Evanston History Center

The Evanston History at The Charles Gates Dawes House is proud to be a Blue Star Museum. Through this progrm, we provide FREE admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families from May 16 to September 7, 2026.

Museum hours are Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1-4pm. Pre-registration is not necessary.

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the and

Happy Pride Month Evanston! Our June Curiosity Cafe is Wednesday, June 10 at 12pm and the topic will be 🏳️‍🌈 Q***r History in Evanston.

We will share and honor the stories of Phyllis Jean Athey and Mary Jo Osterman, a le***an couple who founded Kinheart Inc. Women’s Center in Evanston in 1982. Together Mary Jo and Phylis fought against the homophobia engrained in organized religion (Phyllis was denied ordination in the United Methodist Church because she was a le***an). Kinheart, Inc. was radically committed "to creating womanspace and to engaging in and enabling social change.” It offered monthly calendars of events for women only, all people, q***r people, and le***ans only.

Moving forward into the 2020s, we will be joined by Evanston Pride co-founder Jackson Adams, who will talk about the beginnings of that organization and other current LGBTQ+ community spaces in Evanston.

Join us to listen, to share, or both. Coffee and tea will be provided. Free, no RSVP needed. Everyone is welcome! We especially invite anyone who may have attended programs at Kinheart.

May is Asian American Heritage Month, and we honor and celebrate Evanstonians of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage throughout our City's history, and today.

One Asian American with an intriguing history was Kuo-chen Wu (1903-1984), who arrived in Evanston from China in 1953 with his wife Hsiu-hwei, known as Edith. K. C., as he was known here, had served with Chiang Kai-Shek and held a number of high profile positions in the Chinese Nationalist Party. When the party had fled to Taiwan after the Communist takeover of mainland China, Wu served as governor of the island. He disagreed with Chiang Kai-Shek’s shift toward authoritarian rule, was the target of an assassination attempt, and immigrated to the United States.

You can read the full story of the Wu family, including K.C's son, Sherman, who attended Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University, where his racial exclusion from the Psi Upsilon fraternity was chronicled in the Pete Seeger song "The Ballad of Sherman Wu," here: https://evanstonhistorycenter.org/kcwu/

Today, Evanston ASPA a local ASPA (Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander American)-led organization, "provide(s) resources and support for the local Asian American community, and increase(s) the visibility and representation of the Asian American diaspora in civic, cultural and community spaces through the arts." More stories of Evanstonians of Asian descent can be found in their Placemaking Project.

Walking Tour season is almost here!
Our first four tours will be concentrated in South East Evanston. Seven more tours- in Lakeshore Historic, Ridge Historic, and North Evanston- will run from August-October and can be found on our website.

90 minute tours led by historians are $15-20. Tickets and information via link in bio or Evanston History Center website.

Come on out and walk with us!