Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear (1896-1980) oral history

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Track 1, Transcript p. 1-5: Track 1, Transcript p. 1-5
Transcription: TRACK 1 Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear 1 RA: Would you give me your full name and tell me where you live? EFK: My name is Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear and I live at 2241 Chestnut Street, Wilmette. RA: And how long have you lived there? EFK: Since 1932. RA: Thirty-two. What was the area like? What was Kenilworth Gardens like? EFK: Well, it is interesting to look back at our neighborhood at that time. There were no paved streets, no lights, no storm sewers and the sidewalks were cindered paths. On Chestnut Street in the second block, a small wooden bridge crossed a. stream which dried up in the summertime. That would circle through to Thornwood and tumbled over small stones and pebbles in the spring. On its banks grew wild roses, violets and wild iris and, of course, we picked all those wildflowers and put them in our garden because there was no one else in the whole street. Chestnut Street, at that time, was the only street opened in Kenilworth Gardens. It was opened with a.50 foot frontage and 177 feet deep as an inducement for people to come out and buy the property because, as you heard me say, there was prairie. That was all. PA: Yes. And this was Depression time also, wasn't it? Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear, cont. 2 EFK: Just following the Depression. RA: Yes. EFK: Yes so, that many people who had bought property had to drop it and let it go. So Chestnut Street at that time on the one plat, which wasmade ofa subdivision, was called Clover Road. PA: Oh, yes. EFIC: But later they lined up the streets with the streets east of the Ridge where Elmwood and Greenwood.... RA: Oh, yes. EFK: . . . . and Thornwood and Chestnut and so on, but in the beginning it was called Clover Road. PA: Tell me, were there many trees out that way? EFK: No. All the trees that are there were planted by the people who bought the lots and we all thought we had to have two elm trees in the front because we had a 50 foot stretch there and in my lot, which was the second lot at the end of Chestnut, there were little clumps of trees in the back, but on the other lots it was just prairie. No trees, really. There might have been one or two here and there, but old trees now and that, of course, is forty years ago are big, old trees today, but when we planted them they were just small trees. But everyone who came in did plant their own trees. PA: Oh, yes. Tell me, you said you were at the end. Now.... EFK: Hunter Street was called 23rd Street and our house was Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear, cont. 3 the second lot from the corner. RA: Oh, yes. I see. And there were no other houses at all in Kenilworth Gardens? EFK: On Chestnut Street there were two other houses. One was in my second block. You see, that's only two blocks long from the Ridge all the way to Hunter. RA: Yes. EFK: And there was one house, a little bungalow, already built and lived in and near the Ridge was a large home by people -- owned by people by the name of Kline. RA: Oh, yes. EFK: And that was all. RA: That was all. EFK: Um hum. And then later on, uh, across the street came some twin bungalows. Bungalows were the style at that time and one other house, but in my second block across the way from me we could see, uh, a brown sanitarium which later became Maryhaven.... RA: Oh, yes. EFK: . .. .which is now gone. RA: Oh, yes. EFK: And houses are being built on that particular.... RA: Oh, yes. EFK: But we could see all the way through and through our house. .. RA: Was the golf course there? Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear, cont. 4 EFK: And there was a golf course. Yes. And when you came up from Kenilworth station - up the hill to Ridge Road - there was a golf course. That - you mean east of the Ridge? EFK: Yes. Right near the Kenilworth station - across the road was a golf course. RA: That, I believe, is now -- it was then and is now North Shore Country Club which is out on Glenview Road..... EFK: Yes. RA: . . . .they tell me. EFK: But that did not last very long as a golf course. The property was too valuable and so it was built up even before Kenilworth Gardens because it was so close to the - to transportation. Um hum. EFK: Yes. But when we would walk up the hill from the Kenilworth station - we had no car - so we kept our little baby buggy in a little shed which was the office of Kenilworth station. It's gone now. RA: Oh, yes. EFK: But we could put the buggy there and go down to the city. RA: Oh, yes. EFK: . . . .come home and put the child who was two and wheel him up the.... RA: The hill. EFX: ....the hill and across that golf course you saw. Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear, cont. 5 PA: Oh, yes. But were there any streets through it or. EFK: Yes. Kenilworth Avenue.... PA; Yes. EFK: ....with the trees and the grass in the middle was there. RA: I see. EFK: It hasn't been changed, but on the corner was nothing. Now I have a picture of that corner -- Blann's drugstore. RA: Oh, yes. EFK: ....when it was built. RA: Oh, yes. EFK: It was built later, but there was some shops a little farther up the street which are still there, but Blann's drugstore was built later on and I had a picture of the building. Ive got all of these things somewhere, you know, but. PA: Oh. EFK: ....I can't find them all now and we haven't thought of them for so long. PA: I know. That's the way with so many things. EFK: But I am a saver. This is a Wilmette Life of 1938.
Creators: Kinnear, Elizabeth Fisher, 1896-1980, Interviewee; Adler, Rhea Saul
, Interviewer
Media Type: Audio; Image; Text
Item Type: Audiocassettes
Description: Interview with Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear by Rhea S. Adler in 1976 in Wilmette, Illinois.

ABSTRACT
Name — address — came in 1932, description of area then — post Depression
period
Describes organization and membership make—up of 1st Historical Commission
of Wilmette; mentions Evanston and Kenilworth museums
Mentions early Wilmette settlement, boundaries and Ouilmette family
Organization and history of Northridge Club
Consolidation of Central—Howard Junior High Schools
Discussion of Howard PTA past presidencies over the years prior to all Wilmette
PTA
Wilmette Health Center activities
Discussion of son Kenneth, his education, career and family

NB. The untranscribed tapes describe her English background, her return trips to England, particularly her last aboard Queen Elizabeth II.
Place of Publication: Wilmette, IL
Date of Original: 1976
Subject(s): Oral histories
Wilmette (Ill.) -- Residents
Personal Name(s): Kinnear, Elizabeth Fisher
Local identifier: R977.31 KI
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 Date: 1976
Copyright Holder: Wilmette Public Library
Copyright Holder Contact Information: 1242 Wilmette Ave.
Wilmette, Il 60091
U.S.A.
Recommended Citation: Kinnear, Elizabeth Fisher, and Rhea Saul Adler. Elizabeth Fisher Kinnear. Wilmette, Ill: Wilmette Public Library District, 1976.
Contact: Wilmette Public Library
Email:refdesk@wilmettelibrary.info
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