Career
As so much of Bennett’s work was concentrated in Chicago, it is easy to forget how widespread his experience actually was. Bennett was a practicing architect for 42 years, and he ran his own firm for 34 of them. He did work everywhere: California, Ontario, even Puerto Rico. Though Bennett did of course design actual structures, much of his career was focused on city planning, a field that became more important in the early 20th century with the rise of population in cities demanding more efficient and beneficial planning of infrastructure. Bennett’s firm was also at the forefront of zoning, or dividing up land for specific uses. Bennett started his own firm in 1910, and partnered with William E. Parsons in 1919 to form a new firm: Bennett and Parsons. Bennett partnered with Harry T. Frost and Cyrus W. Thomas in 1922 to form the firm Bennett, Parsons, Frost and Thomas, but Thomas was only a partner until 1924, when the firm became Bennett, Parsons and Frost. In 1944, after the deaths of his partners Parsons and Frost in 1938 and 1944, respectively, Bennett retired and closed his firm.
Below is a map cataloguing Bennett’s work over the years, along with items from Lake Forest’s Edward H. Bennett collection that pertain to said work, such as Bennett’s sketches and notes on a project.