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Wilmette, Illinois

Wilmette is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located 14 mi north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 28,170 at the 2020 census. The first and only Baháʼí House of Worship in North America is located here. Wilmette is also home to Central Elementary School and Romona Elementary School, both recent recipients of the National Blue Ribbon award bestowed by the U.S. Department of Education.

Early history
Wilmette was a forested area with high bluffs along its lakeshore. Before European settlement, members of the Potawatomi tribe lived in the area that would later become Wilmette. Native Americans were forced out of the area by treaties in the 1820s and 1830s.

The Ouilmette reservation
The village is named in honor of Archange and Antoine Ouilmette.

Archange Chevallier Ouilmette was born in approximately 1781 at Sugar Creek, Michigan. She was the daughter of Pierese Chevallier, a French fur trader, and his Potawatomi wife, Chopa. She was among the earliest recorded residents of Chicago, having settled there prior to its official incorporation. In either 1796 or 1797 she married Antoine Ouilmette, a French-Canadian fur trader. Together they would ultimately have eight children (sons Louis, Joseph, Michael and Francis; daughters Elizabeth, Archange, Josett and Sophia), the last being born in 1808.

On July 29, 1829, as a condition of the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien, the U.S. government awarded 1,280 acre of land in present-day Wilmette and Evanston to Archange Chevallier Ouilmette. The Ouilmettes moved into a cabin that they built on this reserved land.

In the late 1830s Antoine Ouilmette was involved in litigation against Joseph Fountain of Evanston and others, whom he accused of trespassing and illegally harvesting timber from the Ouilmette family's reservation. Ouilmette lost the suit and paid a large bill in court costs. It was after this that the Ouilmette family decided to leave. In 1838, the Ouilmette family moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where many Potawatomi had previously relocated. Archange Chevallier Ouilmette died there on November 25, 1840, and Antoine Ouilmette died there on December 1, 1841.

After Archange's and Antoine's deaths, seven of their children petitioned the federal government for permission to sell the land, as the treaty had stipulated that no part of land could be sold without permission from the President of the United States. All of the children, except for one, were living in Council Bluffs with no intention of moving back. They reasoned that they were living too far away to protect the land from illegal timber poaching. President James K. Polk approved the sale of the land, and in 1845 the entire reservation was collectively sold by the Ouilmette children, save for one sliver that Joseph Ouilmette sold individually at a later date.

Early settlement after the Ouilmettes

A number of early settlers worked small farms in the area, many of them near the lakeshore. Mary Dennis, Max Dusham, Charles Beaubien, Simon Doyle, Wendal Alles, Joel Stebbins, and Arunah Hill were among the most prominent members of this thinly settled community, and some of their descendants remained in the area for generations. In the 1850s and 1860s, more prosperous entrepreneurs from New York State and the Eastern seaboard bought out many of these settlers. Among them were Alexander McDaniel (who had arrived in the 1830s, then returned from the California gold rush with money to invest), John G. Westerfield, Henry Dingee, and John Gage. During this period, Illinois more generally was experiencing a high degree of land speculation and settlement.

The Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad tracks were built in 1855, facilitating the settlement of what would become the North Shore. Several large owners of land within the former reservation saw the opportunity to develop a community, and offered to build a station at their own expense if the railway would agree to stop in Wilmette The offer was accepted, and in 1869, the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway (later the Chicago and North Western) began service to the station. The first station burned, but the second one had been finished by 1874 and is still in existence today. This was a predecessor of today's Wilmette station.

In 1871 Central School, the community's first public school, was established in a one-room schoolhouse.

The community was officially incorporated on September 19, 1872, as the Village of Wilmette, at Andrew Sherman's house on Greenleaf Avenue. John Westerfield, whose large farm on the lakeshore occupied the area where the original Ouilmette cabin had been, was elected as the new village's first president.

In 1875 Wilmette's Protestant denominations partnered to construct the Union Evangelical Church at the northeast corner of Wilmette and Lake Avenues, an arrangement that would ultimately fail, as the groups came to construct their own churches. The largest denomination, the Methodists, were left with ownership of this first church building

In the 1880s the Royal Arcanum Hall, a barn-like building on the northeast corner of Wilmette and Central Avenues, served as a gathering place for local residents, while the train depot served as a polling space during elections.

Village of Gross Point
Much of the area that is today known simply as west Wilmette was once a very distinct community.

German-speaking Roman Catholic farmers from the Mosel Valley near Luxembourg in what is now Germany, many of them from in and around the city of Trier (for which the New Trier Township would later be named), had begun settling the area in the late 1830s. They developed a cohesive farming community and were active in the governance of New Trier Township (established in 1850), which built roads, schools and drainage ditches. Due to the rural area, it was a difficult place for the Chicago diocese to staff with priests. Eventually, Fr. William Netstraeter was appointed in 1872, and he would serve the faith community for five decades, as well as become a Wilmette trustee for two terms (i.e. mayor) and help found New Trier High School. In 1874, the community was incorporated as the Village of Gross Point, using the traditional voyageur name for the area immediately north of Chicago. Some prominent Gross Point family names include Hoffmann, Braun, Bauer, Schneider, Schaefer, Schaefgen, Reinwald, Bleser, Schwall, Engel, Steffens, Lauermann, Thalmann, Loutsch, Rengel, Nanzig, and Borre. For the next half-century, Gross Point would remain a separate entity from Wilmette. Gross Point remained a small community, with its population never exceeding 500.

Taverns were a major business in Gross Point. At least fifteen operated along Ridge Road, the village's eastern boundary, directly across the street from St. Joseph's. These were controversial: many in surrounding communities, especially Evanston (home to the Women's Christian Temperance Union) bitterly opposed the saloon trade, and made several attempts—ultimately successful—to shut it down. Upon the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, there was attempted attack of the St. Josephs rectory where Fr. Netstraeter lived, as he was an advocate for prohibition.

St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church was established in 1845 at the corner of Lake Avenue and Ridge Road. In 1873, the church opened a school. Many of the children in Gross Point attended school at St. Joseph, where they were taught by nuns from Milwaukee's School Sisters of St. Francis until 1981; the Archdiocese of Chicago closed the school in 1986, but parish families reopened it a decade later. The German language was frequently used in the classrooms up until World War I, when the school abandoned this practice due to anti-German feeling in the United States. Prior to then, because Masses were only celebrated in German, English-speaking Catholics petitioned the Archdiocese of Chicago to open a second parish in the area, which would become St. Francis Xavier Church in 1904. Upon the death of Fr. Netstraeter in 1924, it was discovered that he bequeathed a large monetary sum of his estate for the construction of a new church. The money was temporarily borrowed by Cardinal George Mundelein, but returned in 1938 and was used to construct the new, current, St. Joseph's church, which opened in 1939. St. Francis Xavier Church would be merged with St. Joseph Parish in 2019 with much controversy.

In 1897 Gross Point opened up a small public school west of Ridge Road on Wilmette Avenue. The Gross Point Public School was housed in a two-room, two-story brick building built on that had been donated by the Nanzig family. Its building would later become the home of the American Legion Post 46.

The 1890s

By the early 1890s the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad had double-tracked its line in Wilmette. In 1890 Wilmette constructed its first village hall. In 1892 the village began purchasing treated water from Evanston and had begun to set up telephone service. In 1895 the village established the Wilmette Public Works Department to provide maintenance to the village's infrastructure. In 1897 the railway built a new and larger Frost & Granger-designed station house for its Chicago & Milwaukee station, on the east side of the tracks. The 1874 station building was relocated and used for freight, and later for general storage.

The Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee (North Shore Line) began service in Wilmette in 1899. Its route (from south to north) entered Wilmette along the Northwestern Elevated tracks. After leaving the Linden station, the trains ran west on Greenleaf Avenue, before running north alongside the tracks of the Chicago & Milwaukee railroad. The segment which ran parallel to the Chicago & Milwaukee railroad is today occupied by the 9-mile Green Bay Trail.

Wilmette was home to a variety of social and literary clubs. Among these was the Wilmette Woman's Club, which was founded in 1891 as a reading club but quickly expanded to embrace a wide variety of philanthropic activities. Another was the Sunday Evening Supper Club, which would host such prominent speakers as William Jennings Bryan and Jane Addams.

Referendums were held in 1894 and 1897 over whether Wilmette should seek to be annexed by neighboring Evanston. Proponents wanted to take advantage of Evanston's then superior fire, police, and water services, as well as Evanston Township High School. One annexation referendum lost by a vote of 168 to 165; three others also failed. Following the result of these votes, the village improved its own services. Among the efforts at improving the village's services was the construction of a central fire station in 1899. Paving of the village streets with specially made bricks began in earnest at this time, as well. New Trier High School, built in Winnetka but also drawing students from Wilmette, was opened in 1901.

A series of new schools were built in the nineties to serve Wilmette's growing community. In 1892 an eight-classroom brick school building was built to house Central School, replacing the previous one-room structure. Logan school was opened in 1893 on Kline Street as a one-room school house. Its building would subsequently be expanded. Today, McKenzie Elementary School stands at the former site of Logan School.

Early 20th century
Sheridan Road opened on October 8, 1900. This opened up the North Shore to automobiles, providing a north-south arterial roadway along the lakeshore.

