Visit to a Vice President's Property

Did you know that a man from Chicagoland became vice president of the United States?

I learned within the past couple of years ago or so that Charles Gates Dawes was a resident of Evanston when he went to be Vice President in the Coolidge administration, serving from 1925-1929.  I thought it was so cool when I found that out.

(Here's a painting of Mr. Dawes in the main hall area of his home.)

Even more interesting for me is that he once came to Oak Park.  On Armistice Day, November 11, 1925, Oak Park dedicated a monument in Scoville Park to those who served in World War I, and Vice President Dawes attended the dedication.  It made sense that he would show up to that event since he was a local area resident.

I looked into Mr. Dawes a little more to see if there were any historical sites related to him in the area.  I found out that his home is open to the public and currently houses the Evanston History Center.  I became very fascinated by the idea of visiting his home.  (At least, that's how I think I found about the Dawes House and how I explained it to the man I met when I entered who asked.)

And so this day, I finally went to visit the home.

I got myself over to the Loop, and then up on the Red Line all the way to the station at Howard Street, which up until this time, I had regarded solely as an intangible fixture point, but never a physical place.  From there, I boarded a Purple Line train for the first time and rode it into Evanston.  (At the end of my time, I got back on the Purple Line, which, in the midst of rush hour, had an express run all the way to the Loop. There was nothing like an express run from Howard Street to Belmont Avenue in just 15 minutes. I wasn't paying enough attention on my ride up on the Red Line as to how long it took that way.)

After disembarking at the Dempster Street Station, I took a nice walk, through neighborhoods with some lovely homes, to the Lakefront area where the Dawes House is located.  The splendid homes I saw reminded me of homes I've seen in northern Oak Park and especially River Forest.  And I have to say that Evanston has a very privileged spot, bordering Chicago and having a shoreline on Lake Michigan.  While waiting for the tour to start, I walked along the lakefront.

The home was spectacularly opulent.  It was originally built by the Reverend Shepherd, who was an administrator at Northwestern University.  After he got into troubles over financial irregularities, his home passed on to Charles Dawes, who purchased it, in 1909, for $75000.  Mr. Dawes came to Illinois when his good friend William McKinley asked for his help in his presidential campaign efforts in Illinois.

I learned quite a number of details about his interesting life story.  Charles Dawes grew up in Ohio, attended college and law school there, and then lived in Lincoln, NE, involved in some work with the military, where he got to know General John Pershing, who became a lifelong friend.  Mr. Dawes ran for the US Senate after moving to Illinois, confident of victory because of backing from his friend President McKinley, but lost his sure backing when the President was assasination, lost.  Devastated by defeat, he decided to leave politics.

Later, at age 52, he served as an officer in World War I, adamant about wanting to be with the troops and not just have a desk job.  (Even more reason that he would show up at the Oak Park monument's dedication.)  After the war's end, when most people blamed Germany for the terrible war, he composed a plan to help Germany recover, the Dawes Plan, for which he received the Noble Peace Prize in 1924.

One of the great tour guides there kept telling me all these stories about charitable things Mr. Dawes did.  He established an agency that helped place newborn babies with families that could care for them, started a place for homeless and unemployed men to live in Chicago, and every year for Nativity Day time personally went to Chicago to deliver food to the needy.  He abided by high ideals, and followed through with actions that did a lot of good for society and his fellow people.  He did all this without expecting anything in return--something hard to come by in politicians today, like those who acquire elk heads through misuse of campaign funds, unlike Mr. Dawes who acquired stuffed animal heads from friends who liked to hunt more than he did.

There were a lot of notable features in the house that the tour guides pointed out, like the sliding doors, the wood used in the house, the round table in the dining room, the French Parlor used for meetings Mrs. Dawes held for a French club, and Tiffany lamps.  The library still has his favorite red chair, which he would sit in when he watched wrestling on TV.

The tour guides did a good job going talking about the home and its history, and Mr. Dawes.  What was especially nice for me was that I was the only one there for a tour, so it was like my own personal tour of this home, and that gave one of the tour guides the liberty to share all these amazing stories.  After the tour ended, I looked around upstairs at the exhibits in what were once bedrooms.  They focused on the history of Evanston, and then some.  Evanston is a neat place, there at the gateway to the North Shore suburbs, and certain aspects of its history and present circumstances resemble that of Oak Park.

So it was good time I had in Evanston, learning so much about the incredible Mr. Dawes and his beautiful home by Lake Michigan.