Frances Willard House (Evanston, Illinois) facts for kids
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Frances Willard House
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Frances Willard House
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 Location in Illinois
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1730 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois |
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| Built by | Josiah Willard |
| Architectural style | Carpenter Gothic |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000318 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | June 23, 1965 |
The Frances Willard House is a historic house museum in Evanston, Illinois. It is located at 1730 Chicago Avenue. This house is a National Historic Landmark, which means it's a very important historical place.
The house was built in 1865. It was the home of Frances Willard (1839-1898) and her family. Frances Willard was a famous leader who worked for women's rights. The house also became the main office for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) for a long time. Frances Willard called her home Rest Cottage. It was a place where she could relax between her many trips and WCTU activities.
History of the Willard House
Frances Willard was born in 1839 in Churchville, New York. When she was two, her family moved to Oberlin, Ohio. This town was started by ministers who wanted a community with strong Christian values. When Frances was 18, her family moved to Evanston, Illinois. She went to the Northwestern Female College there.
For the next sixteen years, Frances worked as a teacher at different schools. In 1865, her father, Josiah Willard, built a house in Evanston. This house is the southern part of the building you see today. Frances Willard came back to Evanston in 1871. She moved in with her father when she became the Dean of the Women's College at Northwestern. However, she was not happy with how women were treated at the university. She often disagreed with the University President, Charles Henry Fowler. So, she quit her job three years later.
After leaving Northwestern, Frances Willard's life changed. She went back to being a traveling teacher. But she started to focus on the temperance movement. This movement encouraged people to live without alcohol and make good choices. In the summer of 1874, Frances traveled around the East Coast. She met with other people who supported temperance. She also became a well-known public speaker on this topic.
When she returned to Evanston, she helped start the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She was chosen as its first main leader and the first president of the Chicago chapter.
In 1878, her brother Oliver died. Frances decided to make her Evanston home bigger that April. She wanted to make space for his wife and four children. The next year, she was elected President of the WCTU. After her brother's family moved to Germany, Frances Willard started to rent out the northern part of her house. Friends and other WCTU members stayed there. This part of the house soon became a main meeting place for the WCTU under Willard's leadership.
Frances Willard died in 1898. In her will, she gave the entire house to the WCTU. Two years later, the WCTU made the house in Evanston its national headquarters. They also turned the house into a museum about Frances Willard that same year. In 1910, the WCTU built another building, called the Literature Building, behind the house.
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On June 23, 1965, the house was named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. When the National Register of Historic Places was created a year later, the house was automatically added to it. A group called the Historic American Buildings Survey studied the house in 1967. Today, you can take tours of the museum on the first and third Sundays of every month.
House Design
The first part of the house, built in 1865, was likely designed using a pattern book. It was shaped like an "L" and had wooden walls with vertical planks. The addition built in 1878 matched the house's style but made it much larger. Money from the sale of Willard's autobiography was used around 1890 to add large bay windows to the front of the house. Frances Willard made another addition in 1893.
The house has two stories and is built in the Carpenter Gothic style. This is a type of old house style with fancy wooden decorations. It is painted a light gray color with white trim. The front of the house has two porches with columns. Three smaller porches lead to other entrances. There is also a balcony on the back of the second floor. The three pointed sections on the front of the house have decorative trim. They also have a turned finial, which is a decorative top piece, in the center. The house has seventeen rooms. Most of them have floors made of oak and walnut wood.
See also
