Talk:Evanston, Illinois

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[edit] John Evans

"After being chosen as the home for Northwestern University, the city was incorporated in 1863, and named after John Evans."

By clicking on the last link one will find out that there are currently twelve men called John Evans listed on that disambiguation page. Which one gave Evanston its name? <KF> 23:00, Apr 18, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ridgeville

If it is going to be said that Evanston was once known as Ridgeville, it should be noted that that was forever and 6 years ago, when it consisted of a number of families I can count on my digits. I lived in Evanston for 12 years, and I had to look that up to make sure it was true. MikeNM 23:04, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

  • It doesn't matter, that was the first name for the city. Besides, we still have an arts center with that name. Avalanche Knight 04:34, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
  • That's as may be. Ridgeville Arts Center doesn't really prove that the city was ever called Ridgeville; tons of places all over Chicago are called the Windy City something, but that doesn't mean the city was ever called Windy City. It's not that I doubt that it's true (I don't), I just think the statement should be sourced. ...The reason I'm bothered, though, is that at the beginning of the article, it says "Originally called Ridgeville", but later in the article it states that "the city was incorporated and named after John Evans", which rather seems to suggest that the city was named Evanston from the moment of its incorporation. If Ridgeville was the name pre-incorporation, that should be noted. Thor Rudebeck 15:31, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
  • See the section I added below. I moved the Ridgeville reference to the history section, added the name the area was called before that, and added a reference I found. Ridveville was way bigger than Evanston, so it is misleading and inaccurate to say that Evanston was once known as Ridgeville. So was all of the north side of Chicago. Edison 15:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notable Evanstonians

The list seems to grow and grow... I removed two, Zach Braff who attended Northwestern University but appears to have no other connection to Evanston, and Kayden Healy, since Googling her name turns up nothing to establish notability. -- DS1953 talk 19:59, 29 July 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Moving 'Notable People'

So I reorganized the notable people section (which was one big blob of text) to appear more similar to Notable citizens of Chicago and I'm wondering if 'notable people of evanston' shouldn't be moved to its own page. It reads much cleaner in list format than as a single paragraph, but takes up much more space. If no one chimes in (I can't imagine there are tons of people watching the Evanston Talk page....) I'll just move it. --Trillian1138 16:17, 3 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Cleaning Up the Intro

I think the intro could use some cleanup. Specifically, the information on the city government should be moved to 'Politics' (or perhaps that section should be renamed 'Politics and Government'), information on Evanston-Northwestern relations could be moved to 'Education' (which itself could use some cleanup and subheadings), etc. I hope to get started on this later today. I don't think it's a big undertaking, just requires some rethinking. I'm not planning on removing any text (other than for clarity) just shifting some stuff around. --Trillian1138 14:46, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cleaning up Trivia Stuff

I've moved People from Evanston and Evanston in Fiction and Film to the end, as most wikipedia pages seem to have 'trivia'-type information (subjectively defined, I know) at the end of articles. In adidition, I'm removing the following "notable people" as a google search turned up little or nothing: Liz Carroll (born in Chicago), John Nance (couldn't find anything on the first Google page or in Wikipedia), John Williams (not the one of Star Wars fame, who isn't from Chicago, and couldn't find another), Maeve Dixon (getting vandalism, also couldn't find anything elsewhere),and Emmanuel Egwu. If someone could do further research on the other less well-known people in the list, I'd appreciate it. I may later, but don't have the time/energy right now. It just concerns me that the list seems to be growing at an unreasonable pace...

If I've removed someone who *is* notable and/or I incorrectly said wasn't from evanston, please put him/her back up and make a note. I'm sorry if that's the case - I promise it was an accident. --Trillian1138 04:29, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adding Graduation Info to People?

Someone(s) (I'm guessing a single person) has been adding graduation info, specifically about New Trier, to a couple of people in the 'people from Evanston' section. I don't think this is appropriate info, as common Wikipedia standards seem to just list the name and why they are noteworthy. The info should be on the page for that specific person and, if no page exists, one should be created or the person should be removed from the list. If no one objects, I think will remove the extra info.

[edit] E-Town and NU voting

So first, I think saying Evanston is referred to as 'E-Town' is fine because it's true. It's reasonable to mention that it's primarily called E-Town among youth, but it is often called E-Town.

Likewise, I was at the voting sessions on the redistricting and I'd certainly say that diluting NU students voting potential was an issue. I don't think the page should say it definitely happened, but that many people felt that way.

Re: E-town - The criterion for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. I know it's true. I heard somebody call it that last night. But has it been published?
You might be able to find a citation for the redistricting controversy in the Daily Northwestern archives... I seem to recall it was kind of a big deal. Thor Rudebeck

[edit] Ridgeville

There was never a town called Ridgeville which corresponded with the present day boundaries of Evanston. That was the name of a much larger geographic unit which preceded the incorporation of Evanston, and it was not the first name for land north of Chicago. Per the official Evanston History written by the League of Women Voters, the land extending indefinitely north of what is now Graceland Cemetary in Chicago was first known as the Grosse Pointe Territory, and settlers were there before 1836. There were 330 residents of Grosse Pointe Territory in the 1840 census. In 1850 the then Grosse Pointe District was renamed Ridgeville and extended from what is now Central Street, Evanston south to Irving Park Road in Chicago, a vastly larger area than present day Evanston. Methodists led by Evans founded Northwestern and filed a survey plat in 1854. The intro could say something like "Evanston was created out of the larger geographic unit which was called "Grosse Pointe Territory" in the 1830's and retitled Ridgeville in 1850." See "This is Evanston," League of Women Voters of Evanston, 2000, ISBN 09676994-0-1[1] pp8-18 Edison 15:34, 28 November 2006 (UTC)Edison 15:45, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] City of Churches

Histories of Evanston emphasize the importance of churches in the 19th century era of the town. With Northwestern founded by Methodists and a dry law enacted by them and Frances Willard as head of the WCTU, Evanston was labelled Heavenston" by Chicagoans. How about a section mentioning this, with a cite to the Evanston history mentioned in the previous section, and a listing of the churches and their web sites if any. First Methodist was founded in 1856. By 1864 it had been joined by First Baptist (1858), Presbyterian-Congregationalists(1866), St. Mary's Catholic Church (1866) and Episcopals (1864), Norwegian-Danish Methodist Episcopal(1870),Swedish Evangelical Lutheran(1888), Swedish Methodist(18??), and Swedish Baptist (18??). Early African-American congregations included Second Baptist (1880), Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal(1880) and Mt. Zion Baptist 1894). German Catholics established St. Nicholas (1887) (p15, p17 op cit)Edison 15:45, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

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