University Club of Evanston (Evanston, Ill.)

Organized 1904 as the Northwestern University Club of Evanston; incorporated 1905 as the University Club of Evanston; closed 1996.

From the description of Records, 1904-1996. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70968192

On February 13, 1904, fourteen members of the Northwestern faculty met at the Avenue House Hotel on Chicago Avenue to organize a club which later became the University Club of Evanston. The object of the club was stated to be “the promotion of social life and good fellowship among college graduates and the maintenance of a reading room and library for the membership.”

The first meeting place was a frame house at 722 Emerson Street (1904-1905). In 1905 a house at 1741 Hinman was leased until a new building at 1704 Hinman was completed in 1910. This became the home of the University Club until 1976 when the building was sold.

There have been many changes in the composition of membership, but it has always been a private club for members of Evanston's professional and business community and members of the Northwestern faculty. For many years it was a club for men with college degrees only. Women were invited for dinner, dances and special lectures on one night per week. This ban was lifted in 1980.

In accordance with the customs of social clubs of this kind, there was special entertainment one evening a week (Saturdays) for the members. There was a wide variety of speakers of local, national, and international acclaim, some serious and learned and some providing entertainment.

A certain English minister once said that he liked the Order of the Garter because there was no damned nonsense of merit connected with it. This applies to the early years of the University Club--a social club which was formed and carried on solely for the pleasure and profit found in congenial company and in the enjoyment of periods of relaxation and the cultivation of good fellowship among its members.

From the guide to the Records of the University Club of Evanston, 1907-1940, (Northwestern University Archives)