New Evanston city hall space soon to open in north Chicago suburb's downtown
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- The City of Evanston is in the final stages of moving its city hall to an office building in the north suburb's downtown.
The new Evanston City Hall will occupy rented space in the Evanston Station building at 909 Davis St., which also houses an Endeavor Health Medical Group doctor's office, among other tenants.
A news release Thursday said the City of Evanston will finish relocating its municipal offices from the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, at 2100 Ridge Ave. several blocks west of the Northwestern University quads, to the Davis Street building within the early part of this year.
The new building will be called the Lorraine H. Morton City Hall.
The City of Evanston said the Collector's Office on the first floor of the Davis Street building will open Feb. 18. Adjudication hearings will also be heard on the first floor beginning March 31.
City administration and public services facilities such as the Mayor's office, City council Chambers, the city Clerk's office, and the Human Resources and Health and Human Services offices will open March 18 on the second floor.
Evanston City Council meetings will be held in the new chambers beginning April 14.
City departments such as the City Manager's office, Administrative Services, Community Development, Parks & Recreation, Public Works, Economic Development, theLaw Department, and the Property Tax Assessment Review Office.
Meanwhile, the seniors only DMV facility will relocate to the Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave., on March 17. Early voting will remain at 2100 Ridge Ave., the City of Evanston said.
The City of Evanston said the move will allow it to stabilize operations while planning a new police and fire headquarters and evaluating long-term needs for Civic Center facilities.
The city also touted enhanced safety, improved amenities such as a balcony overlooking Church Street, and proximity to downtown Evanston landmarks such as Fountain Square as benefits to the move.
The Davis Street building is right next to the David Street Metra Union Pacific North Line and Chicago Transit Authority Purple Line train stops.
The current Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center on Ridge Avenue was built in 1901 as a Catholic girls' boarding and day school — originally called Visitation Academy. The Sisters of Providence St. Mary-of-the-Woods order purchased the school in 1915 and named t Marywood Academy, according to the Evanston History Center. An addition to the building was added in 1925.
The school closed in 1970. It was not until 1979 that the building became the Evanston Civic Center.
Evanston had a succession of earlier city hall facilities, as noted by the Evanston History Center in the Evanston RoundTable publication. The first Evanston City Hall opened in 1892, not long after Evanston became a city. In 1942, the city hall facilities moved to Evanston Country Club at Lake Street and Oak Avenue, the historians wrote. The 1892 city hall was torn down four years later.
By the 1960s, Evanston was looking for a new city hall space again, and there were several proposals for a new city office complex. But the financial woes of the 1970s led to the selection of the Ridge Avenue building instead, the historians wrote.
The 909 Davis St. building to which city hall operations are moving was built in 2002.
