In 1870 the church was accused of racism against the black community, which caused it to split into two Baptist churches. Eventually the two churches reconciled in 1991, and although they are still separate, they have a good relationship.

The extraordinarily rich history of this church reflects the country's history from 1858 forward. The wars over this breadth of history - the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War - have all provided and continue to provide context for the life of the church.

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio as a direct response to the Woman’s Temperance Crusades of the winter of 1873. The Temperance Crusades were spontaneous demonstrations held by women in small towns in Ohio to stop the sale of alcohol at the drug stores, hotels and saloons in their towns. The WCTU was organized to formalize these early efforts and mobilize women for a national effort against the abuse of alcohol. Frances Willard, first Dean of the Woman’s College of Northwestern University and Evanston resident, was a founding member of the WCTU and the first Corresponding Secretary. When Frances Willard became the second President of the WCTU in 1879, Evanston became a national center of temperance activity.

Evanston also had its own local Union of the WCTU. The Woman’s Temperance Alliance, founded in March 1874, was the first organization of local women for the temperance cause. Its main purpose was to catch and prosecute violators of the “Four Mile Limit” which prohibited the sale of alcohol within four miles of Northwestern University and the city of Evanston. Elizabeth Marcy was the first President. In May of 1875, the Alliance changed its name to the Evanston WCTU, and in 1878 officially joined the State and National Unions. Other than law enforcement, the local union was involved with forming kindergartens and industrial schools, holding temperance prayer meetings, and promoting temperance education in Evanston.

Kandi and Gigi are two pillars of brick-and-mortar Black-owned Evanston, and they’ll each tell you that Marshall got them started.

“He opened a shop in 1962. He started out with a one-chair shop,” said Gigi, Ebony’s oldest barber. The four other barbers who work there are men in their mid-30s and most started visiting Ebony Barbershop as children. By the turn of the century, her dad had extended the back of the building and the location boasted five chairs.

Zentli (indigenous Nahuatl Language for "corn" or "maize"), is a casual restaurant that serves the best locally sourced Mexican street food in Evanston, Illinois. With fresh, natural ingredients and vegan & vegetarian options in eclectic, artistic digs, we’re your new local favorite. 

We built Zentli to honor the ingenuity and hard work of Mexican people by bringing you the genuine flavors of street vendors through tasty food and mouth-watering drinks.

"We created Zentli because we wanted to remember and honor the creativity and hard work of the Mexican people. We wanted to uplift their adaptability, resilience, and dedication to earning a living with love and honesty. 

We created Zentli to remember the wisdom of our ancestors who with their dedication to work and family taught us to observe and respect life, who brought us the gift of Zentli (corn) and the knowledge required to live a healthy, happy life.  

We created Zentli because we wanted to remember who taught us to welcome, feed and respect everyone we meet because we are all citizens of our venerable Mother Earth, Tonantzin Tlalli."