilworth unit of the American Red Cross opened 
 January, 1941, at the Kenilworth Union Church, where 
 grateful use was made of the equipment of the guild. 
 From a modest beginning, the number of workers increased tre- 
 mendously following Pearl Harbor day. At the start of 1942, 
 training courses in first aid, home nursing, food and nutrition and 
 accident prevention were given to hundreds of women. The police 
 force and several groups of men had evening classes in first aid. 
 1942 also saw the start of the Junior Red Cross program. The 
 mobile blood donor bank came to town for two days, and the 
 maximum numbers were on hand. 1942 and 1943 saw the start 
 of the recruiting program for the special volunteer services. Dozens 
 of Grey Ladies have served in both civilian and military hos- 
 pitals; staff assistants worked in hospitals, blood banks and demob- 
 ilization centers; canteeners and dietitian aides were placed in 
 hospitals, blood banks, airport canteens and emergency disaster 
 centers. Motor corps drivers were equally adept chauffeurring 
 generals, casualties or supplies in Army and Navy trucks. Two 
 Kenilworth artists enriched the arts and skills program. Four 
 home service workers became busier than ever as the problems 
 of the returned service man and his family increased. Kenilworth 
 
 103 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 was represented on the speakers' bureau and can claim the chair- 
 man of that department in Chicago. The Nurses' Aide Corps 
 attracted both young and old in large numbers. 
 
 Production was speeded up to meet the greatly increased 
 quotas of wartime. Kenilworth reached its peak of production in 
 1944 and moved into the top spot of the North Shore units when 
 it turned in 347,000 surgical dressings, or one seventy-fifth of the 
 amount produced by the whole Chicago chapter. The peak month 
 showed 200 workers registered in the workrooms. The head of 
 the North Shore depot introduced the chairman, Mrs. Ward Star- 
 red:, "as head of that unit that never finds a quota too big or the 
 deadline too soon or that has ever failed to take over when extra 
 work must be done." 
 
 Over the four and one-half years were produced hundreds of 
 hospital garments, layette articles, women's, men's and children's 
 wearing apparel, kit bags, servicemen's sweaters, gloves, mufflers 
 and helmets, and thousands of pairs of scuffs made from salvaged 
 bits of suitable materials, knitted squares which were put together 
 for afghans for the boys in wheel chairs. Fourteen workers were 
 enrolled on the 2,000 Honor Roll plaque at headquarters, 
 and dozens earned their chevrons for four years' service with a 
 minimum of 244 hours per year. 
 
 The generosity, interest and originality of the Kenilworth 
 citizens was outstanding in their response to the Red Cross war 
 fund drives. For five years the village operated a "One Night — 
 Lights On" campaign, later dubbed the "Kenilworth One Night 
 Quickie" by the other communities in the county and state adopt- 
 ing this type of canvass. 1945 was the biggest year as to amount 
 raised; with a quota of $15,000, receipts finally totaled $24,000. 
 March 4, 1946, proved the banner night of drives, when Roland 
 D. Feltman, who served as Red Cross drive chairman for five 
 years, received a national Red Cross citation for his outstanding 
 service. Henry Tenney, head of the Chicago chapter, made the 
 
 104 
 
KENILWORTH ACTIVITIES IN WORLD WAR II 
 
 presentation. In all five drives Kenilworth was first over the 
 top and completed each drive in one evening, totaling a large 
 percentage over its quota. 
 
 War Bond Drives 
 
 One-night drives were used in the successful war bond cam- 
 paigns, in which Kenilworth bought $8,434,340 in bonds. This 
 record was achieved by a group of 200 women, headed by Mrs. 
 Harry S. Demaree, Mrs. John Nuveen, Jr., and Mrs. Walter 
 Marx. 
 
 Girls' Service Organization 
 
 The Kenilworth Girls' Service Organization came into being 
 when Mrs. Joseph Joyce thought of the idea while lunching at 
 the Wayside Inn one afternoon in December, 1941. The service 
 men at the Inn had little or nothing to do in their time off. With 
 the help of Mrs. Merritt H. Dement, she put the idea into reality. 
 
 To an advertisement requesting girls to volunteer for service, 
 eighteen young women responded and took part in the first 
 K. G. S. O. dance, January 2, 1942. During the war, the club 
 kept up a top quota of 200 members at one time, with a waiting 
 list to fill any vacancies. Eight to ten dances were given each 
 month — each girl attended at least three to maintain her active 
 membership. 
 
