Dates: | 1902-2002, bulk dates: 1924-1926 |
Size: | .5 linear feet in 2 boxes (43 photographs) |
Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605 |
Collection Number: | n00158 |
Provenance: | Donated by Barbara S. Turner (granddaughter of T. Arthur Evans) in 2002 |
Access: | Materials are open without restrictions. |
Citation: | When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: T. Arthur Evans Papers, [Box #, Folder #, Photograph #], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library |
Processed by: | Michelle McCoy, 2020 |
Biographical and Historical Note
T. (Thomas) Arthur Evans (1878-1945) was the Chief Engineer for the creation of Chicago’s double-level Wacker Drive that opened in 1926. Managed by the City’s Board of Local Improvements, the Wacker Drive project began in 1924 as the South Water Street Improvement Project. The bi-level thoroughfare that facilitated traffic and improved the appearance of the riverfront was first proposed in the 1909 Plan of Chicago written by Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett. The multi-level drive was named for Chicago Plan Commission Chairman, Charles H. Wacker, who was instrumental in the project’s implementation. Mid-Continent Construction Company completed the work in two years.
Scope and Content Note
The T. Arthur Evans Papers include a small selection of his professional documents including his resume, engineering licenses, correspondence, ephemera, news clippings and construction photographs, most of which are related to Chicago’s Wacker Drive project. The firm Kaufmann & Fabry took the bulk of the South Water Street improvement (Wacker Drive) photographs. The description of the construction photographs is drawn from the text that was incorporated into the images at the time of creation.
Arrangement Note
The collection is organized into two series: Series 1: Documents, 1902-2002 and Series 2: Photographs, circa 1924-1940, undated
Series 1 is arranged alphabetically. Series 2 is arranged chronologically.
Separations
Chicago (Ill.). Board of Local Improvements. Chicago Plan, [Chicago : Printed in the House of Severinghaus, 1922], F548.5.C5332 1922
Related Collections
- Chicago City-wide Collection
- Chicago Collection of Kenan and Carol Heise
- Chicago Department of Urban Renewal Records
- Chicago Loop Alliance Collection
Subject Terms
- Chicago (Ill.). Board of Local Improvements.
- City Planning -- Illinois -- Chicago.
- Public Works -- Illinois -- Chicago.
- Wacker, Charles Henry, 1856-1929
Container List
Series 1: Documents, 1902-2002
Box 1 | Folder 1 | Correspondence and financial statements, 1902-1946 |
Box 1 | Folder 2 | Correspondence and memorial ribbon for John J. Sloan, Board of Local Improvements, 1926 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 | Correspondence from Mayor William Hale Thompson, 1920 |
Box 1 | Folder 4 | Engineering licenses and registrations, 1907-1944 |
Box 1 | Folder 5 | Engineering projects, various, including widening of North State Street, 1921-1945 |
Box 1 | Folder 6 | Engineering resume and correspondence, 1905-1944, 2002, undated |
Box 1 | Folder 7 | Memorial ribbon for Mayor Anton J. Cermak, 1933 |
Box 1 | Folder 8 | Wacker Drive, clippings, articles, correspondence to Chief Engineer, T. Arthur Evans, 1925-1927 |
Box 1 | Folder 9 | Wacker Drive, Souvenir of Wacker Drive, booklet [T. Arthur Evans pictured on page 16], 1926 |
Series 2: Photographs, circa 1924-1940, undated
Box 2 | Photograph 1.43 | Evans, T. Arthur, portrait, circa 1924 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.1 | South Water Street improvement, at Franklin Street, form work, 1925 February 28 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.2 | South Water Street improvement, at Franklin Street, Section 3, lower level intersection, 1925 April 4 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.3 | South Water Street improvement, at Franklin Street, looking southwest, 1925 April 11 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.4 | South Water Street improvement, Section 4, column forms, 1925 July 18 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.5 | South Water Street improvement, looking east, 1925 August 8 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.6 | South Water Street improvement, Section 2, looking north, 1925 September 26 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.7 | South Water Street improvement, Section 2, looking north, 1925 October 5 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.8 | South Water Street improvement, Section 2, shoring under elevated railway column, 1925 October 21 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.9 | South Water Street improvement, Section 2, looking toward Lake Street Bridge, 1925 October 28 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.10 | South Water Street improvement, Section 2, removing shoring from under elevated railway column, 1925 November 18 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.11 | South Water Street improvement, Section 7, Dearborn Street intersection, looking northwest, 1926 April 9 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.12 | South Water Street improvement, Section 7, Dearborn Street bridge connection, 1926 April 9 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.13 | South Water Street improvement, Section 7, Dearborn Street intersection, looking east, 1926 April 12 |
Box 2 | Photographs 1.14-1.15 | South Water Street improvement, Section 7, south end of State Street bridge, 1926 April 27 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.16 | South Water Street improvement, Section 6, looking east to Clark Street, slab reinforcement, 1926 May 4 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.17 | South Water Street improvement, Section 6, looking west toward LaSalle Street, finishing south sidewalk, 1926 May 4 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.18 | South Water Street improvement, Section 7, looking east toward Dearborn Street, 1926 May 4 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.19 | South Water Street improvement, Section 8, looking east toward State Street, 1926 May 4 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.20 | South Water Street improvement, Section 6, looking east from LaSalle Street, 1926 May 10 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.21 | South Water Street improvement, Section 7, looking west from Dearborn Street, 1926 May 10 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.22 | South Water Street improvement, Section 6, shovel excavating east side Clark Street intersection, 1926 May 15 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.23 | South Water Street improvement, Section 6, Clark Street intersection looking southwest, 1926 May 18 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.24 | South Water Street improvement, Section 6, LaSalle Street intersection looking northeast, 1926 May 20 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.25 | South Water Street improvement, Section 7, looking west toward Clark Street, 1926 May 20 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.26 | South Water Street improvement, Section 6, looking west from Clark Street, 1926 June 26 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.27 | South Water Street improvement, Section 9, looking east toward Wabash Avenue, 1926 July 26 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.28 | South Water Street improvement, Section 9, looking northwest from Wabash Avenue, 1926 August 2 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.29 | South Water Street improvement, Section 8, State Street intersection, 1926 August 30 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.30 | South Water Street improvement, Section 9, looking east from State Street, 1926 September 7 |
Box 2 | Photographs 1.31-1.32 | South Water Street improvement, Section 8, State Street intersection, 1926 September 28 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.33 | South Water Street improvement, Section 11, Riverfront, final photographs, 1926 December 22 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.34 | South Water Street improvement, Section 5, looking west from LaSalle Street, 1927 January 5 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.35 | South Water Street improvement, Section 9, Safety Island looking east, 1927 February 24 |
Box 2 | Photograph 1.36 | South Water Street improvement, Chicago River with unidentified bridge, undated |
Box 2 | Photographs 1.37-1.38 | Friar’s Point and Sherard, Mississippi, levee construction, 1932 |
Box 2 | Photographs 1.39-1.40 | Retail coal yards, link-belt conveyors, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1940 |
Box 2 | Photographs 1.41-1.42 | Unidentified sites and equipment, undated |