Interesting Stories Told by Col. Kidder: One of the Oldest Residents of Evanston Gives Some Unique Views, Which Contain Food for Thought [Henry M. Kidder]

One of the oldest residents of Evanston is Mr. Henry M. Kidder now living in the house at 1705 Lincoln street he built over forty years ago. With his father he settled there in the '50s, and their old home in Chicago avenue, just north of Church street, is the only old-time homestead which has been preserved through all these years, practically unchanged and an excellent specimen of the southern colonial style of architecture. There were real builders in those days, and the old home still stands firmly and but little marked by the hand of time. Colonel Kidder, for a long time active in Chicago and Evanston affairs, and now retired, is particularly proud of his flowers and the fruits of the gardens which surround his beautiful home. Each year he raises vast quantities of flowers and gives them all away. His Dahlias are such as are grown nowhere else on the north shore, and bloom for the pleasure he takes in seeing them grow and in presenting fine specimens to his numerous friends.

Wonderful Tomatoes
His tomatoes, especially grown by a system of his own, are indicated by a half acre of ten-foot poles which laster in the season will support the vines of such tomatoes as can be procured nowhere else in the vicinity of Chicago, and theye will all go to the tables of poor people unable to buy the fruit of the market, and for the enjoyment of a few intimate friends who know their especial and individual quality.

Speaking of a question which has been somewhat discussed of late, and that is, the early history of the Avenue House, Colonel Kidder says that the first hotel was built there in the early 50's by a man named Colvin. John Austin, a carpenter and builder, was the architect, and his worth is indicated by the fact that the original Avenue House still stands firmly where it was built some sixty years ago, and that Mr. Austin built the old Kidder home on Chicago avenue, apparently just as good as it ever was. Mr. Colvin rented the hotel to a man by the name of Banks, who kept it for a considerable time, and then the proprietor was a Mrs. Cook. She was succeeded by Edward Reynolds, and about the close of the Civil War, Ezra Adams was the proprietor for some time, and then for some considerable time it was run by Mr. Matteson.

Mr. Kidder says that according to his recollection, Mr. Reynolds added considerably to the structure, and early in the '60s it was a particular rallying point for the politicians, and every political meeting held in this vicincity was held there.

Were Credited Unduly
Speaking of the Lady Elgin disaster, in which so many people lost their lives, and which has been written up by historians time without number, he said that many of the Evanston historians had given undue credit to certain persons, particularly some of the Biblical students mentioned as exceptional heroes. They did only what every other able bodied man did that day of awful disaster. The bodies came ashore and were rescued with difficulty, some alive and some dead, and everyone who could help pulled them out of the water. He was on horseback all day long, riding in the surf below the bluff, and with seeral others stretched long branches out over the undertow to where the struggling persons in the water could reach them and thus got them safely to shore. The real heroes, he said, were the fisherman all along the shore for ten miles north of here, who knew the currents and the action of the water and were thus able to extend intelligent aid which could not be done by those unfamiliar with it.