 On Washington's birthday in 1942, Mrs. Joyce and Mrs. 
 Dement founded a mother organization — the Kenilworth Service 
 Organization — comprised of 175 women whose job was to fur- 
 nish chaperons and refreshments for all the parties. During four 
 years, approximately 12,000 cakes, 7,500 pounds of cookies, 1,000 
 gallons of ice cream and countless sandwiches were served by 
 them. 
 
 105 
 
The dances and parties were held at different centers — Fort 
 Sheridan, Waukegan, Glenview, Camp Skokie Valley, Highland 
 Park and sometimes Great Lakes. In 1943, one of the parties at 
 Waukegan was so exceptional it was written up in Life magazine 
 a few months later. 
 
 In the women's organization, Mrs. Joyce was president, Mrs. 
 Dement, assistant director and chaperone chairman; Mrs. A. C. 
 Philips, vice-president; Mrs. Goodwin T. Wilson, treasurer; Mrs. 
 Frank Peters, secretary, and Mrs. John W. Urice, general food 
 chairman. 
 
 Officers in the Girls' Organization, of which Mrs. Joyce was 
 also president, were: Jane Darger, vice-president; Kay McGivern, 
 treasurer; Elizabeth Hoffman, bus chairman; Ann Hoffman, social 
 chairman; Gertrude Pape, membership secretary; Lois Howard, 
 social secretary; Irene Faulkenberg, chairman of convalescent 
 parties; Eleanor Endersbee, recording secretary; Marion Philips, 
 historian, and Mildred LeVoy, publicity chairman. 
 
 Mildred LeVoy. 
 
 Office of Civilian Defense 
 
 At a special meeting of the village board, December 21, 1942, 
 the Kenilworth Council of the Office of Civilian Defense was 
 established, with Walter H. Anderson as chairman. Within a 
 short time, divisions had been set up, with chairmen and vice- 
 chairmen as follows: Fire — John L. Wilds, Richard C. Johnston. 
 Police — Julien H. Collins, Raymond J. Hurley. Medical — Mrs. 
 Harold F. Tideman, Mrs. Frank E. Peters. Public works — Conger 
 Reynolds, Albert E. Attebury. Maintenance of vital services — 
 Paul C. Clovis, C. M. Baumgardner. Public relations and educa- 
 tion — Mrs. Harold Anderson, Mrs. Robert P. Warren. Volunteer 
 office — Mrs. Thompson M. Wakeley, Mrs. George Dodge. 
 
 A registration of everyone in the village interested in war 
 
 106 
 
KENILWORTH ACTIVITIES IN WORLD WAR II 
 
 work was taken immediately and a detailed card index set up at 
 the office showing each one's interests and abilities. Volunteer 
 workers were drawn from this list as needed from time to time 
 during the war years. 
 
 The village was organized into zones, each having its own 
 chief wardens, police and fire wardens, totaling 160 men. These 
 were thoroughly trained in air-raid protection, black-out regula- 
 tions, handling of incendiary bombs, protection against gas and 
 fire, and in addition in first aid. James Surpless headed this work. 
 First aid instruction was given by Dr. Howard Goodsmith and 
 Dr. Roy Bracken. 
 
 A canvass of the village was made for first aid emergency 
 equipment and a complete card file of this maintained in the office. 
 
 Kenilworth women provided the personnel for the Ninth Dis- 
 trict air raid warning control center at Evanston one day a week. 
 Approximately sixty Victory gardens in five community plots 
 were undertaken. 
 
 Proceeds from the sale of salvage made possible a cash bal- 
 ance on December 1, 1945, of $1,449.48 after reimbursement had 
 been made the village for advances made the OCD in the early 
 weeks of the war. 
 
 March 24, 1942, Mr. Anderson turned over the chairmanship 
 of the council to Harry P. Harrison, who was succeeded later by 
 John Krause. Upon the death of Mr. Krause, Julien Collins was 
 appointed to this position on February 26, 1945. 
 
 The Honor Roll plaque opposite the railroad station was con- 
 structed at the Joseph Sears School. The constantly changing list 
 of men in service originally compiled by Mrs. George Jones 
 reached 322, of which thirteen were in time preceded by gold 
 stars — James W. Clements, Albert Fleischmann, Jr., William N. 
 Cooter, John Austin Doty, Arthur R. Foss, Jr., Robert A. Johnson, 
 James H. Kingsley, John H. Lawson, Jr., Robert C. McEwen, 
 
 107 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Fergus Mead, Jr., William T. Meyers, William L. Mitten and 
 Robert M. Thomas. 
 
