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City
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1872
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Illinois
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Cook
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Evanston
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Mayor
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Council-manager
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Lorraine H Morton
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85,900,000
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2006-07
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74,239
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up
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137
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1990
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3,6986
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| |
9,5841
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6523
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2250
|
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611
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609
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009
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019
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285
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60201, 60202, 60203, 60204, 60208, 60209
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847/224
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200
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78
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33,645
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24582
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56,140
|
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492,400 ( 2005 )
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441,600
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cityofevanstonorg
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is a city on
Lake Michigan in
Cook County ,
Illinois directly north of
Chicago , east of
Skokie , and south of
Wilmette . The city was first settled in
1836 , and as of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,239. Evanston is part of Chicago's affluent
North Shore region. The
ZIP Code is 60201.
Evanston was created out of the larger geographic unit which was called "Grosse Pointe Territory" in the 1830s and retitled Ridgeville in 1850."This is Evanston," League of Women Voters of Evanston, 2000, ISBN 0-9676994-0-1
{Link without Title} pp8-18 After being chosen as the home for
Northwestern University , the city was incorporated in
1867 , and named after
John Evans , the University's founder. During the 1960s Northwestern University changed the city's shoreline with a 74 acre (300,000 m&
2) lakefill.
Today, the city is home to Northwestern University and other educational institutions as well as headquarters of
Alpha Phi International women's fraternity,
Rotary International , the
National Lekotek Center , the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the
Sigma Chi Fraternity and the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union .
Evanston is also the birthplace of
Tinkertoy s.
Evanston, along with many other cities such as
Ithaca, New York and
Two Rivers, Wisconsin , claims to have invented the ice cream
Sundae . The store that claims this is at Dempster Street and Chicago Avenue, but has since been changed into a
Homemade Pizza Co. location.
Evanston is located at (42.046380, -87.694608) and is at an
Elevation of 600 ft.
According to the
United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 20.1
Km&2 (7.8
Mi&2 ). 20.0 km&
2 (7.8 mi&
2) of it is land and 0.1 km&
2 (0.04 mi&
2) of it (0.26%) is water.
In August , but this number appears to be incorrect. The 7.8
Mi&2 listed by the
United States Census Bureau is more accurate.
Evanston has a
Council-manager system of government and is divided into nine wards, each of which is represented by an Alderman, or member of the Evanston City Council. Its current mayor is Lorraine H. Morton. The city government has often had a shaky relationship with Northwestern University, which is a not-for-profit institution and so does not pay property taxes to the city. In the founding charter of Northwestern University, signed in 1851, the state granted the school an exemption from paying property taxes, and unlike other well-off private universities with statutory exemptions, Northwestern does not make Payments in Lieu of Taxes for the real estate it removes from property tax rolls. The university does, however, provide a contribution towards fire department services and also maintains its own security force.
Evanston has a history of supporting candidates affiliated with the Democratic party in elections on all levels of government. In the 2004 presidential election, Democratic candidate John Kerry won 82% of Evanston's vote. His Republican opponent, George W. Bush, only won 17% of the vote in Evanston.
A perennial debate in Evanston is the issue of Northwestern University's status as a tax-exempt institution. Northwestern's critics allege that it consumes far more from the city than it contributes. However, its backers fire back that benefits of having an elite research institution is worth it, even if the university does occupy prime real estate tax free. This controversy was revived in 2003 when the university purchased an eight-story office building downtown, removing it from the tax rolls. A referendum was put on the April elections ballot dubbed by supporters as a "Fair Share Initiative," but was ultimately rejected.
Beginning in the late 1990s, there has been considerable controversy over an explosion in high-rise development, especially in the downtown district. Detractors contend that the development has taken away what they call a "unique Evanston identity." They cite a growing number of local businesses that have gone out of business to be replaced with chain stores as its worst offense. In contrast proponents claim that the high-rises have brought much-needed life to what was a dying suburban downtown, and much-needed revenues to chronically underfunded city coffers.
Recently as of 2006 there was concern with Evanston's low-income population being able to find affordable housing. Evanston's west side, a formerly strong middle-class
African American community, has been undergoing a redevelopment process, which has led to a steadily decreasing minority population in Evanston. The city's Mayor
Loraine H. Morton has tried to persuade builders to build less expensive medium sized homes under $350,000 but none of her attempts have been successful.
]]
All of Evanston (and part of the village of
Skokie ) is within the boundaries of Evanston Township High School District 202. The
District has a single
High School ,
Evanston Township High School (ETHS) with an enrollment of just over 3000, covering grades 9 through 12. The school's mascot is the Wildkit (a diminutive of Northwestern's Wildcats) and the school's colors are orange and blue. Its biggest rival is
New Trier High School in
Winnetka . Its superintendent is Dr. Eric Witherspoon.
Evanston-Skokie Community Consolidated School District 65 , covering all of Evanston and part of Skokie, provides
Primary Education from pre-
Kindergarten through grade 8. The district has ten elementary schools (through fifth grade), three
Middle School s (grades 6 through 8), two
Magnet School s (K through 8) and three special schools or centers. Total district enrollment in 2004 was 6,622 students.
The region of Skokie served by Evanston schools is referred to colloquially as Skevanston.
In addition to the
Public School s, Evanston offers a variety of other educational choices.
Roycemore School (640 Lincoln Street) is an independent coeducational college preparatory day school providing a liberal arts education to students from junior kindergarten through grade 12. Since the closing of St. George High School in 1969, there is no
Catholic high school in Evanston, but many Evanston residents attend
Co-educational Loyola Academy in
Wilmette , all-boys
Notre Dame High School For Boys in
Niles , all-girls
St. Scholastica Academy in
Chicago or
Regina Dominican High School in
Wilmette , and other area Catholic high schools.
