Mayor of Evanston, Illinois 1937-1941.
Henry Day Penfield, 84, a retired executive recruiter, was a star football player in the early 1920s at Northwestern University and served as mayor of Evanston from 1937 to 1941.
A memorial service for Mr. Penfield, an Evanston resident for 63 years, will be held Wednesday in St. Barnabas on the Desert Episcopal Church in Scottsdale, Ariz. He died Sunday at home in Scottsdale, to which he had moved in 1963.
Mr. Penfield was born in Evanston on July 23, 1900. He attended grammar school and Evanston Township High School, took his final year at preparatory work at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and returned to Evanston to attend Northwestern. He graduated in 1923 with three letter in football and three in swimming.
In football, he was a tackle and named to All-Conference and All-Western teams. He played for three years next to his brother Graham, who was a guard and was captain of the team. The accomplishments of the two were memorialized when they were guests of honor at a 1960 Notre Dame-Northwestern game.
In a Tribune interview when he was mayor of Evanston, he recalled a comment his father had borrowed from someone else: “It’s a fine thing for a young man of 22 to have people point at him and say ‘There goes a great football player,’ but it’s sad if they point at 40 and say, “There goes that chap who was a great football player.’ “
After graduation, Mr. Penfield worked for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., and coached its football team.
In 1931 he was elected Evanston city treasurer, the youngest the city had ever had.
He ran for mayor in a famous 1933 Prohibition-era election noted for the charge “by an impartial observer” that Evanston vice conditions equaled those of Al Capone-controlled Cicero in all respects except one.
Mr. Penfield’s supporters circulated those allegations in a pamphlet that said: “The only difference is that we did not find a commercial brewery.”
His backers charged that in a seven-hour tour of Evanston, they were admitted to 14 “protected” resorts – speak-easies. Mr. Penfield lost by 2,300 votes.
He ran again in 1935 for Evanston city treasurer and won. In 1937, he was elected mayor of Evanston and served four years.
They were difficult years for Evanston, as the city’s population had increased by 10,000 in the 1930s but its assessed valuation had dropped from $91 million to $51 million in the six years before his election.
He was defeated in 1941 and shortly afterward was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy.
During World War II, he served as a lieutenant commander and was in charge of recruitment in the Chicago area.
After the war, he worked for George Frye Associates, an executive recruitment firm. He retired in 1963.
Survivors include his wife, Henrietta; a daughter, Nancy Hill; a son, Henry, Jr.; 11 grandchildren; and 2 sisters, Mary Allen and Mildred.
Chicago Daily Tribune – 30 October, 1984.
Henry Day Penfield, 84, a retired executive recruiter, was a star football player in the early 1920s at Northwestern University and served as mayor of Evanston from 1937 to 1941.
A memorial service for Mr. Penfield, an Evanston resident for 63 years, will be held Wednesday in St. Barnabas on the Desert Episcopal Church in Scottsdale, Ariz. He died Sunday at home in Scottsdale, to which he had moved in 1963.
Mr. Penfield was born in Evanston on July 23, 1900. He attended grammar school and Evanston Township High School, took his final year at preparatory work at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and returned to Evanston to attend Northwestern. He graduated in 1923 with three letter in football and three in swimming.
In football, he was a tackle and named to All-Conference and All-Western teams. He played for three years next to his brother Graham, who was a guard and was captain of the team. The accomplishments of the two were memorialized when they were guests of honor at a 1960 Notre Dame-Northwestern game.
In a Tribune interview when he was mayor of Evanston, he recalled a comment his father had borrowed from someone else: “It’s a fine thing for a young man of 22 to have people point at him and say ‘There goes a great football player,’ but it’s sad if they point at 40 and say, “There goes that chap who was a great football player.’ “
After graduation, Mr. Penfield worked for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., and coached its football team.
In 1931 he was elected Evanston city treasurer, the youngest the city had ever had.
He ran for mayor in a famous 1933 Prohibition-era election noted for the charge “by an impartial observer” that Evanston vice conditions equaled those of Al Capone-controlled Cicero in all respects except one.
Mr. Penfield’s supporters circulated those allegations in a pamphlet that said: “The only difference is that we did not find a commercial brewery.”
His backers charged that in a seven-hour tour of Evanston, they were admitted to 14 “protected” resorts – speak-easies. Mr. Penfield lost by 2,300 votes.
He ran again in 1935 for Evanston city treasurer and won. In 1937, he was elected mayor of Evanston and served four years.
They were difficult years for Evanston, as the city’s population had increased by 10,000 in the 1930s but its assessed valuation had dropped from $91 million to $51 million in the six years before his election.
He was defeated in 1941 and shortly afterward was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy.
During World War II, he served as a lieutenant commander and was in charge of recruitment in the Chicago area.
After the war, he worked for George Frye Associates, an executive recruitment firm. He retired in 1963.
Survivors include his wife, Henrietta; a daughter, Nancy Hill; a son, Henry, Jr.; 11 grandchildren; and 2 sisters, Mary Allen and Mildred.
Chicago Daily Tribune – 30 October, 1984.