 Office of Price Administration 
 
 The Kenilworth Office of Price Administration opened its 
 doors in a small room above the village offices on January 9, 1942. 
 Oliver Barrett had been named chairman of this "ration board," 
 with Julius Peterson vice-chairman. Some months later A. R. 
 Peterson was made a member. At this time the only items rationed 
 were tires and automobiles. 
 
 Within a short time fuel oil, gasoline, sugar, coffee and canned 
 goods were added to the list, and the board was enlarged in 
 November, 1942, to include William A. Moulton and Mrs. Robert 
 P. Warren. Upon resignation of Mr. Barrett, Mr. Moulton was 
 appointed chairman, serving for the duration of the war. 
 
 Registration of every resident in Kenilworth was held on two 
 separate occasions, first for gasoline and then for sugar rationing. 
 This work was accomplished by a group of forty-seven volunteer 
 women of the village under the direction of Elmer Nygaard. 
 
 Shoes, meat, cheese and fats were added to the list of rationed 
 commodities, and more help was needed to handle more applica- 
 tions and complaints. Later members of the board included C. M. 
 Baumgardner, Mrs. George Dodge, Mrs. Harry S. Demaree and 
 William F. Mueller. 
 
 Mrs. Robert P. Warren. 
 
 108 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Kenilworth Boy Scouts 
 
 5 
 
 THE Kenilworth troop of Boy Scouts was organized in 1919 
 by a group of seven or eight boys. Some of them appear in 
 the accompanying picture, which includes, from left to 
 right: Elbridge Keith, Humbert Tinsman, David Burnham, Robert 
 Danly, Archer Kennedy, Jack Lockett, Robert Prentiss, Herbert 
 Newport, Robert Bell and Langley Isham. In the original squad, 
 but not in the picture, were Walter Shattuck, Jr., and Graham 
 Fitch. 
 
 Carl Keith was the first scout master, and Walter Shattuck, 
 Jr., assistant. In 1921 Roy Jarrett became scout master. The fol- 
 lowing year Bob Townley began his long career of voluntary 
 service as scout master, in addition to his duties as physical educa- 
 tion instructor at the Joseph Sears School. In those twenty-five 
 years the Kenilworth troop has become one of the largest groups 
 of Boy Scouts, numbering 75 to 100 each year. It has produced 
 more Eagle Scouts than any other troop on the North Shore, 
 twelve receiving their pins at the 1945 Court of Honor. Troop 
 13 has ranked never below third in the 150 troops in the North 
 Shore area in the ten years since the troop rating plan was adopted. 
 
 The annual Scout Circus, last held in 1941, that year drew 
 an audience of 1,200 persons, raising money for the Scout and 
 Cub drum and bugle corps, the only one in the North Shore area. 
 
 Frank Watts, who lost his life in World War II, was the first 
 Eagle Scout in Troop 13. 
 
 109 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 The Cub Scouts started in 1932 in Kenil worth, one of several 
 experimental groups selected by the national body. Every boy 
 eligible to become a Cub in Kenilworth has been a Cub — a record 
 unequaled in other communities. 
 
 Bob Townley took Scout training for a month in 1910 before 
 becoming Scout master of Milwaukee Troop I. After two years 
 at Wisconsin State Teachers' College and then two years in Can- 
 ada as Y. M. C. A. secretary, he made a name in football at 
 Northwestern University, where his education was interrupted by 
 service in the infantry of the Third Division from January, 1918, 
 until the autumn of 1919. Upon graduation from Northwestern 
 in 1921, he became perennial scout master at Kenilworth. 
 
 110 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Kenilworth Girl Scouts 
 
 THE first organization in Kenilworth for younger girls was 
 a Campfire Group under the leadership of Miss Estelle 
 Farley and later under Miss Dora Jean Bluthardt. For a 
 year or two this group was active, working on leather goods, going 
 on picnics and day hikes and working for Merit Beads. 
 
 Members of this first Campfire group were: Jane Bisbee, 
 Frances Bluthardt, Pat. Bower (Speed) , Hester Dillon, Pat. Davis, 
 Brenna Hawley, Prudence Johnson, Virginia Johnston, Joy Mervis, 
 Dorell Moulton, Barbara Olson, Dorothy Raggio (Bowman), 
 Betty Rich, Mary Snoddy (Beers), Nancy Wilds (Davidson). 
 
 In the school year 1928-29 Girl Scout Troop 1 was formed, 
 and during the following year Troop 2 was organized to make 
 room for the additional girls that wanted to become Scouts. Miss 
 Gertrude Herrick, physical education teacher at Joseph Sears 
 School, was the captain of both of the troops and was assisted by 
 Miss Marjorie Stanton (Mills) and Miss Marian Anderson, who 
 was then a senior at New Trier. 
 
