Autumn 2000 Newsletter

The Times They Are A-Changing’…

Glencoe Historical Society moves to 377 Park Avenue, Eklund Center

You probably noticed the new logo and the new name. Things have changed for the Glencoe Historical Society.

As of July 2000, the Society and its museum artifacts moved into what will be our permanent home – the Eklund History Center and Garden, 377 Park Ave.

The story of our move is a happy one. Sally Eklund, owner of the properties at 375 and 377 Park Ave., has agreed to donate them to the Glencoe Historical Society. The deed to the workshop at 377 (the barn-like building behind 375) will be given to the Society as soon as we are able to raise enough funding to make the building accessible for public use. That includes adding safety signs and lights on the interior, adding one toilet room and opening up an additional door onto the alley for safety.

We have launched a capital campaign to raise the funds to make these changes – and a whole lot more. We are seeking funding to convert the barn/workshop into a museum and history center for the entire village. That means exhibit and research space as well as a meeting area. We also we will be creating a Victorian Garden on the open land.

For close to 15 years we had been at Watts Center where we housed a museum. We moved all of our furniture and artifacts to the workshop building last spring because the Park District was going to do work on Watts and we didn’t want anything damaged. Thanks to the Society board, everything was packed up in two weeks. Particular thanks to the Park District and Rick Bold and his crew for doing the actual moving. ⇑

Meet New Board Members

They’re already hard at work

New board members have joined the Society as we embark on this new, exciting endeavor. In alphabetical order the new board members are:

John Burk
John is one of the newest members. He is an officer at the North Shore community Bank where the Society does its banking.
John Carothers
John lives just behind the Eklund Center and has known Sally Eklund for many years. He brings his legal expertise and his fierce enthusiasm to the board.
Sharon Grayboys
A young mother, Sharon also brings an enthusiasm, knowledge of the newcomers to town and a sharp wit.
Ellen Paseltiner
Ellen has long been involved with the Society, first as the coordinator of our 1985 historic homes survey and later as director of the third grade Glencoe architecture curriculum.
Evey Schweig
Evey is an artist whose first volunteer work with the Society was on the What’s So Great About Glencoe? activity book. She has brought her artistic talents to bear and created the new logo for the Eklund Center.
Tricia Smith
Tricia has long worked for the schools on various projects. She has many times been our hostess after the trolley tours of Glencoe architecture.
Betsy Warren
Betsy is a former Village President and Trustee. She also was active in the campaign to establish Friends Park. Betsy is co-chairman of the Campaign for the Eklund Center.

These new members join our board that has been in place for many years: Marianne Crosby, Alice Glicksberg, Ed Goodale, Barbara and Scott Javore (Barbara is co-chairman of the Eklund Center Campaign), Sarah O’Kelley, Wilson Rankin, Ellen Shubart, and Kathleen Wright. Also involved with the board this year are Ken Santucci and Fred Schweiger. These two men are acting as Sally Eklund’s representatives. When the title to the property is turned over to the Society they will assume official places on the board as representatives of Sally’s estate. Ex-officio on the board is Susan Page Tillett. Susan, a museum consultant, formerly was on the board of the Society. She resigned last winter so she could be our consultant on the transition to this new situation. She now is an ad hoc adviser, available to talk to about our plans and if we run into difficulties.

All the board members are excited about the new location. They also are, frankly, just a bit intimated about the amount of work that has to get done. In addition to all of the Society’s effects at the workshop, there is a great deal of donated items—mostly furniture and books – from Sally’s home and the workshop. A great deal of these items will be included in the first exhibits planned including one on furniture making to honor Sally’s father Carl. But before we can open to the public, we have to do the initial construction to create a kitchen, bathrooms and an office. We also have to sort through everything that is in the workshop and store it where it belongs.

This is going to be long, hard road. But the board is eager and ready to take on the challenge.

We hope you’ll join us.

Want to help? Lots of work needs to be done. You can help with displays, sorting, cleaning and loads of other jobs. We’ll find what interests you. Just call: Ellen Shubart, 847.835.2638. ⇑

Donations, We Get Donations

The Glencoe Historic Society is delighted to accept donations from the public. Since our last newsletter (and we know that was some years ago; we promise to do better), we have gotten some very interesting artifacts that we hope to put on display very soon.

  • A book, Social Anthropology, by E.E. Evans-Pritchard. What’s interesting about this is that The Free Press, Glencoe, Illinois, published these “Broadcast Lectures” in 1951. Thanks to Kathy Johnson, Peoria, formerly of Glencoe.
  • A picture of Roland Bautzmann’s mother and cousin next to a horse-drawn buggy. Mary Bautzmann of Wilmette donated it and sent it along with a note that he had died in April and she was distributing his “treasures” to the proper places.
  • A pamphlet titled “The Proposed Building Program for the Glencoe Schools,” issued in 1965 when the District 35 School Board was seeking a bond issue of $700,000 for additions at Central, North and South Schools. Superintendent at the time was Paul J. Misner. The Village of Glencoe sent the pamphlet along – no name came with the item.

Have items to donate?

Glencoe-related items are always welcome at the Society. Call 835-2638; we can pick up items. ⇑

Want to See What’s Going On At the New Eklund History Center and Garden?

An Open House November 5, 2000 2-4 p.m. 377 Park Avenue

Refreshments will be served.

The Board of Directors of the Glencoe Historical Society invites you to come to an Open House. We will have tours of the workshop building, site plans and an explanation of the funding, the architectural layout and everything you’d like to know about the new Eklund Center. We’re hoping Sally Eklund will join us, too. ⇑

Notice Something New In Your Glencoe Memo?

The Glencoe Historical Society is providing information for the Village’s newsletter, the Glencoe Memo, on Village history. The first series was called “Did You Know?” and dealt with some bits and pieces that most Glencoe residents may not have known about the Village. Because you are a Historical Society supporter, we can give you a peek at some of the upcoming pieces:

Did you know?

  1. We don’t have proof of who was Glencoe’s first president. The Village’s first election was held in April 1870. Unfortunately, the early council records were kept in Chicago and were burned in the Great Chicago Fire of Oct.8-9, 1871.
  2. The train runs on the “wrong” side of the road, not because of the English capital investment in the railroads, but because at first only one track existed. Railroad officials decided that the existing stations should be on the side going to downtown when they added the second track.
  3. Glencoe probably did not have an Underground Railroad stop. Many people want to believe that Glencoe residents aided runaway slaves. But there is no hard evidence to that effect.

Watch the Memo for more on Glencoe history. ⇑

Activity Book Wins Driehaus Preservation Award

The Glencoe Historical Society is delighted to announce that the activity/coloring book What’s So Great About Glencoe? has been awarded a Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Excellence in Preservation Award sponsored by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.

On Sept. 16, the four volunteers who created the book of activities, architecture and history learning opportunities were in Lake Forest to pick up the prize, a working model of Chicago’s Stock Exchange. Ann Grubb, author; Evey Schweig, artist; Tammy Grusin, graphic designer; and Leslie Wolf, creator of Glen Coe, with their husbands were at the dinner at the Deer Path Inn in Lake Forest to pick up the award.

The Historical Society and the Glencoe Historic Preservation Commission, a governmental entity affiliated with the Village, co-sponsored the activity book to be used in conjunction with the annual third grade curriculum on “community” in the Glencoe schools. The book was cited as an excellent tool to teach history and architecture by the judges, two architects and one member of the Midwest Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Congratulations to our winners!!! ⇑