In 1900, by a margin of 62 to 52, village residents approved a referendum to establish a free public library, thus establishing the Wilmette Public Library. In 1905, with the assistance of funds from Andrew Carnegie, the village was able to erect a new building for its library at the corner of Park and Wilmette Avenues.

The North Shore Channel, which terminates in Wilmette, was a crucial part of the huge engineering and sanitary project to reverse the course of the Chicago River in order to carry Chicago's sewage away from Lake Michigan. In 1907, upon beginning construction of the North Shore Channel, Sanitary District of Chicago president Robert R. McCormick noted that the construction of the canal would ultimately create approximately twenty-two acres of landfill from excavated materials next to the mouth of the canal. Illinois law stipulated that an organized Park District had the authority to, without any cost, take possession of any man-made land for use as parkland. Citizens, thereafter, petitioned for a vote to be held on the prospect of establishing Park District.

An election was held January 1908, with 174 votes in favor of creating a park district and 37 votes against it. The Wilmette Park District Board of Commissioners was appointed, serving the entirety of the village, as well as a segment of northeast Evanston (responsibility for which was later assumed by the Evanston Park District). The Wilmette Park District's Board of Commissioners held their first meeting on February 17, 1908. State legislation was passed May 25, 1911, granting the Park District ownership of the landfill. Ultimately, the Park District gained ownership of a riparian property stretching between Lake Avenue and Forest Avenue. Today, this land forms much of Gillson Park. The excavated material that formed the landfill turned out to largely consist of a relatively impervious blue clay. Mulchings and plantings began part of a years-long process of transforming the landfill into usable parkland. The North Shore Channel project, completed in 1909, also resulted in the creation of Wilmette Harbor.

Wilmette's first informal beach was established at the foot of Elmwood Avenue in 1910. Wooden steps were constructed down the bluff to allow access to the beach from the street. In 1914 the Wilmette Beach Improvement Association was founded to clean up the village's unsupervised shoreline. The group established an official swimming beach at the foot of Lake Avenue, the site of today's Gillson Beach, with facilities including a bathhouse, swings, benches, and umbrellas.

In 1912 the Northwestern Elevated Railroad (today's Chicago Transit Authority Purple Line) extended its service into Wilmette. This occurred without permission from the village, as the tracks were extended from the route's existing terminal in Evanston into the village's border under the cover of darkness before the morning of April 1, 1912. Later that year, a second track was added in Wilmette and the station's platform was elongated. In 1913 the tracks were extended deeper into the village and the makeshift station that had been constructed under the cover of darkness was replaced with two new stations in Wilmette at Isabella and Linden, the latter of which was designed by Arthur U. Gerber and served as the line's terminus.

More than 400 men from Wilmette and Gross Point Village served during World War I. 150 of them served overseas, thirteen (12 from Wilmette, and one from Gross Point) lost their lives in the war. Many women back home volunteered in the Wilmette branch of the American Red Cross Auxiliary.

By 1918 the village of Wilmette had increased its population to 5,000 from a population of only 1,500 twenty years earlier. The Wilmette Health Center (a free clinic) was founded that same year.

Expansion during the 1920s
Between 1900 and 1920 the village saw its population more than triple to 7,814. In 1922 the village adopted the "Plan of Wilmette", which outlined a vision for its future that included open spaces along Green Bay Road and the elevation of the railroad tracks to provide unobstructed flow of traffic between the east and west parts of the village. While few of these specific plans ever materialized, the 1922 plan represents the beginning of zoning as a mode of shaping the village's development.

In 1919 the neighboring Village of Gross Point was dissolved due to bankruptcy. It was subsequently annexed by Wilmette, with one part being annexed in 1924 and the rest in 1926.

In early 1924 the village issued a permit approving construction of its first apartment building, the Linden Crest Apartments at the intersection Fifth Street and Linden. This launched a controversy, and a "No Flats" campaign was held during the following year's election. Consequentially, very few apartment buildings would be constructed in the village for the next four decades.

The oldest surviving Bahá'í House of Worship began construction in 1920 (it would not be completed until 1953). See "Attractions" below. Across Sheridan Road from the Bahá'í property, Wilmette Harbor experienced a plethora of changes in the twenties.

The Sheridan Shore Yacht Club opened in Wilmette Harbor during the 1920s. The club was housed in a space on the lower floor of the Marshall mansion (architect Benjamin Marshall's opulent residence and studio), which sat along Sheridan Road on the south side of the harbor. Marshall had allowed the club to be located in his mansion as a compromise with the village. The village had previously been unwilling to rezone the property to permit him to house his commercial offices there. As a result, Marshall had been unable to get a building permit for the home. Marshall made an offer to members of the headquarterless organization, he would let them house their headquarters in the basement of the studio if they could convince the village to issue a permit. Soon afterwards, the village was convinced to issue a permit allowing for the construction of a "clubhouse-studio". Marshall constructed his forty-room pink-stucco Spanish Colonial Revival mansion from 1922 until 1924 and decorated it with rare art and furniture. It was said to have cost somewhere between $500,000 and $1,000,000 to construct. The house was built into a bluff so that only one of its three stories was visible at street level. The residence featured an enclosed tropical greenhouse with a swimming pool and a Chinese temple room featuring a 500-year-old mandarin bed (the Chinese temple room was said to have cost $87,000). also had an Egyptian solarium that featured a table which rose through the floor, rising up from a butler's pantry beneath it. The house's furnishings included a tapestry which Louis XIV once presented to Madame de Pompadour. It was one of the North Shore's most extravagant residences.

Development of Wilmette's 'Indian Hill Estates' subdivision began in 1926. The subdivision featured long winding roads named after Native American tribes, and its homes were built on well-manicured lots featuring deep setbacks. The early homes developed were given European styles and names.

In the 1920s, No Man's Land, an unincorporated area to the north, experienced a period of tremendous exuberance. The Spanish Court, one of the nation's earliest automobile-centered shopping developments, was constructed in No Man's Land. Building began on such private clubs as the Miralago Ballroom, an early Art Deco building designed by George Fred Keck, which opened in 1929. Teatro del Lago, an opulent movie house, opened in 1927.

Great Depression era
In 1931 Universal Oil Products co-founder Carbon Petroleum Dubbs was elected Village President. At the time that he took office, the village was approaching bankruptcy. To stabilize its finances, Dubbs cut the village's budget and refused his salary. In 1932, despite the onslaught of a national depression, Dubbs was able to finish construction on Lochmoor, his Phillip Brooks Maher-designed lakefront mansion located along Wilmette's Michigan Avenue. Construction of the residence cost him $200,000. On January 27, 1934, the village celebrated the opening of its own water plant that was completed largely due to Dubbs' commitment to the project. The village had previously been purchasing its water from Evanston. Not only did Wilmette start pumping its own water, but by the year 1938 Wilmette was selling water to Glenview. By the end of Dubbs' tenure as Village President in 1935, Wilmette had become fiscally solvent.

During the depression, the Works Progress Administration program undertook a project in Wilmette to resurface brick streets. Bricks were removed and relaid upside-down, exposing a smooth non-weathered side. Another WPA project that was undertaken was the refurbishment of Wilmette pier, which is located just north of the mouth of Wilmette Harbor and had originally been built in 1906. An additional WPA project broke ground in 1936, beginning construction on a lakefront amphitheater at Gilson Park. The venue, now known as the Wallace Bowl (in honor of Gordon Wallace, Park District superintendent from 1936 until 1968), opened the following year.

In 1931 Green Bay Road was opened, supplementing Sheridan Road's role as a North-South arterial route through the North Shore. A Coast Guard station was established in Wilmette Harbor in 1931. In 1933 the village restricted the use of unofficial beaches, such as the one at the foot of Elmwood Avenue. Despite this people still continued to visit the Elmwood beach until the village constructed a fence to block street access to it in the 1960s.

Among the residents that were affected by the depression was architect Benjamin Marshall, who was forced to sell his house to Nathan Goldblatt (of the Goldblatt's chain). As a result of this change of ownership, the Sheridan Shores Club was evicted from their headquarters in the lower floor of the Marshall Mansion. In 1937 the Sheridan Shore Yacht Club constructed a new clubhouse at Wilmette Harbor. The Goldblatt family offered to gift the former Marshall mansion to the village for use as a community center. However, the village declined their offer. The opulent mansion was ultimately demolished in 1949 and 1950.

The Depression halted most home construction for the first half of the 1930s. However, by the middle of the decade construction slowly resumed. The homes being constructed, however, were far more modest than those that had been constructed in the previous decade. Among the homes built in this period were several designed by George Fred Keck. Much of the village's 'Kenilworth Gardens' subdivision was developed during this time. Much of the Indian Hills Estates was also developed at this time, with the assistance of federal loans.

In November 1934, Monsignor John Neumann oversaw the building of a new school for St. Joseph Catholic Church (Wilmette, Illinois). It was the only building constructed in the entire Midwest that year. President Roosevelt sent a letter commending Monsignor Neumann and St. Joseph's for their courage in undertaking the large task during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression greatly impacted No Man's Land, forcing the closure of Vista del Lago. A fire that broke out in the Miralago on the night of March 8, 1932, severely damaged the building along with many nearby properties (such as the structures abandoned by the defunct Breaker's Beach Club and Vista del Lago), thus tolling the final death knell for an exuberant era of No Man's Land's history.