 Troop patrol leaders and corporals were Josephine Dahn, 
 Lucille Brenner, Beverly Bouchard, Jeanette Post, Sue Carpenter, 
 Carol Wilson, Jane Harrison, Dorothy Deacon, Annette Williams, 
 Marcia Huck, Barbara Clark, Mary Huck. 
 
 These troops were under the jurisdiction of a community com- 
 mittee from October, 1929, to January, 1935, when they first 
 registered with the region. 
 
 The fall of 1929 found the girls taking the first scout over- 
 Ill 
 
night hike, an event that all scouts look forward to. Ten girls made 
 the trip over to the Indiana sand dunes. 
 
 During this same year a room in the Joseph Sears School was 
 turned over to the girls to be used for their meetings and is still 
 being used for that purpose. 
 
 The first community service project taken over by the Girl 
 Scouts was to furnish a quart of milk a day to each of the four 
 children in a needy Chicago family. To raise money for this a food 
 sale was held January 21, 1930, at which they raised $32.37. 
 During the years of World War II the Girl Scouts gave literally 
 hundreds of hours of service to the Office of Civilian Defense and 
 to the Evanston Hospital. 
 
 On February 24, 1930, the first Girl Scout court of awards 
 was held, at which the girls received their advancement awards 
 and the merit badges that had been earned up to this point. 
 
 In the spring of 1934 a group of mothers took a course of 
 training in order to become leaders in this ever-growing organi- 
 zation. Mrs. Walter Noble Gillett became the first Girl Scout 
 commissioner in January, 1935. Since then Mrs. J. A. Petersen, 
 Mrs. Paul Schulze, Mrs. Leonard Paidar, Mrs. M. W. Branch, Mrs. 
 A. R. Peterson, Mrs. Willard Grimm and Mrs. Alan C. Hovey 
 have held this position. 
 
 The first Senior Scout Troop, the Mariner Ship Frontenac, was 
 organized in 1937. Mrs. Arthur Wakeley was instrumental in 
 bringing this about. During the year she became regional chair- 
 man for Senior Girl Scouts of Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois and 
 Michigan and served in this capacity for several years. 
 
 Kenilworth now has four intermediate Girl Scout troops and 
 one Brownie troop. 
 
 During the years from 1929 to the present practically every 
 girl of scout age attending Sears school and many of those attend- 
 ing other schools have been Girl Scouts. 
 
 Phoebe Bleecker. 
 
 112 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Indian Days 
 
 SCANT reference appears in the history of Indian days to the 
 area that is now Kenilworth. This might have been different 
 but for the vagaries of the French priests who were the early 
 explorers of this territory. The canoes of the more famous were 
 paddled past this stretch of lake front, but Father Pierre Francois 
 Pinet, S. J., came ashore here in 1696 and founded the Mission 
 of the Guardian Angel (L'Ange Gardien) adjoining a village of 
 Miami Indians on the western edge of present-day Kenilworth. 
 Father Pinet, according to the Jesuit chronicles, evidently was not 
 favored with the support of the heads of the order in Canada, and 
 the mission was abandoned in 1699 or early in 1700. Its location 
 was believed to be on Ridge Road, at a point due west of the 
 Kenilworth railroad station, according to a paper read by Frank 
 R. Grover, vice-president of the Evanston Historical Society, before 
 members of that society and the Chicago Historical Society, No- 
 vember 27, 1906, and published in pamphlet form by the latter 
 organization. Mr. Grover, who also read before the Chicago His- 
 torical Society, February 21, 1905, an address on "Some Indian 
 Land Marks of the North Shore," was an uncle of Dr. Rufus Stolp, 
 leader in the Kenilworth Historical Society later. 
 
 In a pamphlet about Antoine Ouilmette (whose name was 
 given to the neighboring suburb of Wilmette) published by the 
 Evanston Historical Society in 1908, Mr. Grover mistakenly laid 
 in Kenilworth the site of the log cabin in which the famous 
 Indian's daughter Elisabeth married her first husband, Michael 
 
 113 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Welsh, "the first Irishman in Chicago," on May 11, 1830. He 
 wrote: 
 
 "This wedding . . . was celebrated in an old log cabin that 
 stood until 1903 on the east side of Sheridan Road at Kenilworth 
 and about two blocks north of the Kenilworth water tower. . . . 
 This cabin was built by one John Doyle. . . . Ouilmette and his 
 family lived in this cabin at the time of the wedding and for 
 some time thereafter, although their most permanent abode was 
 about a mile south of there/' 
 
 From the recollection of early residents of Kenilworth, the 
 location of the Indian cabin was in Winnetka, a few hundred 
 feet north of the Kenilworth boundary line, on pasture land ad- 
 joining his home and rented by Joseph Sears. It was occupied by 
 Robert Hadley, colored coachman of the Sears, and then torn 
 down in 1903. 
 
