T. Arthur Evans Papers

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

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
Print this page