World War II era
Wilmette's first brush with Nazi Germany came by way of a financial lawsuit against St. Joseph Catholic Church (Wilmette, Illinois). In the wake of Chicago Cardinal George Mundelein's criticisms of Adolf Hitler in 1937, (see Paper hanger (Mundelein's speech)), ridiculing Hitler for his mistreatment of Catholics, St. Joseph's was unexpectedly sued by a family in Germany, claiming to be relatives of the deceased Fr. William Netstraeter, a key figure in the expansion of Wilmette who died in 1924, thirteen years prior. Fr. Netstaeter had bequeathed a sum of $300,000 from his real-estate business for St. Joseph's, which was being held in the bank account of the Archdiocese of Chicago, under Cardinal Mundelein's supervision. The lawsuit was blatantly political and clearly orchestrated by the Nazi Party in retaliation for Cardinal Mundelein's "one armed paper hanger" remark. A Chicago circuit court validated Fr. Netstraeter's will, and the money was quickly rewarded to the Archdiocese, ergo St. Joseph's. Folklore believes that Cardinal Mundelein told his chief architect, Joseph W. McCarthy, to "Put the money into brick!" and construction of a large new church was instantly underway (completed in October 1939). It is believed that had Hitler/the Nazi's obtained the money, it would have gone towards Nazi military.

After the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, village life revolved around the war effort: bond drives, air raid drills, scrap drives, and victory gardens were the order of the day. The Wilmette Council of Civil Defense, under the chairmanship of David C. Leach, organized a wide range of activities, including classes designed to train citizens in first aid, fire-fighting, demolition, marksmanship, and bomb disposal. Air raid wardens for every block enforced blackouts and manned battle stations during drills. On Sunday, May 23, 1943, a mock air raid on the village dropped hundreds of paper-bag "bombs" of brightly colored streamers, to test local readiness. Eighty-three service members from Wilmette lost their lives during the war.

The Wilmette Coast Guard Station was given an increased workload during World War II, placing a heavy burden on the station's staff of 40 men. The voluntary civilian Wilmette Coast Guard Auxiliary was formed to assist the station's guardsmen during the war. Many of the Auxiliary's 64 members came from the Sheridan Shore Yacht Club and used their personal vessels to assist in operations.

In 1942, after a long legal battle, Wilmette annexed No Man's Land.

In August 1943 a ship named the USS Wilmette was given the honor of transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Admiral William D. Leahy, James F. Byrnes and Harry Hopkins on a 10-day cruise to McGregor and Whitefish Bay to plan strategies for World War II. The USS Wilmette was a naval ship that had been commissioned in 1918 and was constructed by retrofitting the former SS Eastland, a passenger ship which in July 1915 rolled over in the Chicago River resulting in 884 deaths (the largest loss of life from a single shipwreck in Great Lakes history).

Postwar growth
The postwar need for housing, combined with government-guaranteed loans and the availability of former farmland west of Ridge Road, led to a housing boom in the 1950s that utterly transformed the area west of Ridge Road from farmland to residential subdivisions. Tracts of ranch-style and bi-level houses, distinctive street layouts, and new schools, places of worship, and shopping centers quickly characterized much of west Wilmette, particularly west of Hunter Road. Builders reflected the country's optimistic postwar mood with upbeat names for their housing styles, like "Young Modern" and "Skylark" and idyllic-sounding subdivision names like "Hollywood in Wilmette" and "Sprucewood Village". As a direct result of this housing boom, Wilmette's population grew from 18,162 in 1950 to 28, 268 a decade later.

Construction began on the Edens Expressway in the late 1940s, and it opened in 1951. Carson Pirie Scott opened Edens Plaza shopping center next to the new expressway in 1956.

Wilmette saw a growth in youth sports during this period. The boy's youth Wilmette Baseball Association was founded in 1951. In 1953 the village opened Roemer Park, a Little League baseball park with features such as a concession stand and scoreboard. By 1962 the Wilmette Baseball Association had more than 900 youth players (including Bill Murray) and 52 teams.

Also in 1951, Wilmette Public Library built a new facility, replacing the facility that had been built in 1905.

The North Shore Line ceased its service in Wilmette in 1955.

In 1968 the Curtis Curling Center, a state-of-the-art curling facility, opened in Wilmette. Its construction was funded by a $400,000 donation from Darwin Curtis, a millionaire from the neighboring town of Winnetka   and a $39,000 grant from the Wilmette Memorial Trust.

Between 1962 and 1968 the area that was once No Man's Land saw massive redevelopment. Several high-rise apartment towers and town homes were built, and the Spanish Court shopping center was renovated and renamed Plaza del Lago.

Village Centennial and National Bicentennial
The village marked the 1972 centenary of its incorporation with festivities on the lawn of Village Hall. The Curtis Curling Center hosted that year's United States Men's Curling Championship.

In 1973 Wilmette adopted a new comprehensive plan (which had been developed between the years 1967 and 1971). In 1974 the village adopted a new zoning ordinance designed to adhere to the vision of the comprehensive plan.

Centennial Park, named in honor of the village's centenary, was opened that year. The Park District had begun buying the land for Centennial Park in 1967, but did not finish buying the last parcels until 1972. In 1971 the Park District proposed building a sports complex at this site. Previous plans to construct a sports complex (featuring a swimming pool, children's park, bath house/warming house, natural ice rink, and a toboggan hill) on the site of the Community Playfield were blocked afters voters narrowly opposed it in a 1968 referendum. However, the Park District was successful in its proposal for a sports complex at Centennial Park, which was approved by voters as part of a $1.78 million parks renovation plan in a February 1971 referendum. The sports complex was completed in 1972 with a public swimming pool and indoor tennis complex. In 1974, following lobbying from local ice skating and ice hockey enthusiasts, the Park District broke ground on an expansion project that added an indoor ice complex and additional tennis courts to the sports complex. Centennial Ice Center opened to local ice enthusiasts the following year.

A portion of the land that the Park District acquired for Centennial Park was a farm belonging to Michael Loutsch, the last working farm in the village. A compromise was reached in 1968 where the Park District allowed Loutsch to continue operating his farm until his death, at which point the village would assume control of the land. Centennial Park was therefore developed around his farm. Per their agreement, the Park District assumed control over the land after Loutsch's death in 1978. Thus, over one hundred years after its incorporation, Wilmette completed its transformation from a farming settlement into a bustling suburb.

In 1972 Northwestern University decided to sell a 106-acre golf course it owned on Lake Avenue, and offered for the village to buy it. Concerned that it might otherwise become a massive subdivision development, community groups and citizens organized to lobby for its preservation as open land. In June 1972 voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of approving $4.4 million in Park District tax bonds to finance the purchase (with 5,704 votes in favor and 785 in opposition). In November 1972 a Cook County Circuit judge set the appraisal of the land at $4.2 million, and the Wilmette Park District acquired the course.

The same month in which the Park District acquired the golf course, citizens sent petitions to both the Park District and the Village Board requesting a referendum proposing that the Park District buy and preserve an 11-acre plot of land on the Mallinckrodt College property. The land had already been under contract, with its owners (the Society of the Sisters of Christian Charity) planning to sell it to a developer who intended to build 43 single-family homes. The referendum was held January 16, 1973, with voters rejecting the proposal. As a result, the parcel of land in question was developed into homes.

On July 16, 1973, the Chicago Transit Authority ceased service at the Isabella station, leaving the Linden Station as the village's sole CTA station. In 1974 Wilmette launched a village bus system named Wilbus.

In 1974 the Chicago & North Western Railroad planned to demolish the structure of the former 1897 station house, which it had previously been using for storage. The village saved the structure from demolition relocating it from its position along the Chicago & Northwestern tracks to elsewhere downtown. The structure is now recognized as a local landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1975 Wilmette built a new structure to replace its 1874 railroad station. The new station began serving commuters in September, and the 1874 station was razed in order to make room for parking behind the new Village Hall.

The village had begun construction on a new Village Hall in 1973. The project would replace the 1910 Village Hall. It was completed in 1975. However, its dedication ceremony would be held on Independence Day of the following year (the bicentennial day for the adoption of the United States' Declaration of Independence).

Late 20th century
In 1978 deficits forced the village to close the Curtis Curling Center only a decade after it first opened. The space was used for a televised Guinness world record-setting 135,000 piece domino show in 1979, but would otherwise sit vacant until being converted into a senior housing complex named The Atrium in 1982. Despite the closure of the Curtis Curling Center, the Wilmette Curling Club continues to exist (albeit without a facility of their own). They won the 1984 United States Men's Curling Championship and represented the United States at the 1985 men's World Curling Championships where they ultimately tied with Denmark to place 3rd overall.

In the 1970s, Wilmette experienced a post-baby boom drop in primary school education. As a result, the village closed three schools (including Bell School). The village also closed Highcrest Middle School, but retained ownership to accommodate a potential re-opening in the future. Highcrest was subsequently used by the village as a community recreation center and was for a time the home of the Wilmette Historical Museum.

In 1973 the Park District had purchased (with the assistance of a federal grant) a 4.8 acre parcel of land near Skokie Boulevard and Hibbard for a playground. However, it was subsequently decided that instead of a playground, the Park District would develop the site as an open-space nature center. The site was incrementally developed before being officially dedicated in 1981 as the Stephen R. Keay Nature Learning Center. The Green Bay Trail opened in 1981.

