History of 1900 Asbury
Built in 1926, the building at 1900 Asbury Ave has been standing at the corner of Asbury and Emerson Street in Evanston, IL for nearly a century.
For many years, the house next door at 1904 was the home of the Hutcherson family who ran several businesses in the 1900 building, including a billiard room, restaurant and pharmacy. Fred Hutcherson Jr, the oldest child of the Hutcherson family, was the first Black person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Under the next owner, this building was the site of the International Black Art Museum, founded and run by Evanston educator Ruby Murray.
Subsequent owners ran successful businesses contributing to the thriving community including a florist, insurance agent, and antique shop. In 1999 the building housed the law offices, and then political headquarters, of Lionel Jean-Baptiste. Jean-Baptiste went on to serve as Evanston city council member representing the 2nd ward, and was the first Haitian-American Judge in the State of Illinois, appointed to the bench on March 4, 2011 and elected by voters in November 2012 to a full term.
From the early to mid 1990s, a print shop called Alpha Word, was housed at 1900 Asbury. It was co-owned and managed by Morris “Dino” Robinson, Jr., founder of Shorefront Legacy Center.
The building later became the campaign office of Robin Rue Simmons, when she served as the 5th Ward Alderwoman on Evanston’s City Council and initiated the nation’s first government-funded reparations program. Rue Simmons purchased the building, and it is now the headquarters of FirstRepair. The building also serves as the radio broadcasting headquarters for the Haitian station, Radio La Différence.
On July 16, 2024, FirstRepair unveiled an inspirational, vibrant mural [link to mural subpage] on the building, which depicts life, symbols and words related to the reparations movement, Black joy, hope and the promise of a repaired future.
You can read more about the history of 1900 Asbury provided by Shorefront Legacy Center below.
A Brief History of 1900 Asbury Ave and 1904 Asbury Ave, Evanston, IL
Credit: Shorefront Legacy Center July 13, 2024
1900 Asbury Ave, Evanston, IL
The intersection of Emerson St. and Asbury Ave, looking east down Emerson, 1924.
Built in 1926, the building at 1900 Asbury Ave in Evanston, IL, has been standing at the corner of Asbury and Emerson Street for nearly a century. For many years, the house next door, at 1904 Asbury Ave, was the home of the Hutcherson family who ran several businesses at 1900 Asbury.
According the 1920 U.S. Census, Fred Hutcherson, Sr., his wife Orain Babcock Hutcherson, and their three children, Fred, Joseph, and Maryanne, lived at 1904 Asbury. See below for info about their oldest son, Fred Hutcherson Jr. (1912-1962), one the first Black pilots to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1910, 19-year old Fred Hutcherson, Sr. (born in Augusta, Georgia) was a single man living as “lodger” at 1922 Asbury Ave in Evanston. On the 1910 U.S. Census he listed his occupation as “cabman.”
A decade later, in 1920, Fred Hutcherson, Sr. listed his occupation as a chauffeur, employed by a private family. He was now married and living at 1904 Asbury with his wife, Orain (also born in Georgia) and their children. Orain was a laundry worker for a private family.
Over the years various businesses were located at 1900 Asbury Ave. These included a barber shop, billiard room, restaurant, and pharmacy.
For some time Hutcherson, Sr. appears to have run a barber shop, billiard room, and a restaurant, later called “The Corner Spot” at 1900 Asbury.
Well into the 1950s, several pharmacies operated at 1900 Asbury, including Neighborhood Pharmacy, Evanston Newsette, February 27, 1941.
Fred Hutcherson, Jr. pictured at “The Corner Spot,” 1950s. (Photograph courtesy of Shorefront Legacy Center.)
After Fred Hutcherson, Sr. died in 1959, his son Fred Hutcherson, Jr. took over management of the restaurant.
For a short time in 1976, Jones allowed the building at 1900 Asbury to be used as a resale shop for the International Black Art Museum, founded and run by Evanston educator, Ruby Murray. In 1972, Murray launched the museum at 1122 Emerson Street (It moved to 834 Custer Ave in 1976.)
Later (1977- 1982) 1900 Asbury Ave was the location of a Flowers by Elbert, a “community-based florist shop” run by Elbert Pearson. Pearson attended the American Floral Art School of Chicago. While running his shop he also worked nights as a CTA bus driver in Chicago.
In December 1966, a fire broke out at The Corner Spot. (Evanston Review.)
The building at 1900 Asbury Ave, with its two separate commercial spaces, housed various other businesses over the years, including: include:
- The offices of Darrell Dixon, insurance agent.
- D&J’s Unique Corner antiques and collectibles.
- The law offices of attorneys Lionel Jean-Baptiste and Kwame Raoul, who went on to be appointed 42nd Attorney General of Illinois.
- The political headquarters of Lionel Jean-Baptiste.
- Midwest Bar-B-Q.
- Minouchic Boutique (later relocated to 1706 Dodge Ave).