There are also a variety of non-public primary schools in or near Evanston:
- Baker Demonstration School (2840 Sheridan Road) - independent; grades pre-k through 8
- The Barbereux School (3333 Culver St.) - independent; grades pre-k through 1
- Chiaravalle Montessori School (425 Dempster Street) - Montessori ; grades pre-k through 8
- Midwest Montessori School (2408 Orrington Avenue) - Montessori; grades pre-k through 3
- Pope John XXIII (1120 Washington Street) - Catholic; grades pre-k through 8
- St. Athanasius School (2510 Ashland Avenue) - Catholic; grades pre-k through 8
- St. Joan of Arc School - Catholic; grades pre-k through 8
- Roycemore School (640 Lincoln Street) - independent; grades pre-k through 12
- North Shore School - independent; grades K through 8
stop is visible in the lower half of the photograph.]]
The
CTA 's
Purple Line , part of the
Chicago 'L' system, runs through Evanston. From its terminal at
Howard in Chicago, the line heads north to the
South Blvd ,
Main ,
Dempster ,
Davis ,
Foster ,
Noyes , and
Central stations, before terminating at
Linden in Wilmette.
Metra 's
Union Pacific/North Line also serves Evanston, with stations at
Main Street ,
Davis Street and
Central Street , the first two being adjacent to Purple Line stations. The CTA's
Yellow Line also runs through the city, though it only stops at Howard. Evanston also contains several
I-GO cars.
Evanston is also served by four CTA bus routes as well as four Pace bus routes.
As of the
Census of 2000, there were 74,239 people, 29,651 households, and 15,952 families residing in the city. The
Population Density was 3,698.6/km&
2 (9,584.1/mi&
2). There were 30,817 housing units at an average density of 1,535.3/km&
2 (3,978.4/mi&
2). The 2000 census showed that Evanston is ethnically mixed with the following breakdown in population: 62.56% White, 22.50% Black or African-American, 6.11% Hispanic or Latino, 6.09% Asian, and 2.85% from other races.
There were 29,651 households out of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% were
Married Couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.2% were non-families. 36.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 3.03.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.2% under the age of 18, 16.4% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 89.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $56,335, and the median income for a family was $78,886. Males had a median income of $51,726 versus $39,767 for females. The
Per Capita Income for the city was $33,645. About 5.1% of families and 11.1% of the population were below the
Poverty Line , including 8.3% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.
The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Evanston.
- Carlos Bernard , actor from 24
- John Cusack , actor
- Nancy Gustafson , opera singer
- Matt Hader , screenwriter, The American Screenwriters Association
- Charlton Heston , actor
- Tim Kazurinsky , comedian
- Walter Kerr , drama critic
- John Lee Mahin , Oscar-nominated screenwriter
- Elizabeth McGovern , Oscar-nominated actress
- Josh Meyers , former repertory cast member on the late night sketch comedy series MADtv , his older brother Seth Meyers is a current repetory player on Saturday Night Live and has been since 2001 .
- Mark Moses , actor
- William Petersen , Gil Grissom from CSI
- Jeremy Piven , actor
- Ruby Wax , comedian
- Alicia Goranson , Becky Conner from the '' Roseanne '' TV series
- Allen G. Debus , historian of science and medicine
- Laurens Hammond , Inventor of the Hammond Organ
- Charles R. Johnson , author, National Book Award Winner
- Charles Gibson , news anchor
- Eugene Montgomery , painter
- Drew Pearson , newspaper columnist
- Edmund Phelps , Nobel Prize winner in economics
- Richard Powers , author and National Book Award winner
- Garry Wills , Pulitzer Prize -winning writer/critic
- In '' Cheaper By The Dozen '', the Baker family moves to Evanston, although the movie was filmed elsewhere with different schools.
- Serves as the setting for the movie '' Mean Girls '' starring Lindsay Lohan , although filming was done in Toronto .
- Although never explicitly stated, the real-life scenes in '' The Princess Bride '' take place in Evanston, according to the screenplay. {Link without Title}
- The ABC series '' Once And Again '' was set in Evanston.
- Parts of the novel American Skin by Don DeGrazia take place at Northwestern University and in locations around Evanston.
- Kevin Costner 's character in '' Dragonfly '' lives in Evanston.
- In the novel ''Ordinary People,'' the character Conrad Jarrett attends therapy sessions in an office building that overlooks Evanston Township High School in the distance. Later in the book he also moves there.
- In '' Cat's Cradle '' by Kurt Vonnegut Evanston is mentioned.
- In '' Main Street '' by Sinclair Lewis , Carol walks through Evanston and admires the architecture.
- In Richard Wright's '' Native Son '', Bigger Thomas considers fleeing to Evanston.
- In Audrey Niffenegger's '' The Time Traveler's Wife '', Evanston is visited multiple times.
- Parts of '' Curly Sue '', '' Dennis The Menace '', '' Home Alone '', '' Home Alone 2 '','' Home Alone 3 '', '' Julius Caesar '', '' Proof '', '' Road To Perdition '', '' Rookie Of The Year '', '' She's Having A Baby '', '' Sixteen Candles '', '' The Princess Bride '', '' The Weather Man '', '' Dragonfly '' and '' Uncle Buck '' were filmed in Evanston, as well as a 2004 Chevrolet commercial.