In October 1991 construction began on a new structure for the Linden Station. The new Linden Station opened in 1993, with the former station being preserved as a retail space and a local historical landmark.

In 1974, the village gave a contract to the firm OTR to design and operate a bus service for Wilmette, in view of the bankruptcy of the privately-owned Glenview Bus Company. The service was named by a contest as Wilmette Wilbus, and it began in March 1974. Drivers and maintenance staff were Village employees. Ridership grew as service quality was high, and the routes served the train stations, the high schools and the shopping area. In 1995 Pace took over the operations for Wilmette's bus routes, bringing an end to the village's Wilbus service.

In 1994 the board of Wilmette Public Schools District 39 voted to reopen Highcrest Middle School. This forced the Wilmette Park District to find new quarters. The Park District bought the former Bell Elementary School building, which had been developed for use as offices, and converted it into their new home. After significant renovations, the 95,000 square foot Community Recreation Center was opened in October 1995. Parts of the center were dedicated for use by the Early Childhood Center and Meskill Senior Center (the hub of the village's programs for those aged fifty and older), creating spaces dedicated to serving some of both Wilmette's youngest and oldest residents. Other portions of the building housed the Center Fitness Club and a brand-new gymnastics facility. An athletic gymnasium was added to Community Recreation Center 1996 and an auditorium (funded in part by a $720,000 grant from the state) was added to the Community Recreation Center in 1998. The Auditorium is now home to The North Shore Theater of Wilmette and Wilmette Children's Theatre.

21st century
November 7, 2000, residents voted in favor of spending up to $10 million in general obligation bonds to reconstruct the pools at Centennial Park. Work on replacing the 30-year-old pools began on August 12, 2001. The pools were reopened ten months later on June 8, 2002.

Wilmette again rebuilt its commuter rail station in 2001.

After the September 11 attacks the Wilmette Park District established the "Reach Out Wilmette" campaign in an effort to contribute to disaster relief fundraising. Special events (including a variety show, a 5K Run, aerobics classes, and a Blood Drive) were held. The campaign ultimately raised more than $10,000 in aid funding.

On January 5, 2002, the Olympic Torch passed through downtown Wilmette on its route from Chicago to Milwaukee during the 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay.

In late 2001, a coalition of open land advocates, historic building preservationists and proponents of senior/affordable housing banded together to petition the Park District to purchase the 17-acre Mallinckrodt College property (which contained a former college building alongside 14 acres of open land). The group petitioned the village to hold a referendum on purchasing the property. Mallinckrodt property was under contract to be sold by Loyola University Chicago to a developer that intended to raze the historic 1916 structure and build a tract of single family homes. On March 19, 2002, a referendum was held, and Wilmette residents vote in favor of granting the Park District the authority to issue up to $25 million in bonds in order to purchase, improve, and maintain the Mallinckrodt College property. The village ultimately acquired the property for $20 million in September of that year. In May 2003 the Illinois Department of Natural Resources awarded the Park District a $2 million grant through the Open Land Trust program in order to preserve 5.22 acres of the property. In July 2004 a sales agreement was reached in which the Park District transferred ownership of the building to the Village of Wilmette. The village would then aim to sell the structure to a developer that would convert it into condos for senior citizens. Under the sale agreement with the developer, the Park District has retained a 7,000 square foot space on the ground floor of the building's south wing of the building, which they operate as a community recreation space named The Mallinckrodt Center. The Mallinckrodt Center contains the new home of the Meskill Senior Center.

Geography
Wilmette is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan and is a near northern suburb of Chicago, immediately North of Evanston at 42.07722°N, -87.72361°W (42.077178, -87.723736). The North Shore Channel drainage canal is supplied with water from Lake Michigan at Wilmette Harbor.

According to the 2010 census, Wilmette has a total area of 5.409 sqmi, of which 5.4 sqmi (or 99.83%) is land and 0.009 sqmi (or 0.17%) is water.

Wilmette has a well-developed urban forest and since 1983 has enjoyed "Tree City" status. As of 2006, village parkways hosted more than 18,600 trees comprising 150 species and sub-species.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census, there were 28,170 people, 10,210 households, and 7,480 families residing in the village. The population density was 5,205.10 PD/sqmi. There were 10,525 housing units at an average density of 1,944.75 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 78.84% White, 0.90% African American, 0.16% Native American, 11.77% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.97% from other races, and 7.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.93% of the population.

There were 10,210 households, out of which 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.43% were married couples living together, 5.25% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.74% were non-families. 24.98% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.49% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.19 and the average family size was 2.64.

The village's age distribution consisted of 28.6% under the age of 18, 3.8% from 18 to 24, 15.1% from 25 to 44, 32.2% from 45 to 64, and 20.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $161,765, and the median income for a family was $206,483. Males had a median income of $127,712 versus $67,266 for females. The per capita income for the village was $96,523. About 2.5% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 4.2% of those age 65 or over.

Village government
Wilmette is governed by a village board composed of six trustees and a president. Trustees serve staggered, four-year terms and are elected at large. The Village operates under the Council-Manager form of government. The Village Manager is Michael Braiman.

In 2004, Wilmette was one of the first localities in Illinois to enact a ban on smoking in all public spaces, including bars and restaurants. Also that year, the village government prosecuted local resident Hale DeMar, age 59, for violating the town's handgun ban when he shot a burglar inside his house. The handgun ban was enacted in direct response to an incident in 1988 when Laurie Dann opened fire on a classroom full of children in neighboring Winnetka. However, it was repealed in 2008 after the U.S Supreme Court struck down a similar ban in Washington, D.C.

Education
For grade school education, Wilmette is served by Wilmette Public Schools District 39 which includes elementary schools (grades K–4) Central, Harper, McKenzie, and Romona, Highcrest Middle School (grades 5 and 6), and Wilmette Junior High School (grades 7 and 8). Marie Murphy School, also located in Wilmette, is part of Avoca School District 37. It has the longest school day in the state of Illinois.

Saints JFX School, St. Francis Xavier Campus (K-8) is a parochial elementary school in the area. Other private schools in Wilmette include the Ronald Knox Montessori School (Pre-K to K) and Baker Demonstration School (Pre-K to 8).

For public secondary or high school education, serving grades 9 to 12, Wilmette students attend New Trier High School. High school freshmen attend classes at the Northfield campus while other grades attend the Winnetka campus. Wilmette is also home to Catholic high schools Loyola Academy and Regina Dominican High School.

The Wilmette Public Library provides educational support to students at all grade levels, including those residing in neighboring Kenilworth.

In 2006, National Louis University closed its former main site, which had 6.5 acre of land, with about 66% in Wilmette and the remainder in Evanston.

Attractions
Wilmette is home to the Bahá'í House of Worship, the continental Bahá'í House of Worship for North America and presently the only one in the United States, as well as the administrative offices for the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly. In 2007 the structure was named as one of the "Seven Wonders of Illinois" by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism. It is open seven days a week and is free.

Wilmette Theater is a two-screen multiplex located on Central Avenue in one of its downtowns. The theater shows classic films, contemporary movies, as well as hosting live performances.

Wilmette has several shopping centers. Plaza del Lago, one of the nation's oldest shopping centers, is located along the Lake Michigan shoreline on Sheridan Road. Edens Plaza and West Lake Plaza, are on Lake Street east of the Edens Expressway. Another shopping center is Edens Plaza, located by the Edens Expressway.

Architecture
In addition to the Bahá'í House of Worship, Wilmette is famous for several other examples of religious architecture.

The oldest existing church building in Wilmette is the First Congregational Church (1909) designed in the Tudor Revival style. Trinity United Methodist Church (1928) is a Neo-Gothic structure and was designed and constructed by Granger & Bollenbacher of Wisconsin Lannonstone. The church features stained glass windows by Willet Studios of Philadelphia, among the top American studios during the 1920s. The church was used as a filming location for Home Alone.

Both St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier Church were designed by the firm of McCarthy, Smith and Eppig. St. Joseph's is Wilmette's oldest religious congregation, established in 1843. The present building (1939) is among the finest examples of Art Deco architecture on the North Shore. The interior is particularly well preserved and features Art Deco light fixtures and stained glass windows designed and fabricated by Giannini & Hilgart of Chicago. The altar floor and sanctuary wall contain Italian and French marble inlaid with Portuguese onyx. The Stations of the Cross are pastel-hued mosaics crafted in the Vatican Studio of Mosaics in Rome. The design and materials of the Y-shaped school designed by Herman J. Gaul of Chicago and constructed in 1934, and the adjacent rectory, harmonize with the church. St. Francis Xavier Church (1939) was designed in the Late Gothic Revival mode while McCarthy, Smith & Eppig were simultaneously working on St. Joseph's. The stained glass windows were made with English and German imported glass by the famed F. X. Zettler Studios of Munich and New York City. St Francis Xavier School (1924), just east of the church, is a unique modern blend of Gothic architecture by Chicago architect Barry Byrne.

Wilmette has two houses built by Frank Lloyd Wright: the Frank J. Baker House (and carriage house) and the Lewis Burleigh House (also known as the JJ O'Connor House ). In addition, Wilmette has homes designed by Wright's contemporaries in the field of Prairie School architecture, including John S. Van Bergen.

