Katherine Hay Humphrey (1872-1959) was a prominent Evanston clubwoman, serving as a leader in many organizations and advocating for the creation of the Evanston War Memorial.
Significance: A native of Indiana, Katherine Hay married her husband Wirt Edwin Humphrey in 1893, and the pair moved to Evanston in 1896. Katherine wasted no time getting involved in Evanston organizations. As a member of the Woman’s Club of Evanston, she served in various capacities, including as a delegate of the club to state and national federation meetings. A member of their Clubhouse Committee, Humphrey was mistress of the ceremonies during the groundbreaking ceremony in 1912. In 1926, Humphrey was selected as president of the Woman’s Club.
Katherine Humphrey was involved with the suffrage movement. Her sister, Mary “Mollie” Garrett Hay, helped organize the National American Women’s Suffrage Association and was the close partner and confidante of well-known suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt (whom she lived with). Katherine Humphrey made frequent visits out east to visit her sister, and Carrie Chapman Catt and Mary Hay also visited Evanston as guests of Katherine Humphrey. After women achieved suffrage nationally, Katherine was involved with Evanston organizations, including the League of Women Voters, that were striving to make women informed and civically engaged voters.
As a member of the Fort Dearborn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) and a member of the first War Memorial Committee, Humphrey pushed for the erection of a war memorial dedicated to those who had served during the First World War. Writing in a letter to the Evanston News-Index in 1926, she urged for a memorial, arguing, “Money seems available for every other purpose and I firmly believe it can be secured for the building of this fine emblem of our respect and love of the boys who gave their all when the call of duty came.” The D.A.R erected the Evanston War Memorial in 1929 at Patriots Park (intersection of Davis Street and Sheridan Road today).
Humphrey’s husband, Wirt E. Humphrey, was also an involved member of the community, serving as a United States Commissioner for the northern district of Illinois and a 7th Ward alderman from 1914 to 1918 and later the director and president of the board for the Evanston Public Library. Following his death in 1940, Humphrey gave a gift of $200,000 to Northwestern University for the endowment of a full tuition scholarship for both men and women. Known as the “Wirt E. and Katherine Hay Humphrey Scholarships,” she stated at the time of the gift that she was fulfilling a wish of her late husband, an involved alumnus of the university. Humphrey was also involved with the university herself during her time in Evanston, serving as a member of the original Woman’s Building committee of the university and as president of the Phi Kappa Psi Mothers’ Association.
Throughout her time in Evanston, Humphrey served as the president of the King’s Daughters, president of the Small Parks and Playgrounds Association, member of the University Guild, vice president of the Evanston Safety Council, chairman of the Republican Women of Evanston, head of the Chicago Beautiful Organization, and member of the Drama Club of Evanston. Her deep involvement in many Evanston organizations illustrated her care and dedication to the community she called home.
Completed by Brenna Large for the Evanston Women’s History Project