Mayor of Evanston, Illinois 1937-1941.
Henry Day Penfield, 84, a retired executive recruiter, was a star football player in the early 1920s at Northwestern University and served as mayor of Evanston from 1937 to 1941.
A memorial service for Mr. Penfield, an Evanston resident for 63 years, will be held Wednesday in St. Barnabas on the Desert Episcopal Church in Scottsdale, Ariz. He died Sunday at home in Scottsdale, to which he had moved in 1963.
Mr. Penfield was born in Evanston on July 23, 1900. He attended grammar school and Evanston Township High School, took his final year at preparatory work at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and returned to Evanston to attend Northwestern. He graduated in 1923 with three letter in football and three in swimming.
In football, he was a tackle and named to All-Conference and All-Western teams. He played for three years next to his brother Graham, who was a guard and was captain of the team. The accomplishments of the two were memorialized when they were guests of honor at a 1960 Notre Dame-Northwestern game.
In a Tribune interview when he was mayor of Evanston, he recalled a comment his father had borrowed from someone else: “It’s a fine thing for a young man of 22 to have people point at him and say ‘There goes a great football player,’ but it’s sad if they point at 40 and say, “There goes that chap who was a great football player.’ “
After graduation, Mr. Penfield worked for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., and coached its football team.
In 1931 he was elected Evanston city treasurer, the youngest the city had ever had.
He ran for mayor in a famous 1933 Prohibition-era election noted for the charge “by an impartial observer” that Evanston vice conditions equaled those of Al Capone-controlled Cicero in all respects except one.
Mr. Penfield’s supporters circulated those allegations in a pamphlet that said: “The only difference is that we did not find a commercial brewery.”
His backers charged that in a seven-hour tour of Evanston, they were admitted to 14 “protected” resorts – speak-easies. Mr. Penfield lost by 2,300 votes.
He ran again in 1935 for Evanston city treasurer and won. In 1937, he was elected mayor of Evanston and served four years.
They were difficult years for Evanston, as the city’s population had increased by 10,000 in the 1930s but its assessed valuation had dropped from $91 million to $51 million in the six years before his election.
He was defeated in 1941 and shortly afterward was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy.
During World War II, he served as a lieutenant commander and was in charge of recruitment in the Chicago area.
After the war, he worked for George Frye Associates, an executive recruitment firm. He retired in 1963.
Survivors include his wife, Henrietta; a daughter, Nancy Hill; a son, Henry, Jr.; 11 grandchildren; and 2 sisters, Mary Allen and Mildred.
Chicago Daily Tribune – 30 October, 1984.
Henry Day Penfield, 84, a retired executive recruiter, was a star football player in the early 1920s at Northwestern University and served as mayor of Evanston from 1937 to 1941.
A memorial service for Mr. Penfield, an Evanston resident for 63 years, will be held Wednesday in St. Barnabas on the Desert Episcopal Church in Scottsdale, Ariz. He died Sunday at home in Scottsdale, to which he had moved in 1963.
Mr. Penfield was born in Evanston on July 23, 1900. He attended grammar school and Evanston Township High School, took his final year at preparatory work at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and returned to Evanston to attend Northwestern. He graduated in 1923 with three letter in football and three in swimming.
In football, he was a tackle and named to All-Conference and All-Western teams. He played for three years next to his brother Graham, who was a guard and was captain of the team. The accomplishments of the two were memorialized when they were guests of honor at a 1960 Notre Dame-Northwestern game.
In a Tribune interview when he was mayor of Evanston, he recalled a comment his father had borrowed from someone else: “It’s a fine thing for a young man of 22 to have people point at him and say ‘There goes a great football player,’ but it’s sad if they point at 40 and say, “There goes that chap who was a great football player.’ “
After graduation, Mr. Penfield worked for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., and coached its football team.
In 1931 he was elected Evanston city treasurer, the youngest the city had ever had.
He ran for mayor in a famous 1933 Prohibition-era election noted for the charge “by an impartial observer” that Evanston vice conditions equaled those of Al Capone-controlled Cicero in all respects except one.
Mr. Penfield’s supporters circulated those allegations in a pamphlet that said: “The only difference is that we did not find a commercial brewery.”
His backers charged that in a seven-hour tour of Evanston, they were admitted to 14 “protected” resorts – speak-easies. Mr. Penfield lost by 2,300 votes.
He ran again in 1935 for Evanston city treasurer and won. In 1937, he was elected mayor of Evanston and served four years.
They were difficult years for Evanston, as the city’s population had increased by 10,000 in the 1930s but its assessed valuation had dropped from $91 million to $51 million in the six years before his election.
He was defeated in 1941 and shortly afterward was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy.
During World War II, he served as a lieutenant commander and was in charge of recruitment in the Chicago area.
After the war, he worked for George Frye Associates, an executive recruitment firm. He retired in 1963.
Survivors include his wife, Henrietta; a daughter, Nancy Hill; a son, Henry, Jr.; 11 grandchildren; and 2 sisters, Mary Allen and Mildred.
Chicago Daily Tribune – 30 October, 1984.
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