Historic preservation
These places in Wilmette are on the National Register of Historic Places:

Transportation
Wilmette is currently served by the Chicago Transit Authority's Purple Line, the Metra commuter trains operated by Union Pacific Railroad on the old Chicago & Northwestern Railway line, and by the Pace suburban bus system. The northernmost station of the Purple Line is located at Linden Avenue in Wilmette. Wilmette's commuter railroad station is at Green Bay Road between Central and Lake Avenues.

The North Shore Line served Wilmette from 1899 until 1955.

Wilmette ran its own local bus service for 20 years, 1974 to 1994, Wilmette Wilbus, until PACE took over the 3 routes and the bus fleet in January 1995. Routes 421, 422, 423 and the 213 continue to serve Wilmette destinations, including the rail stations, shopping centers and high schools.

Sustainability
The village of Wilmette has a stated commitment to "promoting and creating a more sustainable environment through energy efficiency, improved stormwater management, water conservation, pollution reduction, and recycling." Wilmette and 11 other communities are competing in the ComEd Community Energy Challenge for a $100,000 prize for energy consumption reduction. The village has implemented some lighting and heating efficiency programs in some municipal buildings. Each year since 2010, the village partners with Go Green Wilmette to present Going Green Matters: Wilmette's Green Fair, a sustainable living and recycling event that attracts over 1,000 residents, exhibitors, vendors, and activists.

Sports and recreation
The Wilmette Park District oversees over 300 acres of parks and open land including Gillson Park and Beaches; Keay Nature Center; the Community Playfield, Mallinckrodt Park and a portion of the Green Bay Bike Trail. Five facilities including the Lakeview Center; Centennial Recreation Complex; the Community Recreation Center; the Wilmette Golf Club and the Mallinckrodt Center house Park District programs and activities. Neighborhood parks can be found in 15 additional locations throughout the village. A wide range of recreation programming encompasses children and adults from four months old to seniors.

The Wilmette Park District's Community Recreation Center has a 10,000-sq ft gymnastics facility. In 2013 the Wilmette Platform Tennis Club was opened. The Wilmette Platform Tennis Club has four paddle tennis courts and a warming hut.

The North Shore Channel Trail also passes through the village.

Beaches
Wilmette contains three public beaches, a large one at the 60 acre Gilson Park and two smaller ones at Langdon Park and the Elmwood Dunes Preserve. The beaches have been a local family attraction for decades. Swimming is allowed only in specific areas. The park also provides a dog beach which is located south of the main public beach area. Depending on weather conditions, the park's beaches may be temporarily closed in order to maintain the safety of the park's visitors. Gilson Park also hosts a public theater, the Wallace Bowl, which provides a variety of performances throughout the summer. Tennis courts are open from sunrise to after sunset, and there is space for people to play beach volleyball and soccer. Gillson Park also has a marina (Wilmette Harbor) and built-in grills for barbecuing located throughout the park.

Centennial Park
Wilmette's Centennial Park contains a public swimming pool, tennis and indoor ice-skating facilities. The park's ice-skating center (Centennial Ice Center) is a member of the United States Figure Skating Association and the Ice Skating Institute (ISI). The Ice Center is home to ISI class programs instructing over 3,000 skaters a year and ISI hockey classes instructing over 500 skaters a year. It is used by the Wilmette Hockey Association, Wilmette Tribe Hockey Club, New Trier High School Hockey Club, Loyola Academy Hockey Club, and Loyola University Hockey Club, the Wilmette Cougars Women's Hockey Club, Tom McDaniels Adult Hockey Hockey North America Adult Hockey, the Loyola Academy Thanksgiving High School Hockey Invitational Tournament, and a "Mid-Summer Classic" ISI Competition. The Wilmette Tennis Club features eight indoor tennis courts at Centennial Park.

Curling
The 1972 United States Men's Curling Championship was held in Wilmette. The event served as a qualifier to decide which team would represent United States the 1972 World Curling Championships.

The Wilmette Curling Club won the 1985 United States Men's Curling Championship. The club represented the United States at the 1985 men's World Curling Championships where they ultimately tied with Denmark to place 3rd overall.

Golf
The village is home to Wilmette Golf Course, designed by Joe Roseman, which is open to the public. The golf course is a facility of the Wilmette Park District. The village is also home to a private golf course at Westmoreland Country Club, established in 1911. The Canal Shores Golf Course straddles the border of Wilmette and Evanston.

Sister cities
Wilmette's sister city in Australia is Mona Vale in Northern Beaches, New South Wales and in Japan is Neyagawa in Osaka Prefecture. The high schools in Wilmette and Mona Vale participate in an annual student exchange program and the two communities are also spiritually connected, since each is home to a continental Bahá'í House of Worship.

title: Wilmette, Illinois


text:
Winnetka, Illinois

Winnetka is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located 16 mi north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,475 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was the second-ranked Illinois community on Bloomberg's 2019 Richest Places Annual Index.

History
The first houses were built in 1836. That year, Erastus Patterson and his family arrived from Vermont and opened a tavern to service passengers on the Green Bay Trail post road. The village was first subdivided in 1854 by Charles Peck and Walter S. Gurnee, President of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. Winnetka's first private school was opened in 1856 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Peck with seventeen pupils. In 1859, the first public school building was built with private funds at the southeast corner of Elm and Maple streets. The first year's budget for this school was $200. The village was incorporated in 1869 with a population of 450. The name is believed to originate from the Potawatomi language, meaning 'beautiful place'. The oldest surviving house in Winnetka is the Schmidt-Burnham Log House. Originally constructed on what is now the Indian Hill Club on the south edge of town and in 1917 moved to Tower Road, it was moved in 2003 from Tower Road to the Crow Island Woods. Winnetka's neighborhoods include estates and homes designed by distinguished architects including George Washington Maher, Walter Burley Griffin, John S. Van Bergen, Robert Seyfarth, Robert McNitt, Howard Van Doren Shaw and David Adler. Among Winnetka's celebrities are actor Rock Hudson and rock singer/songwriter/producer Richard Marx.

Churches in Winnetka were also designed by noted architects. Among them, the former First Church of Christ, Scientist, 440 Ridge Avenue, was designed in 1924 by architect Solon S. Beman.

In the 1920s, a colonial Georgian house was built at 671 Lincoln Avenue. The house is now known as the famous Home Alone house for its exterior being used as a shooting location for two films in the series, starting in 1990. The Chicago and Milwaukee Railway was built in 1855 through Winnetka, connecting its namesake cities. It eventually became the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. Between 1937 and 1942 the railroad tracks through Winnetka were grade separated after several people were hit at grade crossings. In 1995 the C&NW was merged into the Union Pacific. Only Metra trains are operated on this track now; freight operations ended in the late 1980s. Winnetka has three Metra stations: Hubbard Woods, Winnetka, and Indian Hill. The Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee electric interurban was built through Winnetka and the North Shore in the first decade of the 1900s, and the line through Winnetka was removed in 1955. This is now the Green Bay Trail bicycle path.

In 1904, the Winnetka Park District was established, making it the fourth oldest park district in the state of Illinois. Today, the park district maintains and operates 27 parks, five beaches, and golf, tennis, ice skating/hockey, and paddle tennis facilities. The Crow Island School, designed by Eliel & Eero Saarinen and the architectural firm Perkins, Wheeler & Will, was declared a National Historical Landmark in 1990. It was declared 12th among all buildings and the best architectural design of all schools. Ten thousand people attended the opening in 1938.

In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Winnetka. A plaque dedicated to him is on the Village Green, a park in the town, where he spoke. As a result of Dr. King's open housing campaign and the North Shore Summer Project, the nonprofit now known as Open Communities was founded.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Winnetka has a total area of 3.893 sqmi, of which 3.81 sqmi (or 97.87%) is land and 0.083 sqmi (or 2.13%) is water.

Northern boundary
Winnetka's northern border with Glencoe cuts through 58 homes, causing homeowners to have to pay taxes to, and seek permits from both villages. The two villages began discussing a solution during the 1920s, reaching a tentative agreement in 2007 in which each homeowner could choose a village from which to receive services while the boundary officially remained unchanged. Initially, 46 homeowners chose Winnetka, but the others had the option to choose a village later. The boundary was later updated to reflect these choices.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 12,744 people, 4,204 households, and 3,461 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,275.25 PD/sqmi. There were 4,459 housing units at an average density of 1,145.98 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 89.17% White, 0.25% African American, 0.04% Native American, 3.52% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.71% from other races, and 6.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.01% of the population.

There were 4,204 households, out of which 42.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 77.88% were married couples living together, 3.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.67% were non-families. 16.34% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.44% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.31 and the average family size was 2.94.

The village's age distribution consisted of 32.4% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 16.5% from 25 to 44, 30.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.

The median income for a household in the village was in excess of $250,000, as was the median income for a family. Males had a median income of $200,944 versus $66,726 for females. The per capita income for the village was $134,596. About 1.7% of families and 2.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 1.3% of those age 65 or over.

Public schools
The Winnetka Public Schools system (District 36) consists of three elementary schools and two middle schools. Hubbard Woods (est. 1915 ), Crow Island (est. 1940), and Samuel Sewall Greeley (est. 1912) Elementary Schools serve grades kindergarten through four, students in fifth and sixth grades attend the Skokie School (opened 1922 ) and seventh and eighth graders attend the Carleton W. Washburne School (est. 1969 ), named after educator Carleton Washburne. Winnetka's schools were modeled after Washburne's educational philosophy in an experiment called the Winnetka Plan. The town's schools continue to reflect his educational philosophy. Crow Island is a National Historic Landmark due to its significant architectural design.

