EVANSTON, a township of Cook co., Illinois, on Lake Michigan and on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad, 12 m. N. of Chicago; pop. in 1870, 3,062. It is the seat of three Methodist educational institutions, viz.: the Northwestern university, organized in 1854, and having in 1872 11 professors and instructors, 452 students, and a library of 22,000 volumes; the Garrett Biblical institute, established in 1856, which in 1872 had 6 professors, 64 students, a library of 3,000 volumes, and an endowment of $424,000; and the Evanston college for ladies, organized in 1871, having 12 instructors and 250 students.