Jean-Baptiste went on to serve as Evanston City Council Member representing the 2nd Ward from 2001 to 2011. He now serves as a judge for the 9th Subcircuit of the Cook County Judicial Circuit Court in Illinois. (Evanston Review, March 29, 2001.)
From 1992 to about 1997, the building at 1900 Asbury also housed Alpha Word, a print shop co-owned and managed by Morris “Dino” Robinson, Jr., founder of Shorefront Legacy Center. The business later moved to Church St and East Prairie in Skokie. Robinson’s father, Morris Robinson, leased the building from Robert (Bobby) Jones at the time and co-owned the print shop with Robinson, Jr. (Photograph by Morris “Dino” Robinson, Jr.)
The building was later the location of Robin Rue Simmons’ campaign office when she served as Evanston City Council Member, representing the 5th Ward. Simmons purchased the building, along with the house at 1904 Asbury Ave. 1900 Asbury now serves as the headquarters of FirstRepair. It also serves as the radio broadcasting headquarters for the Haitian station, Radio La Différence.
The house at 1904 Asbury Ave was built c. 1904 by Charles Hazzard, a graduate of Northwestern University and later a medical doctor. Hazzard’s wife was Theodora Craven Hazzard.
For many years, the house was home to Theodora’s father, the Rev. Thomas Craven, a Methodist minister. In 1910 the Cravens moved to Clark Street and the house was subsequently sold and appears to have changed hands several times.
Over the years, rooms were rented in the house. Evanston Daily News, July 25, 1913.
For about three decades the house at 1904 Asbury stood on a large lot where, in 1924, the building at 1900 Asbury would be constructed.
Evanston Press, July 23, 1904
1904 Asbury Ave
Sale of 1904 Asbury, Evanston Review, April 6, 1912.
Sanborn Insurance map, 1920, picturing the house at 1904 Asbury and the vacant area that would soon see the construction of 1900 Asbury Ave.
The Hutchersons appear to have moved to 1904 Asbury some time just before 1920. An article in the Evanston Review states that property was owned jointly by Fred Hutcherson, Sr. and his sister, Rose Lee Glover (1888-1930).
Around 1962, Robert (Bobby) Jones purchased both 1900 and 1904 Asbury Ave.
For a brief time in the summer of 1965, the house at 1904 Asbury was used as a “Freedom Center” where students from out of town came to Evanston to take part in the North Shore Summer Project to end discrimination in housing. The students held vigils at real estate offices, passed out leaflets, and engaged in demonstrations.
Fred Hutcherson Jr., Evanston Township High School yearbook, 1931
Fred Hutcherson Jr.
Fred Hutcherson Jr. was born in Evanston, Illinois on July 6, 1912 at 1904 Asbury Avenue. He was the oldest of the Hutcherson’s three children.
In 1942 Hutcherson became one of the first Black pilots to fly across the Atlantic Ocean when he took the first of many transatlantic flights he would make during World War II.
Hutcherson graduated from ETHS in 1931. He learned to fly “in the farmers’ fields” that lay just west of Evanston. He worked as a doorman for Tatman’s China and Glassware shop at 707 Church St and he served as treasurer at the Emerson St. YMCA.
After he learned to fly, he was hired to manage the North West Airport in Des Plaines. After World War II broke out, Hutcherson wanted to help the war effort and wished to become a pilot for the U.S. Ferry Command, whose pilots flew planes to military posts across the world. At the time, however, Black pilots were not hired by the Command. So Hutcherson went to Montreal and enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Later, he would fly planes for the Canadian Ferry Service, the only Black pilot in the Service.
As a pilot for the Canadian Ferry Service, he undertook his first transatlantic flight. Newspapers across the country carried the news of his groundbreaking flight.
After his famous flight, in November 1942, the Evanston City Council welcomed Hutcherson to a special meeting where he “received plaudits due a hero of the air.” City Council Member Edwin B. Jourdain praised him as “one of the famous ferry command, daring death over the ocean to get all-important planes to allied flyers.” In 1943, Hutcherson became a flight instructor at the famous Tuskegee Army Air field in Alabama. After the war, he continued to work as a pilot and serve flight instructor. He served as a pilot with several different airlines, including the British West Indian Airways in Miami, Florida. He also founded a flying school in Haiti. In 1959, he returned to Evanston to take over the family business, the Corner Spot, a restaurant at 1900 Asbury Ave. He and his wife lived at 1922 Maple. His son, Fred Hutcherson III, joined the U.S. Air Force in 1956 and later worked as a photographer for the Evanston Review. Fred Hutcherson, Jr. passed away in Evanston in 1962.
In 2007, Hutcherson was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, along with other Tuskegee Airmen. In 2011, his son, Fred Hutcherson, III, received a replica of the medal in a ceremony held at Shorefront Legacy Center.
For more about Hutcherson, see: Morris “Dino” Robinson, Jr., “Fred Hutcherson, Jr.: Soaring the Skies,” Shorefront Journal, November 26, 2012.