Some neighborhoods in the southern part of Winnetka are served by Avoca School District 37, which has schools in Glenview (Avoca West Elementary School; K-5) and Wilmette (Marie Murphy School; 6–8). Kenilworth School District 38 (Sears School; K-8) also includes a very small portion of the southeastern part of Winnetka, near Kenilworth.

Winnetka is in New Trier Township, and public school students who reside in Winnetka attend New Trier High School for grades 9 through 12.

Private schools

 * Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, est. 1920
 * La Petite École de Chicago, Winnetka Campus (Preschool–9), bilingual school, est. 2020
 * North Shore Country Day School (JK–12), est. 1919
 * Sacred Heart School (Preschool–8), Catholic school, est. 1902
 * The School of Saints Faith, Hope & Charity (Preschool–8), Catholic school, est. 1939

Media
Media outlets covering Winnetka include the Winnetka-Glencoe Patch, the Chicago Tribune TribLocal, the Pioneer Press, Winnetka Talk, and The Winnetka Current.

Transportation
Metra serves three stations in Winnetka. All provide commuter rail service along the Union Pacific North Line. Trains travel south to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, and north to Kenosha station. In the downtown area is The Winnetka station. Indian Hill is on the south end of the village and Hubbard Woods is at the north end.

Besides Metra, Pace Suburban Bus serves the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Winnetka has Pace Route 213 on Green Bay Road originating from Chicago Howard CTA Station, branching to Northbrook Court Mall, and the Highland Park, Illinois Metra Station. Pace also has route 423 from CTA's Linden Station in Wilmette branching to The Glen Town Center in Glenview, Illinois', then ending at Chicago's CTA Harlem Station. Pace route 423 enters Winnetka from Northfield on Willow Road, turning on to Hibbard Road, Elm Street, then Green Bay Road to Linden Station.

Notable people

 * Ivan Albright, painter, sculptor and print-maker; attended New Trier High School
 * Trish Andrew, basketball player, attended New Trier High School
 * Ann-Margret, actress, attended New Trier High School
 * Adam Baldwin, actor, attended New Trier High School
 * Peter Baldwin, director
 * Page Morton Black, singer, chairperson of Parkinson's Disease Foundation
 * David Bradley, director, born in Winnetka
 * Ann Hampton Callaway, singer, lived in Winnetka and attended New Trier High School
 * Liz Callaway, singer, lived in Winnetka and attended New Trier High School
 * Katie Chang, actress, lives in Winnetka and attended New Trier High School.
 * Anne Clarke, American-born British Labour Party politician, London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden; grew up in Winnetka.
 * Dale Clevenger, principal horn, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
 * Chris Collins, basketball coach, lives in Winnetka
 * Richard Dickson Cudahy, jurist, lived in Winnetka
 * Jay Cutler, NFL quarterback, lived in Winnetka
 * Bruce Dern, actor, attended New Trier High School
 * Phil Donahue, talk show host, lived in Winnetka
 * Conor Dwyer, Olympic swimmer, 2012 gold medalist
 * Christine Ebersole, Tony Award-winning actress
 * Neal Edelstein, film producer and director, raised in Winnetka
 * Deborah Eisenberg, short-story writer, winner of MacArthur Fellowship
 * Gil Elvgren, painter
 * Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of JPMorgan Chase's Asset & Wealth Management division, raised in Winnetka
 * Katie Gavin, lead singer of Muna, graduated from New Trier High School
 * Marion Mahony Griffin (1871–1961), first architect employed by Frank Lloyd Wright; helped design Canberra, capital of Australia, grew up in Winnetka
 * Rick Hahn, general manager of Chicago White Sox
 * Carl L. Hamilton, named partner in the Booz Allen Hamilton management and information technology consulting firm
 * Charlton Heston, actor, lived in Winnetka and attended New Trier High School
 * Roger Hochschild, CEO and President of Discover Financial Services, lives in Winnetka
 * Rock Hudson, actor; born and raised in Winnetka and attended New Trier High School
 * Harold L. Ickes, former United States Secretary of the Interior, built home at 900 Private Road
 * Matt Kaskey, offensive tackle for the Carolina Panthers
 * Bruce Krasberg, industrialist and horticulturist, lived in Winnetka
 * Kate Liu, pianist, lives in Winnetka and attended New Trier High School
 * Georgia Lloyd (1913–1999), pacifist, writer
 * Henry Demarest Lloyd, activist for labor rights, woman suffrage, and against corporate corruption
 * Matt Lottich, basketball coach, Valparaiso
 * Virginia Madsen, actress, attended New Trier High School
 * Kim Milford, actor
 * Penelope Milford, actress
 * John Moore, defenseman playing in the NHL's Anaheim Ducks organization
 * Chris O'Donnell, actor (G. Callen on NCIS: Los Angeles)
 * Tom O'Halleran, member of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district. He lived in Winnetka while a member of the Chicago Board of Trade.
 * Samuel Shackford Otis, architect
 * Liz Phair, musician, grew up in Winnetka
 * Ralph Pomeroy, poet and writer
 * Eliot Porter, photographer, was born and grew up in Winnetka.
 * Fairfield Porter, painter and art critic, was born and grew up in Winnetka.
 * Janet Meakin Poor, landscape architect and plant conservationist
 * Clarence B. Randall, businessman
 * Bruce Rauner, former Governor of Illinois, former chairman of R8 Capital Partners
 * Pat Ryan, founder and executive chairman of Aon Corporation
 * Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense, attended New Trier High School
 * Jenny Sanford, former First Lady of South Carolina
 * Jack Steinberger, refugee from Nazi Germany, attended New Trier High School, won 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics, gave Nobel medal to school
 * W. Clement Stone, businessman and philanthropist
 * Walter A. Strong, publisher of Chicago Daily News,
 * R. Douglas Stuart Jr., CEO of Quaker Oats and U.S. ambassador to Norway, born in Winnetka
 * Marlo Thomas, actress, lived in Winnetka
 * Paul Thomas, pornographic actor
 * Henry Totten, Wisconsin State Assemblyman and businessman, lived in Winnetka
 * Marc Trestman, former head coach of Chicago Bears, lived in Winnetka
 * Joe Trohman, guitarist of Fall Out Boy, attended New Trier High School
 * Byron Trott, banker
 * Barbara Turf, former president and CEO of Crate & Barrel
 * Bernice T. Van der Vries, state legislator, lived in Winnetka
 * Rocky Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, attended North Shore Country Day School, lives in Winnetka
 * Ying Quartet, originally consisting of four siblings from Winnetka; as of 2017, three siblings remain members of the ensemble

In popular culture
"Big Noise from Winnetka," a 1938 jazz song by The Bobcats, has been featured in a number of Hollywood movies, including Let's Make Music and Reveille with Beverly.

Winnetka was mentioned in the novel Havana by Stephen Hunter. Secondary character Roger St. John Evans was mentioned as "The Big Noise From Winnetka".

Film
The film Home Alone is set in Winnetka, and featured scenes filmed at 671 Lincoln Avenue. The street address is mentioned in the film, but the street is called "Lincoln Boulevard". The opening scenes of the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York were filmed at the same house. Over three decades after the original film's 1990 release, sightseers still visit the North Shore neighborhood, particularly around the Christmas holiday season.

Numerous other films have been shot in Winnetka, including portions of films Ocean's 12, Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's Vacation, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Risky Business, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, She's Having a Baby and Uncle Buck. The film Contagion was filmed in the area in the spring of 2011. Holidate, a 2020 Netflix romantic comedy starring Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey, is set in Winnetka.

Television
A popular TV series, Sisters (1991–1996), was set primarily in Winnetka, but was not filmed there, except for some exterior establishing shots. This was also true of its erstwhile summer replacement series, Winnetka Road.

The characters on the TV series The League reside in Winnetka.

The TV series I Didn't Do It is set in Winnetka. The characters attend the fictional Ditka High School.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Winnetka, Illinois


text:
Woodridge, Illinois

Woodridge is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, with small portions in Will and Cook counties, and a southwestern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 34,158.

The village is just north of the I-55 junction with IL-53. Woodridge was incorporated on August 24, 1959, with less than 500 residents. It is named for its location in a wooded area above a steep hillside, locally known as "The Ridge," which overlooks the DuPage River's East Branch and the Des Plaines Valley.

Woodridge is a young community with the vast majority of its homes, businesses, and churches constructed after the 1950s. Woodridge was founded by a housing developer, Albert Kaufman, who was largely responsible for the creation of the village.

In July 2007, Woodridge was ranked No. 61 on Money magazine's "100 Best Places to Live". It uses the 630 and 331 area codes. Woodridge is the home of the Home Run Inn pizzeria chain and was the home of Pabst Brewing Company from 2006 to 2011.

Geography
Woodridge is located at 41.74444°N, -88.04389°W (41.744582, −88.043869).

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Woodridge has a total area of 9.79 sqmi, of which 9.63 sqmi (or 98.37%) is land and 0.16 sqmi (or 1.63%) is water.

Woodridge is bordered by Naperville to the west, Downers Grove to the northeast, Darien to the east,  Lemont to the south, Bolingbrook to the southwest, and  Lisle to the northwest.