 The permanent abode of Antoine Ouilmette, as noted above, 
 was on the lake front in Wilmette, probably just east of the Mich- 
 igan Shores club house. Antoine Ouilmette, a Frenchman, was the 
 husband of Archange Ouilmette, a Pottawatomie, who received 
 two sections of land by the treaty of 1829 (Prairie du Chien) 
 made by the United States government with the Pottawatomie, 
 Chippewa and the Ottawa tribes. The Ouilmette reservation 
 stretched from what is now Central Street, Evanston, to Elm- 
 wood Avenue, Wilmette, and from the lake westward. 
 
 The only existing trace of the Indians in Kenilworth today is 
 what is believed by some to be an Indian trail tree at 416 Cumnor 
 Road. 
 
 114 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 To Each His Own 
 
 KEVIEWING the manuscript of this book when it was pre- 
 sented at the annual dinner of the Kenilworth Historical 
 ^Society, December 4, 1946, Mrs. Virginia Hedrick 
 Leimert noted the necessary omission of the many bits of child- 
 hood memories that are dear to those who have grown up in 
 Kenilworth, an omission required in order to present the accurate 
 and factual account of the village history in the space available. 
 Each reader of this volume has his or her own memories, which 
 will be recalled to give life and color to the outline here pre- 
 sented. She truly said: 
 
 "The story of Kenilworth isn't all in this book. You find it, 
 however, between the lines. Naturally, you find it in your own 
 memories, too, and each of us has a different set. 
 
 "For myself, I can't help feeling a wee bit sorry for the present 
 generation of Kenilworth small fry because they don't have Mr. 
 Spicer's famous garden and play house, for instance — or the won- 
 derful woods in which to gather miliums, buttercups and marsh 
 marigolds, with customers eager to pay you 10 cents a bunch! 
 
 "Or a Thorsen's livery stable, with surreys that had a real 
 fringe on top — who can forget the luxury of a ride in a Thorsen 
 cab, spiced by Dobbin's fragrant aroma, and the hazard of a miss- 
 ing floor board or two? Or a Grandpa Taylor with a pipe of tobacco 
 in every handy lilac bush. Or a Cap Murray on his bicycle to haul 
 you home after dark from the ice on the beach. 
 
 "Or the memory of moonlit nights, not to meet Amy or Fred 
 
 115 
 
KENILWORTH, FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
 
 Marks, ladder on shoulder, pedaling from lamppost to lamppost 
 to turn on the gas. 
 
 "Or the Ridgways' canoe, which got ceremoniously launched 
 during those faraway wonderful floods — or a homemade boat, for 
 a fast cruise down the Skokie ditch. Or a Mrs. Henry Riggs Rath- 
 bone (and senator) with her fantastic $108 hand-painted hat. 
 (I for one could never figure out what the eight dollars was for.) 
 
 "Or a dangerous pier, and a dive on a rough day, with a quick 
 grab at the ladder as the current swept you by. 
 
 "Or a Dingy Forbes with his poor wild shaggy pony that the 
 kids hitched sleds to in winter. Or a Mrs. Eastman who was said 
 to have calcimined the sparrows in lovely colors, though it all 
 came off in the first good rain, and how she got hold of them in 
 the first place was always a fascinating mystery. 
 
 "Or a Walter Doerr's drug store where you could spend at 
 least a part of your Sunday School money in a sunny, shabby cubby 
 hole of a soda fountain. Or a Mr. Benham who had us recruiting 
 members for the Union Sunday School like a team of hungry talent 
 scouts. 
 
 "Or the Mahoney farm, to crawl breathlessly down the corn 
 rows and imagine the Mahoneys were after you. Or a Sears' or 
 Pease's garden, where sun-ripened melons seemed to beckon. 
 
 "Or a private ski slide on the bluff across from Edmonds, where 
 one could coast on barrel staves right out on the ice. Or the excite- 
 ment of a wild cucumber fight, or a water tower to climb with a 
 secret 'club room' at the top. Or a Wells Fargo Express Co. driver, 
 'Red Nose Paddy,' and a swell 'hitch' on a frosty Saturday morn — 
 or the caves along Leicester Road during the week of the 'big 
 snow.' 
 
 "Well, the list of memories is endless, and to each his own!" 
 
 116 
 
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