Quote:
Originally Posted by Nearwest
In the Chicago area, the North Shore suburbs (communities along the shore of Lake Michigan from Evanston to Lake Forest) are synonymous with old money. But, some of them have newer post WWII sections, with sidewalks and a grid street pattern as opposed to curving roads and no sidewalks. These areas were either undeveloped until the post war building boom, or were annexed to the older built-up suburbs. There is also a religious/ethnic divide in a number of these suburbs. Except for Highland Park and Glencoe, Jews and some Catholics were unwelcome and Jews, especially, were excluded. Even in the new millennium, Kenilworth is still viewed as old money, extablisment WASP territory.
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Exclusion, even restriction (Kenilworth style) was certainly an issue on the North Shore at one point. But I totally disagree with your assessment that Highland Park and Glencoe were the only places were Jews were welcome or settled in in significant numbers (although the two are easily the most Jewish oriented).
When WWII ended, Chicago Jews moved northward from north side neighborhoods like Albany Park and Peterson Park to the open regions across city limits, much of this area having been laid out, streetwise prior to the war and open to development. That migration that started in the late 1940s and into the 50's and 60s saw Jews move north to Lincolnwood, most notably Skokie, and into west Wilmette....west Wilmette being part of the NS. From the 50s on, New Trier High had a significant Jewish enrollment, mostly from Glencoe and west Wilmette.
Winnetka certainly has had a significant Jewish population for awhile. The elementary school whose name became infamous with the Laurie Dann shootings in 1988 was Hubbard Woods, a school that had a large (and perhaps majority) Jewish population at the time.
The mansions of east Lake Forest were largely WASP county...west of Waukegan Road in newer (but still estate like) neighborhoods, Jews are a significant part of the community.
And that leaves Evanston....diverse, liberal Evanston....a town that doesn't seem to exclude anyone except Republicans. Evanston has had a significant Jewish community since WWII. It is one that tended to be more dispersed over different parts of the city than in the other NS towns...although it would be hard to argue that southwest Evanston, from Asbury to Dodge and south of Oakton was pretty much a Jewish neighborhood.
I'm not in complete disagreement with you, Nearest, but I find your description of the North Shore to be one of the first half of the 20th century....and that so many changes occurred even in the 1950s to render it pretty much incorrect as we view the area today.
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