The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

32 Wilmette Life May 13, 1937 Step into our Garden Corner for all things dear to a gardeners heart. It's filled with all the tools, the gadgets that make a gardener's life complete. You're invited to rummage around to your heart's content. Spades, hoes, rakes, lawn combs and other large tools. Grass shears, hedge clippers, pruning shears, trowels and other small tools Garden hose, sprinklers nozzles washers hose reels, variet of flower and vegetable seeds Scott's Lawn seed Marshall Field's Evanston Store Presbyterians start worship here in 1911 At the recommendation of the cooperative council of City Missions the PResbytery of Chicago through its Church Extension board decided to organize services of a Presbyterian church in Wilmette. The first service was held in the Woman's Club on April 30, 1911, conducted by the Rev. Edgar P. Hill D.D., Superintendent of the Church Extension Board Regular services wer held from that time on. Under the first pastorate of Dr. James M. Wilson, who began his services, July 2, 1911, the church was duly organized,the charter members numbering 101, the elders four, the deacons four and the trustees six. The church grew rapidly under Dr. Wilson's pastorate, and soon became one of the effective religious forces of the village. Dr. Wilson's pastorate ended on December 2, 1917 when he became pastor of the North Presbyterian Church of Omaha, Nebraska. The second pastor of the church was the Rev. George P. Magill, D.D., who came from Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa, and served the church for ten years. During his pastorate the church continued to grow both in numbers and in financial strength, and served the community well. His pastorate ended June 1928. Building burned The third pastor, the Rev. Clyde R. Wheeland, D.D., served the church from April, 1930, until December of that same year. During his pastorate the church building burned, and the congregation returned to the Woman's Club rooms for worship, where they remained until September 17, 193, when they moved to their new church. The present pastor, the Rev. James T. Veneklasen, began his ministry October 1, 1931. The church has been through a number of trying experiences due to the loss of its building by fire. The present building was partially built in 1931 and 1932, but the financial conditions of the country made it impossible to obtain funds to complete it at that time. However, in 1933, the congregation decided to raise sufficient funds to use the assembly hall of the church, which they occupied for nearly four years. Gradually funds were raied, and by adhering to a cash basis and decuring loans from its own members, the church plant has neared completion. On October 18, 1936, the chapel was completed and dedicated. On Easter Sunday, March 28, 1937 the sanctuary was sufficiently completed to be used for worship. Gifts of a pipe organ and chancel furniture and other equipment have added to the servicability and beauty of the edifice which will become one of the attractive churches of the north shore. The congregation has slowly grown in numbers and attendance. The membership now numbers 547, the Sunday school 287, and other organizations are strong and active. The missionary interest of the church has increased steadily within the last five years; at present the church is supporting as its own missionary, the Rev. Roy H. Brown, D.D. president of Silliman University, Dumaguete, Phil. In 1935 one of the church's own young men, Paul M. Davidson, was ordained and is now serving as a missionary in Brazil. Three neighborhood houses are major interests in the work in the city of Chicago, and the church also has a vital interest in various other educational and philanthropic institutions connected with the denomination. Started in 1894 Kenilworth Club Center of Social and Civic Life in Distinctive and unique suburb The Kenilworth club was 15 years old when Wilmette Life was established. Organized on May 11, 1894, much of the civic and social development which has made Kenilworth a distinctive and unique suburb, is recorded in the records of the Kenilworth Club. Representing as it did at the beginning practically every family in kenilworth, although just a handful, present day club managers might take a lesson in budgeting and finance from the early annals of the club. On a total revenue measured in but a few hundred dollars, its early activities embraced the maintenance of a boat club, a full-fledged golf club, dances, musicals and other entertainment at frequent intervals. And it was the simple matter then, although it might seem so to us in this day and age, to anticipate or satisfy the whims of its memers. So many were the distractions. President deplores The first annual meeting of the members held on December 8, 1896, records the feelings of the first president, Rollen A. Keyes, when he mentioned that "The boat house has been altered and the porch enlarged to accomodate the increasing number who assembled there the preceding season and that this year