Does MPHS have photographs: Yes
Address in MP: 801 E. Central
Birth Date: May 12, 1883
Death Date: June, 1968
Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:
Bertha Ehard was a dynamo in Mount Prospect. In 1926 she started the Mount Prospect Campfire Girls, a girls club similar to the Girls Scouts. She worked in Chicago and would come home at night and rush over the one room Central School house and hurry to build a fire in the pot bellied stove to try to warm up the building before the girls got there. The group chose the name “Potawatomi” and received a charter from the national Camp Fire Girls in 1927. The organization fostered understanding and appreciation of nature, an interest in Native American History and responsibility to the community. The group was lobbied for and picked some of the unusual names of the streets in the southern half of Mount Prospect, such as Hi Lusi or Wapella. These were meant to be Native American words, although some of them have since turned out to be made up. Bertha Ehard was also a Charter member of the Mount Prospect Woman’s Club and a founder of the Mount Prospect Public Library. In 1945 she was elected a Library Director and Finance Chairman. She continued to serve as treasurer until 1963. She was a life member of the Chicago Art Institute and helped to organize the United Youth Fund Drive. Later in life a club for young women was named for her and the E-Hart Girls were born.