V27-4 From the President
By Robert Remer
This Thanksgiving season, Edgewater gathered together on November 20th for a lovely interfaith service at the beautiful Immanuel Lutheran Church on Elmdale to support the Care For Real pantry and to celebrate our diversity and another year on this Earth. This annual event is held by ECRA, the Edgewater Community Religious Association, which has brought dialogue and community collaboration to Edgewater for over 50 years. Founded as the Edgewater Clergy and Rabbi Association, the name now reflects the inclusion of two Mosques in our community. ECRA has been sponsoring annual conferences under the rubric of Sacred Seeds, reflecting that Christianity, Judaism and Islam share common inheritance from Abraham. Past conferences have dealt with a variety of issues of common concern to all faiths such as the plight of refugees and handling of grief and mortality. They also have engendered a greater understanding of each other’s faiths in our multi ethnic community.
As we respectively enjoy our winter holidays, it might be fun to revisit the 1959 award winning Christmas design of our museum home when it was a firehouse and the dedicated firemen created a winter wonderland on the outside. How do you think they got the fire trucks out??
Our diverse community observes many religious and seasonal occasions including Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Milad un Nabi, Bodhi Day, and the winter solstice. Are there others we should list? Whatever your preference, we wish you and your families only the very best this winter season, and we hope you will stay warm and secure in your environmentally sustainable home.
Another historic hallmark of Edgewater is the emergence of a broad community ethic of environmental awareness and activism, embodied in the great work of the Edgewater Environmental Sustainability Project (sustainedgewater.org), three of whose leaders are in our pantheon of past Living Treasures of Edgewater (Tom Murphy, Allen Stryczek, and Anne Comeau). I know that this year my abode will be a bit more snug and insulated thanks to what I have learned and done based on their great work.
As we seek winter solace in our homes, there must be some relief at the conclusion of a very trying and active Presidential election campaign season. There was a chance that Edgewater would become the birthplace of a U.S. President, but that was not to be. Regardless, we are very proud of the historic significance that Edgewater is home to the birthplace of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first woman to be a major party candidate for President, and the first woman to win the popular vote for President. Born at Edgewater Hospital on October 27, 1949, she lived at 5722 North Winthrop for her first three years; her father even ran for Alderman of the 49th ward. Edgewater voted 85% for their hometown candidate. We are reaching out to our elected officials and community organizations to solicit ideas for Edgewater to properly honor and commemorate Hillary Clinton in her birthplace. If you have any positive ideas, let us know.
Please accept the best wishes of the Edgewater Historical Society for the coming holidays.