The land now occupied
by Northwestern University and the City of Evanston was the site
of unincorporated farms and swampland 150 years ago.
That lightly populated
rugged terrain became home to a new university and new municipality,
thanks to the vision of Northwestern's founders who played a dual
role as University leaders and community developers.
The founders purchased
the first land for the University in 1853, two years after the
State of Illinois granted a charter to establish Northwestern
to serve the Northwest Territory.
They first selected
379 acres of lakefront property known as the Foster Farm. The
Foster property extended from roughly Lincoln Street on the north
to Dempster Street on the south.
The second land
purchase a year later was the Billings Farm, extending along the
south side of Central Street, from Sherman Avenue west to about
Asbury Avenue.
In 1854, Philo
Judson, Northwestern's business manager, surveyed and platted
the lands, using the name "Evanston" in honor of founder John
Evans for the new community. The Illinois Legislature changed
the name of the community from Ridgeville to Evanston in 1857
and the city was incorporated in 1863.
The Robinson Farm
was purchased in 1855, extending Northwestern's holdings west
along Noyes Street, from about Orrington Avenue to west of Asbury.
The Snyder Farm,
located between Dempster and Greenleaf and the lake and Chicago
Avenue, was bought in 1865. Founder Orrington Lunt in 1867donated
property in northwest Evanston, now the site of Ryan Field and
athletic facilities.
The establishment
of Northwestern University and the development of a community
began to attract more people to the area. By 1860, 831 people
lived in Evanston, most of them affiliated with the University.
By 1870, Evanston had 3,062 residents.
The founders sold
and donated land to create a model community - beginning what
became the University's long-standing policy of returning non-educational
properties to the tax rolls.
The University
surveyed, laid out streets, platted, cleared and graded the land
that became the heart of Evanston, including the central business
district, and began a massive drainage project to expedite development.
Northwestern donated
almost all of the land for the first streets and alleys. It sold
or donated land for the city waterworks, public schools and parks.
Northwestern also
donated or made land available at nominal rent to religious denominations,
including Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Episcopalians,
Methodists, Swedish Methodists, Free Methodists and the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. It also assisted other educational
institutions in locating here, including Garrett-Evangelical Theological
Seminary, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, National College
of Education, Kendall College and Roycemore School.
The University
continued its policy of selling land not used for educational
purposes a century after its founding. It went to court in 1972
to win permission to sell property donated by John Evans, and
in 1976 the Board of Trustees reaffirmed a policy of divestiture
of commercial real estate.
The sale of properties
has reduced the total Northwestern University land holdings to
242.8 acres, far less than its original 680 acres and the maximum
2,000 acres authorized by the State of Illinois. The holdings
account for about 4.5 percent of all the land in the City of Evanston.
Of the total 242.8
acres, 10.4 acres is leased to other nonprofit institutions --
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Seabury-Western Theological
Seminary, Roycemore School and the Evanston Historical Society;
1.8 acres is income-producing property; and 84 acres was created
as a lakefill project at Northwestern's own expense in 1964.
As Northwestern
reduced its early land holdings - eventually retaining only 158
acres of the original 680 -- the City of Evanston grew. It absorbed
the Village of North Evanston and the Village of South Evanston
and annexed other property.
The 19th century
farms and swampland - at first home only to a fledgling institution
of higher learning -- gave way to a new community that grew to
8.5 square miles and a population of more than 73,000.
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