nobody went near it; that last season baseball was very popular and that this year nobody could be persuaded to play, though the directors had provided every facility, that dancing had been provided at considerable expense and at the first dance a total attendance of 19 was the result. The president deplored the lack of interest of the members and the fickleness of their desires, which made it exceedingly difficult to provide entertainement which would suit all of the club members. As early as 1898 the club began to take a leading part in civic affairs as witnessed by maintaining the bathing beach for the entire village, which activity they sponsored and paid all the cost for many years. For more than 30 years, startig with an expenditure of $25 in 1897, Kenilworth's annual July 4th celebration was a club function, and Memorial Day, the observance of which means so much to us all, has always been a club activity in Kenilworth. Built by subscription Outgrowing the facilities of private homes, where most of the entertainement and dances took place, early in the 1900's, the Kenilworth Assembly hall was built by popular subscription and subsequently became the club's official home. Many and varied has been the entertainment staged there! Dances, smokers, bridges, theatricals by the score, and the names of celebrities who have graced its programs are legion. To mention but a few, Carl Sandburg, Bruno Steindel, Henry Van Dyke, Cyrena Van Gordon, Whitehead, Lorado Taft, Wallenstein, Dr. Grenfell, Jacques Gordon, Lew Sarrett, Culbertson, MacMillan, Myrna Sharlow, Sidney Smith and many others. Club activities still strive to satisfy a diversity of interests, as in the days of yore, and iwth more than ordinary success, as evidenced by an increasing membership and enthusiastic participation in the weekly parties. "Friday night is club night" a saying with special significance in Kenilworth. Promotion of Christian Unity is Major Item in Union Church Program. This church was 20 year old the year Wilmette Life was established. It is a satisfaction to the minister, officers and members of the Kenilworth union Church to express their felicitations to Wilmete Life on the completion of a quarter century of admirable service to the community. It is a notable event in the life of a town like Wilmette and a wider neighborhood like the north shore, to celebrate 25 years of history, and to have chronicled the changes that have taken place during that period. The Union church is older still. In 1892 the first members of the town of Kenilworth built the chapel of the present church building, and organized the first board of trustees. It was the purpose of the members that the church should welcome to its work and worship Christian people of all communions who desired to be included in its fellowship. Its members have come from more than a score of denominations. It is in the fullest sense a union church based upon the foundation of faith in and loyalty ot Jesus Christ and his program for the community and the world. Varied Denominations Its ministers have been chosen from the various communions represented in the membership. They have been, in the order of their inistries, Rev. Gerhardt C. Mars (Methodist), 1893-1895; Dr. Charles Horswell (Methodist) 1896-1902 and 1893-1917; Dr. David Beaton (Congregationalist) 1917-1920; Dr. William A. Colledge (Presbyterian) 1920-1925; and Dr. Herbert I. Willett (Disciples) 1926. During all its earlier years Joseph Seats and James A. Culbertson were leaders in the work of the church and liberal supporters of its program. In 1909 Mr.Culbertson made a gift to the church of the bymnasium and the Guild room, which proved a much needed addition to its equipment. Other gifts have been made at various times by individuals and the Ladies' guild. John Benham was for many years the efficient superintendent of the Sunday school, and later the superintendent emeritus. The missionary and benevolent of ferings of the church and Sunday schol are allocated to the boards of the various communions represented in the membership, and to worthy causes and institutions in which our people are interested. Special attention is given by the Ladies' guild to the work of benevolence, and every Monday during the church season is devoted to sewing and other activities promotive of that interest. The work of religious education is under the direction of an efficient committee, and the three departments of the Sunday school are under the supervision of Prof. C. Russell Small of New Trier High School. The chief periods in the Christian Year are observed both in the church and the sunday school. Christian Unity In accordance with its initial declaration, the church has always been interested in the promotion of Christian unity. Locally this is expresed in inter-church services twice during the season with the neighboring Church of the Holy Comofrter, whose Sunday School also joins with ours on two occasions in the autumn and the spring. The musical program of the church is under the able direction of Chauncey L. Griffith and his quartet.