Dorothy Clark Bohnen has been called “an active environmentalist before most people knew the word.”[1] She was born in Jamaica to parents of British patronage before moving to the United States and eventually becoming a citizen. Bohnen was well-educated; she studied at several universities including Columbia University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Art Institute of Chicago and earned a masters degree from the University of Chicago. She worked as a lecturer for Northwestern University for seven years and as an art consultant for Evanston Township High School in 1957. Bohnen served the city on numerous committees aimed at beautifying the city, preserving green space, creating bike paths, and much more. In a time where cars became a household necessity, a national highway system was being created, and paradise was being paved for parking lots, Bohnen fought hard against the concrete-ification of Evanston.
Significance
Bohnen’s work grew out of her innate love for nature and her belief that playing in nature was a critical aspect of childhood. She wrote, “Did you as a child have a hill to roll down, tall meadow grasses to stalk wild game in, a spot to dig in, water to wade in, a plot to plant, wood to walk in to listen to the birds or the wind, a quiet sunny spot to sit and look at the beauty of flowers nearby—or just to sit sometimes?”[2] Bohnen feared that these natural experiences might be lost for future generations and worked tirelessly to ensure they would not. To fight the ugliness of modernity, billboards, parking lots, buildings, and junk yards, she organized a tree planting campaign which would provide shade, freshen air, limit noise, and provide homes for birds. She served on a planning committee that designed four new parks for the city, designed a playground for a nursery school, conducted contests for best gardens in the city, headed a litter cleanup campaign, and co-founded several important environmental centers, including the Ladd Arboretum and the Lighthouse Nature Center. She was coordinator of Mayor Emery’s beautification program, president of the Garden Council, a member of the Evanston Environmental Control Board, Marina and Lakefront Development Committee, Evanston Preservation Commission, and the Evanston Arts Council. In 1956 she won a major prize at the International Flower Show in New York for her ranch house home design entitled, “The Garden Grows with the Family,” which included plans to alter the home’s yard as children grew older.
Bohnen was an active member of the Evanston community, not just in an environmental capacity. For several years, she designed and decorated the Christmas Tree inside the Evanston History Center at the Dawes House. She created a guide to cooking with flowers and using them for medicine—based on ancient recipes and practices—for a Valentine’s Day dinner at the History Center. In her work at the Ladd Arboretum, she helped create the Women’s Terrace in 1971 to honor any Evanston woman “who…added to the quality of life in this city.”[3] When asked if she was sexist for creating a section dedicated to women, Bohnen responded “Maybe I am. But I think of the terrace more as a form of equalization. Men have had buildings and streets named for them. Everything seems to have been directed towards men.”[4]
Perhaps one of Bohnen’s most important contributions is her advocacy for reshaping the lakefront. She wanted it to have limited parking and traffic so that the natural landscape would be open and the beaches would be clean–a gift we all enjoy today! After her death in 1980, the History Center planted an Oak Tree on their property in her honor. Bohnen’s legacy underscores the work of women in spaces that have often been ignored or trivialized. It is easy to consider the work of a garden club as a pastime of bored housewives, but Bohnen’s work transformed the landscape of Evanston, providing green space for generations to come, and setting a high standard of beauty for future city leaders to maintain.
[1] “Protector of environment Dorothy Bohnen dies at 73” October 23, 1980, Biographical Files BOH, Evanston History Center.
[2] Dorothy Clark Bohnen, “Calls for Active Plan to Preserve Nature: Traces Needs in Evanston,” Evanston Review, April 16, 1964.
[3] “If you ‘dig’ a woman honor her with tree” Evanston Review, December 8, 1971.
[4] Lorraine Bannon, “Dedication Friday: Tree plantings to honor women” Evanston Review, May 6, 1976.