Transportation
Two interstates run through Woodridge: the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355) and the Stevenson Expressway (I-55). The Veterans Memorial Tollway allows access to a variety of western and northwestern Chicago suburbs, while I-55 gives direct access to Chicago to the north and Joliet and downstate Illinois to the south. Other important routes are 75th Street and Illinois Route 53.

An industrial spur for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad serves International Center, a large industrial area in the far south section. Commuter passenger rail service between Chicago and Aurora can be accessed in nearby Lisle or Downers Grove.

Bus service is provided by Pace, under the coordination of the Regional Transportation Authority.

Major highways
Major highways in Woodridge include:

Interstate Highways
Interstate 55

Interstate 355

US Highways
Historic US 66

Illinois Highways
Route 53

Government
The village's government is overseen by the Mayor and a board of trustees elected at large. the mayor is Gina Cunningham-Picek. The Village Clerk is Joseph Heneghan and the Village Trustees are Jennifer Anteliz, Mary Anne Blair, Joseph Kagann, Mike Krucek, Magin "Mike" Martinez, and Kaleshia "Kay" Page. Village departments include Finance, Administration, Police, Finance, Community Development, and Public Works.

The Police Department is a full-service force of 51 officers, a records department and a resource center. The Woodridge Police Department contracts with DuPage Public Safety Communications to provide dispatch services. Woodridge was one of the first communities nationwide to adopt aggressive legislation against underage tobacco use, and the Woodridge Police Department was one of the first to conduct regular "sting" operations using young teens hired by the department to check compliance for tobacco and alcohol sales.

The Building and Zoning department monitors construction permits, land use, up keep, and other considerations.

Public Works is responsible for the streets and other village infrastructure, including the water supply. Woodridge receives its water from Lake Michigan.

The Village Hall is located in Town Center at Five Plaza Drive. Town Center also includes the Public Works building (One Plaza Drive), the Woodridge Public Library (Three Plaza Drive), and the United States post office (Two Plaza Drive). The Woodridge Police Department is located down the road at 7215 Janes Avenue.

Woodridge lies within three fire protection districts, the boundaries of which were drawn before the incorporation of the village. As a result, Woodridge does not maintain a village fire department. The fire departments serving the residents are the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, the Darien-Woodridge Fire District, and the Lemont Fire District. Lisle-Woodridge is top rated as "ISO 1" by the Insurance Services Office.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 34,158 people, 13,023 households, and 8,762 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,488.71 PD/sqmi. There were 14,068 housing units at an average density of 1,436.83 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 60.85% White, 10.04% African American, 0.47% Native American, 13.30% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 6.61% from other races, and 8.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.80% of the population.

There were 13,023 households, out of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.98% were married couples living together, 11.09% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.72% were non-families. 26.74% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.55% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.18 and the average family size was 2.56.

The village's age distribution consisted of 22.7% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 27.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.0 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $88,803, and the median income for a family was $104,957. Males had a median income of $52,368 versus $41,125 for females. The per capita income for the village was $43,098. About 2.3% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.0% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over.

Climate and environment
Woodridge is in a humid continental climate zone. On average, July is the warmest month, and January is the coldest month. August typically has the most precipitation, and February the least. The record high for Woodridge was 105 °F (40.56 °C) in July 2005, and the record low of −26 °F (−32 °C) was set in January 1985.

Woodridge has been named a "Tree City" by the Arbor Day Foundation for the past 16 years, and a study undertaken in 1996 indicated that village has over 8,000 publicly owned trees.

On June 20, 2021, just after 11pm local time, Woodridge was struck by an EF-3 tornado. The storm damaged 225 homes in Woodridge and adjoining suburbs. The tornado also damaged the rectory of Saint Scholastica Church and demolished the rectory's garage. There were no fatalities and eight people were sent to area hospitals.

Education
The Village of Woodridge School District 68 maintains six elementary schools, Edgewood, Willow Creek, Sipley, William F. Murphy (named after Mayor Murphy), Meadowview, and Goodrich, (serving grades K-6) and one junior high, Jefferson Junior High School, (for grades 7 and 8). Woodridge does not have its own high school. The majority of Woodridge secondary school students attend Downers Grove North or South High Schools in the recently renamed Community High School District 99. Some students in southern Woodridge are served by Lemont District 210 and attend Lemont High School. Additionally, Woodridge students who reside west of the DuPage River (Seven Bridges Single-Family Residences) attend Naperville schools in District 203. Some students also attend the nearby parochial schools St. Scholastica (K-8), St. Joan of Arc (PK-8) and Benet Academy (9–12) and Montini Catholic

Nearby higher education opportunities are Benedictine University (Lisle), North Central College (Naperville), Lewis University (Romeoville), College of DuPage (Glen Ellyn), Joliet Junior College (Romeoville and Joliet) and University of St. Francis (Joliet).

Recreation
The Woodridge Park District maintains a well distributed group of local parks and open spaces, offering facilities for picnicking as well as sports like baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer, cricket and newly added for 2008, Frisbee golf. The Park District also maintains Cypress Cove water park and the Athletic Recreation Center which opened in January 2017.

A skate park was added in to Janes Avenue Park. It allows for skateboarders, BMX riders, and inline skaters to skate at their own risk. There is no daily entrance fee. The skate park is open from 10:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. The park does have lights.

A series of bike paths built by the park district allow cyclists to ride through the town on paved, dedicated paths.

Golf is another popular recreational activity. Village Greens of Woodridge is a Village-owned, 18-hole golf course; Seven Bridges is another Woodridge owned (but not members-only) championship class course. Zigfield Troy is a 9-hole, par 3 course.

Woodridge is home to two multi-screen movie theaters, most notably the Cinemark Seven Bridges (which features an IMAX screen) and Hollywood Boulevard, as well as dining options ranging from fast food to formal banquets.

Woodridge is also located near the renowned Morton Arboretum.

Notable people

 * Thax Douglas, poet
 * Frank Kaminsky, NBA player for the Phoenix Suns
 * Nick Solak, MLB player for the Atlanta Braves
 * James "Turk" Torello, American mobster, caporegime and enforcer for Chicago Outfit
 * Doug Walker, film critic, Internet personality

title: Woodridge, Illinois


text:
Worth, Illinois

Worth is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 10,970.

Geography
Worth is located at 41.68889°N, -87.79278°W (41.688827, -87.792659).

According to the 2010 census, Worth has a total area of 2.383 sqmi, of which 2.37 sqmi (or 99.45%) is land and 0.013 sqmi (or 0.55%) is water.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 10,970 people, 4,042 households, and 2,670 families residing in the village. The population density was 4,605.37 PD/sqmi. There were 4,611 housing units at an average density of 1,935.77 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 77.38% White, 4.42% African American, 0.36% Native American, 2.24% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 7.07% from other races, and 8.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.57% of the population.

There were 4,042 households, out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.43% were married couples living together, 14.65% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.94% were non-families. 27.41% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.51% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.27 and the average family size was 2.60.

The village's age distribution consisted of 22.0% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 27.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $59,464, and the median income for a family was $68,936. Males had a median income of $43,617 versus $29,739 for females. The per capita income for the village was $28,284. About 10.6% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.2% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.

Village government
The Village of Worth operates under a President-Trustee form of Government with a Village President (Mayor) and a Village Board composed of six Village Trustees (Councilmen / Aldermen) elected at large.

The elected officials are:

 * President Mary Werner (Independent) - Current term expires in April 2025
 * Clerk Bonnie M. Price (Independent) - Current term expires in April 2025
 * Trustee Rich Dziedzic (Independent), - Current term expires in April 2025
 * Trustee Pete Kats (Independent), - Current term expires in April 2023
 * Trustee Tedd Muersch, Jr. (Independent), - Current term expires in April 2025
 * Trustee Laura Packwood (Independent), - Current term expires in April 2023
 * Trustee Kevin Ryan (Independent), - Current term expires in April 2023
 * Trustee Brad Urban (Independent), - Current term expires in April 2025

All six trustees are elected at large with three being elected at the same time as the President and three being elected two years later.

The Village of Worth has separately elected boards, independent of the Village to administer:

 * Worth Park District
 * Worth Public Library District
 * Worth School District 127

State and federal government
Worth is located in Illinois's 6th congressional district which is represented by Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove).

Worth is located within 18th State Senate District, which is represented by William Cunningham (D-Chicago); and located in the 35th Representative District, which is represented by Fran Hurley (D-Chicago), and the 36th Representative District, which is represented by Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park).

Township and county government
The village of Worth is located in the 6th and 17th County Board Districts. Worth is in two townships - east of Harlem Avenue is Worth Township, and west of Harlem Avenue is Palos Township.

Infrastructure
The North Palos Fire Protection District operates Station #3 in Worth.

Education
Worth is served by several public school districts. Worth School District 127 operates public elementary and middle schools.

Some residents are zoned to Alan B. Shepard High School of Community High School District 218 and others are zoned to Amos Alonzo Stagg High School of Consolidated High School District 230.

Moraine Valley Community College is the area community college.

Worth Public Library District operates public libraries.

Transportation
Worth has a station on Metra's SouthWest Service, which provides daily rail service between Manhattan, Illinois and Chicago Union Station. Additionally, the Palos Heights station serves the southwest side of the village. Pace provides bus service on multiple routes connecting Worth to destinations across the Southland.

title: Worth, Illinois


text:
Flat Rock, Illinois

Flat Rock is a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 323 at the 2020 census.

