Highwood Public Library

tuckpointing business. I am doing a website for him and I wanted to get pics of his work.

He tuckpointed the Bahai Temple, which was beautiful today. The kids got a kick out of the place because it is so grand.

Next up we had to got to the Highwood Fire Department. At first we couldn’t find it and we had to go to the bathroom, so we went to the Public Library.

Highwood is an odd boxy little town right in the middle of Highland Park, which is an extremely rich place. Highwood doesn’t seem so rich. Here’s a snip from the Highwood entry in the Encyclopedia of Chicago:

The 1886 Haymarket
Riot led to the development of Fort Sheridan as a massing point for
federal troops that could be used to put down urban disturbances.
Employment on palatial North Shore estates and at Fort Sheridan became
the primary source of income for Highwood residents.

The development of the fort
affected Highwood’s business district, which was soon filled with bars
and taverns. Highwood’s reputation led President Theodore Roosevelt to
call it “the toughest town in America.” Highwood set such an example
that the federal government required legislation prohibiting new liquor
establishments near military installations before they would consider
enlarging Great Lakes Naval Training Station in North Chicago. While Fort Sheridan helped introduce the liquor industry to Highwood, the fort alone could not sustain the area taverns. From Evanston to Kenosha, Highwood was the North Shore’s only wet community. Patrons came from all North Shore communities to have a drink and find a home away from home.

In fact, the library was happily rambling and off-kilter. Orange 70s chairs placed awfully close to the stacks. Bookshelves arranged as walls for admin work. Low-slung one-story jobby with a few stair-step levels and ADA-compliant ramps inside. Closet-size bathrooms and brown/orange color pallette.

Being around too much money gives me the skeeves, and I started feeling that way driving up Sheridan Road for miles and miles. Right in the midst of such wealth and new construction and an architectural affinity for perfection, it was great to spend a little time reading about rainbows and skydiving at a table pushed up against a broken printer in the corner. Shows that good content can be consumed in all sorts of places.