Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Elizabeth Fitch (1899-1986) oral history

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Track 4: Track 4
Transcription: TRACK 4 EF: And that was an attractive back yard. Grandma always had pretty flowers and bushes around. RA: Oh, yes. EF: And.... RA: So your Father went to Annapolis from North Division High School. EF: Yes. RA: Because it was called North Division at one time. EF: In those days it was. RA: Yes. EF: I don't know what it is now - if it's in existence. RA: Well, that's right. They probably.... EF: Yes. RA: ....don't have it any more. EF: No. So.... RA: When do you think - what year did they come out here? EF: Grandma and Grandpa? RA: No, your Father and Mother. EF: Oh. RA: When you were six years old. That would have been 1906. EF: Yes. 1905 and '06 they came to Wilmette. RA: And did they live in this house? Elizabeth Fitch, cont. 12 EF: No. They rented a house at 1228 Lake for a year while they were looking around to buy and then they bought this house. And they have enlarged it arid, oh, improved it in many ways. RA: Tell me about your Father and the Village because I happen to know he was very active. EF: He was on the Board as an engineer. RA: Oh, he had graduated from Annapolis in engineering then? EF: Well, yes - and several others. I forget. And he was good at languages. RA: Oh. EF: He spoke German fluently because there were so many German people in the area where they lived. RA: That's right. EF: And then he studied French and he was over in Holland for a year representing a company and he learned the Holland Dutch. RA: Now which one of the Dutch languages was that? There were -- are. EF: They're Flemish. RA: Flemish? EF: But - well, I forget where he stayed - well, anyhow.... RA: We're more interested in what he did here in Wilmette. He was.... EF: Yes. Now he was the one who had the first lights -- street lights put in. Elizabeth Fitch, cont. 13 RA: I see. EF: Now, they.... RA: Were they electric? EF: No. They were gas and the lamplighter came around. RA: And how did he make his circuit of the Village? EF: Well, he walked most of the time because we didn't have a car in those days. RA: No, but how did you get around transportation in those days? EF: Well, we walked. We walked over to the public schools here and then we did have tickets on the North Shore electric line, but we also walked up to New Trier quite frequently. RA: Did you go to New Trier? EF: Yes. I'm a graduate. RA: You graduated from New Trier? EF: Um hum. RA: And how old was the school by the time you got to high school? EF: Well, it was.... RA: Well established. EF: It was well established -- yes. There was just the one building - main building and over here was a gym and over here was the auditorium and the dining -- the mess hall. And then in back there was a football, baseball - whatever they call it -- field. Elizabeth Fitch, cont. 14 RA: Um hum. Um hum. EF: It's changed a lot since then. RA: Oh, that gym became a library at one point, I believe.... EF: I don't know what they've done to it. RA: . . . .before they really built the new what is the new library in the middle of it. EF: Yes. RA: And then the auditorium has been changed, too. There's been many changes over the years. EF: Very many changes and much enlarged. RA: And the population has changed. EF: Oh, baby boom. RA: How was it when you went? How many people were in your classes?
Creators: Fitch, Elizabeth, 1899-1986, Interviewer; Adler, Rhea Saul, 1906-1900
, Interviewer
Media Type: Audio; Image; Text
Item Type: Audiocassettes
Description: Interview with Elizabeth Fitch by Rhea Adler in Wilmette, Illinois, in 1984.

ABSTRACT:

Early history of both parental backgrounds prior to
Wilmette in 1906

Childhood and schooling in Wilmette, New Trier, Wellesley and nursing degree at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Summer spent in Labrador and Newfoundland with Grenfell Expedition at the same time Drs. Frederick and Katherine Brooks Merrifield were there (before their marriage)

Years spent in D.C. until sent to Austria in 1955 as Chief of Hospitals in various European areas

Return to U.S.A. and D.C. until retirement from Army Nurses Corps and Wilmette

Has continued to travel widely
Place of Publication: Wilmette, Illinois
Date of Original: 1984
Subject(s): Oral histories
Wilmette (Ill.) -- Residents
Personal Name(s): Fitch, Elizabeth
Local identifier: R 977.31 FI
Language of Item: English
Copyright Statement: Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Copyright Holder: Wilmette Public Library
Copyright Holder Contact Information: 1242 Wilmette Ave.
Wilmette, Il 60091
U.S.A.
Recommended Citation: Fitch, Elizabeth, and Rhea Saul Adler. Elizabeth Fitch. Wilmette, Ill: Wilmette Public Library District, 1984.
Contact: Wilmette Public Library
Email:refdesk@wilmettelibrary.info
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