History
Flat Rock was established in 1876 by John W. Jones, a merchant who would operate the first general store in the village.

Geography
Flat Rock is located in southern Crawford County. Illinois State Route 1 passes just west of the village, leading north 34 mi to Marshall and south 12 mi to Lawrenceville. Robinson, the Crawford County seat, is 10 mi northwest of Flat Rock via IL 1 and Illinois State Route 33.

According to the 2010 census, Flat Rock has a total area of 0.86 sqmi, all land.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 323 people, 204 households, and 133 families residing in the village. The population density was 377.34 PD/sqmi. There were 148 housing units at an average density of 172.90 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 92.26% White, 0.93% African American, 0.31% Asian, 0.93% from other races, and 5.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.31% of the population.

There were 204 households, out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.35% were married couples living together, 6.37% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.80% were non-families. 33.82% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.27% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 2.27.

The village's age distribution consisted of 20.5% under the age of 18, 13.8% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 78.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.2 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $41,071, and the median income for a family was $45,156. Males had a median income of $41,845 versus $24,531 for females. The per capita income for the village was $22,659. About 17.3% of families and 15.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.7% of those under age 18 and 14.9% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 * Sammy L. Davis (born 1946), soldier of the United States Army awarded the Medal of Honor for heroic conduct during the Vietnam War. He resided in Flat Rock during the 1990s.
 * George A. Taylor (1899—1969), officer of the United States Army who served as commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment during the Normandy landings.

title: Flat Rock, Illinois


text:
Hutsonville, Illinois

Hutsonville is a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 478 at the 2020 census.

Geography
Hutsonville is located in northeastern Crawford County along the Wabash River. Its eastern border is formed by the river, which is also the Indiana state line. The main east-west street through the village is Clover Street, which crosses the river to become Indiana State Road 154, which leads east 15 mi to Sullivan, Indiana. Clover Street leads west 1.5 mi to Illinois Route 1, which runs north 20 mi to Marshall and south 26 mi to Lawrenceville. Hutsonville's Main Street leads south as County Route 5, 8 mi to Palestine.

According to the 2010 census, Hutsonville has a total area of 0.62 sqmi, all land.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 478 people, 255 households, and 136 families residing in the village. The population density was 768.49 PD/sqmi. There were 221 housing units at an average density of 355.31 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 94.14% White, 1.26% African American, 0.42% Native American, 0.63% Asian, 0.84% from other races, and 2.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.35% of the population.

There were 255 households, out of which 20.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.06% were married couples living together, 2.35% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.67% were non-families. 27.45% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.41% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 2.09.

The village's age distribution consisted of 16.0% under the age of 18, 14.3% from 18 to 24, 23.6% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 121.9 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $46,875, and the median income for a family was $75,833. Males had a median income of $22,000 versus $28,750 for females. The per capita income for the village was $23,468. About 15.4% of families and 24.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.6% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Hutsonville Power Station was a coal-fired power plant located north of Hutsonville. Electricity was generated at the power plant until its closure in 2011.

title: Hutsonville, Illinois


text:
Oblong, Illinois

Oblong is a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,466 at the 2010 census, and then was later recorded to be 1,371 in the 2020 census.

History
Oblong was incorporated in 1883. The original town site was on a naturally occurring oblongular prairie, hence the name. The crossroads at the town site was the location of a general store owned by Henry Peck. The prominent sign "Hen. Peck" gave rise to the village's original moniker, Henpeck.

Geography
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Oblong has a total area of 1.09 sqmi, of which 1.09 sqmi (or 99.36%) is land and 0.01 sqmi (or 0.64%) is water.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 1,371 people, 766 households, and 433 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,254.35 PD/sqmi. There were 663 housing units at an average density of 606.59 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 95.62% White, 0.66% African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 3.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.09% of the population.

There were 766 households, out of which 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.60% were married couples living together, 10.84% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.47% were non-families. 30.81% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.01% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 1.90.

The village's age distribution consisted of 20.8% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 19.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.3 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $47,560, and the median income for a family was $49,279. Males had a median income of $33,208 versus $14,938 for females. The per capita income for the village was $21,621. About 10.2% of families and 20.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.7% of those under age 18 and 12.4% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture
It is the home of the Illinois Oil Field Museum and Resource Center, a collection of early oilfield artifacts from the early days of the oil industry in the Illinois Basin and a resource center featuring a collection of early oil field records and resource books.

Education
Oblong has one public four year high school and one public grade school.

title: Oblong, Illinois


text:
Palestine, Illinois

Palestine is a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,233 at the 2020 Census.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Palestine has a total area of 0.79 sqmi, all land.

History
It is said that French explorer Jean Lamotte first gazed upon this region in 1678. He gave it the name Palestine, as it reminded him of Palestine.

Palestine was chartered in 1811, while the area still belonged to Virginia, and is one of the oldest towns in the State of Illinois. It was named the seat of Crawford County in 1818. Elections in 1843 moved the county seat to a new site, which would become the town of Robinson. It was officially incorporated as an Illinois town in 1855.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 1,233 people, 578 households, and 347 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,562.74 PD/sqmi. There were 654 housing units at an average density of 828.90 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 94.97% White, 1.22% Asian, 0.41% from other races, and 3.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.81% of the population.

There were 578 households, out of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.75% were married couples living together, 18.86% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.97% were non-families. 36.68% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.05% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.08.

The village's age distribution consisted of 23.4% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 17.7% from 25 to 44, 27% from 45 to 64, and 26.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 72.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 65.3 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $41,700, and the median income for a family was $49,732. Males had a median income of $41,458 versus $30,833 for females. The per capita income for the village was $24,531. About 8.4% of families and 12.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.4% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 * Fred Dubois, politician who served two terms in the United States Senate from Idaho.
 * Augustus C. French, 9th Governor of Illinois
 * Herschel S. Green, Illinois politician and lawyer
 * Madge Miller Green, Illinois politician and educator
 * Wickliffe Kitchell, Illinois politician and lawyer

title: Palestine, Illinois


text:
Robinson, Illinois

Robinson is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,150 at the 2020 census, down from 7,713 at the 2010 census.

Geography
Robinson is in the center of Crawford County at 39.00611°N, -87.73889°W. Illinois Route 33 passes through the center of the city as Main Street, leading east 7 mi to Palestine near the Indiana border and west 24 mi to Newton.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Robinson has a total area of 4.76 sqmi, of which 4.70 sqmi (or 98.72%) is land and 0.06 sqmi (or 1.28%) is water.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Robinson has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Robinson was 108 F on July 22, 1901, while the coldest temperature recorded was -20 F on February 9, 1899.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 7,150 people, 2,611 households, and 1,605 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,502.10 PD/sqmi. There were 3,222 housing units at an average density of 676.89 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 83.83% White, 7.83% African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.62% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 3.09% from other races, and 4.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.80% of the population.

There were 2,611 households, out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.70% were married couples living together, 14.44% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.53% were non-families. 33.55% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.92% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.00.

The city's age distribution consisted of 14.8% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 34.5% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 162.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 169.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $45,137, and the median income for a family was $61,625. Males had a median income of $42,642 versus $25,938 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,646. About 12.6% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.1% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.

Major employers in the town include a refinery owned by Marathon Petroleum Company and a chocolate factory for the Heath bar, first made in 1914, now distributed by The Hershey Company.

Notable people

 * Lisa Brown (born 1956), member of the Washington State Legislature from 1993 to 2013.
 * Robert Brubaker, actor (Gunsmoke)
 * Calli Cox, adult film actress
 * Caswell J. Crebs, Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court
 * Joseph B. Crowley, U.S. congressman
 * Perry Graves, 1914 first-team All-American football player for the University of Illinois and Big Ten official
 * James Jones, author (From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, Some Came Running)
 * Meyers Leonard, former basketball center for the Miami Heat
 * Skip Martin, musician and arranger
 * Frankie Masters, band leader
 * Robert S. Wiseman, war technology researcher and innovator of night vision

Media

 * Robinson Daily News

Schools
The following schools are operated by Robinson Community Unit School District 2:
 * Robinson High School - grades 9-12
 * Nuttall Middle School - grades 6-8
 * Lincoln Grade School - grades 3-5
 * Washington Elementary School - grades PreK-2

title: Robinson, Illinois


text:
Stoy, Illinois

Stoy is a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 108 at the 2020 census.

Geography
Illinois Route 33 runs along the northern border of the village, leading east 5 mi to Robinson, the county seat, and west 4 mi to Oblong.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Stoy has a total area of 0.93 sqmi, all land.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 108 people, 65 households, and 55 families residing in the village. The population density was 115.88 PD/sqmi. There were 49 housing units at an average density of 52.58 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 96.30% White and 3.70% from two or more races. None of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 65 households, out of which 53.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.92% were married couples living together, none had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.38% were non-families. 15.38% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.62% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.25.

The village's age distribution consisted of 19.9% under the age of 18, 19.2% from 18 to 24, 16.4% from 25 to 44, 35.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 156.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 129.4 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $75,208, and the median income for a family was $65,764. Males had a median income of $35,096 versus $25,833 for females. The per capita income for the village was $27,947. No families and 1.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

title: Stoy, Illinois