Plan of Evanston
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BUSINESS CENTERS
In a growing city like Evanston shopping centers spring up around the transportation terminals.
Davis- Street: At Davis Street are located the stations of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway and the Northwestern Elevated Station,and the reorganized Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad is also to use the latter station. Merchants are the greatest gainers by a well developed City Center, and they should make every effort to further the City Center plan, because such development will attract people from neighboring towns to do their shopping in Evanston, and each dollar spent for the City Plan will attract additional dollars to the merchants. At Davis Street are located our largest banks and biggest shops and we feel that this is really the heart of Evanston and that we are therefore justified in designating this as the City Center.
Main Street: Main Street, with the Chicago & Northwestern and the Elevated Railroad stations and the street railway is already a very important commercial center, and its development on both sides of the tracks is both startling and worthy of the highest praise. Here the merchants are already organized. They should guard against any attempt to spoil the parkway east of the Elevated tracks. This is a great commercial asset, and there are great possibilities at Main Street for artistic development.
Central Street: At Central Street two separate shopping centers have sprung up, one around the Chicago & Northwestern Station, and one around the Elevated Station. Both of these centers are growing rapidly and should be developed by some established plan. The merchants might well advocate the connection of Central Street and Dodge Avenue by way of Brown Avenue across the drainage canal. (See paragraph on Dodge A venue under Streets and Highways.)
