Winnetka, Illinois

Elder Beach in Winnetka, Illinois

Winnetka, Illinois
County:	Cook
Township:	New Trier
Incorporated:	Village, 1869
President:	Jessica Tucker
ZIP code(s):	60093
Area code(s):	847 and 224
Population (2000):	12,419
Change from 1990:	up 10.66%
Density:	3,242.7/mi² (1,252.0/km²)
Area:	3.9 mi² (10.2 km²)
Per capita income:	$92,956 (median: $277,371 per household)
Home value:	$1,397,240 (2008, Coldwell Banker) (median: $1,532,440 (2008, Coldwell Banker))
Website:	www.villageofwinnetka.org
Demographics (2000) White Black Hispanic Asian 96.29% 0.2% 1.3% 2.4% Islander Native Other 0.0% 0.0% 0.3%

Winnetka is an affluent North Shore village located approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Winnetka was featured on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2011. The area is known as one of the most exclusive and wealthy suburbs in the nation.

Geography

Winnetka is located at 42°6′22″N 87°44′16″W (42.106227, -87.73801).. Winnetka is located 198 m (650 ft) above sea level and has a magnetic declination of 3° 10' W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.9 square miles (10 km²), of which 3.8 square miles (9.8 km²) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) (2.30%) is water.

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 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 south-east corner of Elm and Maple Streets. The first years' budget for this school was two hundred dollars. The town was incorporated in 1869 with a population of 450.

The oldest surviving house in Winnetka is the Schmidt-Burnham House. It was relocated in the 2003 from its previous location on 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.

The Chicago and Milwaukee Railway was built in 1855 through Winnetka, connecting its namesake cities, this eventually became the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company. 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.

During the Great Depression both the C&NW and the C&NSM lines were rebuilt into a grade separated right of way mostly below street level to prevent crossing accidents.

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. 10,000 people attended the opening in 1938.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,419 people, 4,162 households, and 3,433 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,242.7 people per square mile (1,252.0/km²). There were 4,310 housing units at an average density of 1,125.4 per square mile (434.5/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.29% White, 0.25% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 4,162 households out of which 47.2% had children under the age of 18, and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.35.

In the village the population was spread out with 34.6% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 21.5% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $167,458, and the median income for a family was $200,000+. The 2008 CNN Money Top 25 Highest Earning Towns rankings failed to mention Winnetka due to an increase in the minimum population requirements.

Notable events

• 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.
• Site of the Hubbard Woods Elementary School shooting by Laurie Dann
• 1938 song named "Big Noise from Winnetka".
• In 2007, Winnetka was ranked by CNN Money as having the 4th highest median household income in the country.
• Winnetka was named number 4 on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2009.

In film

• The bulk of the movie Home Alone and the beginning of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York are both filmed in Winnetka at 671 Lincoln Avenue, home to the starring character Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin). However, in the movie, the street was named "Lincoln Boulevard."
• Numerous movies were filmed 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.
• A popular TV series, Sisters (1991–1996), was set primarily in Winnetka.
• The movie Contagion was filmed in this area, in the spring of 2011.

Schools

The Winnetka Public Schools system (District 36) consists of three elementary schools and two middle schools. Hubbard Woods, Crow Island, and Samuel Sewall Greeley (est. 1912) Elementary Schools serve grades kindergarten through four, students in fifth and sixth grades attend Skokie Middle School and seventh and eighth graders attend Washburne Middle School, 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.

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

• Faith, Hope & Charity School, (JK-8) Catholic school
• Sacred Heart School, (JK-8) Catholic school
• North Shore Country Day School, a private K-12 academy
• Hadley School for the Blind

Notable residents

See also: Category:People from Winnetka, Illinois

• Adam Baldwin, actor.
• Peter Baldwin, director.
• Todd Carey, singer-songwriter and musician Evan Amos (17 July 2011). "Todd Carey interview". http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Evan-Amos/Interviews/ToddCarey. Retrieved 10 August 2011. 
• Dale Clevenger, principal horn Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
• Deborah Eisenberg, Short-story writer, winner of MacArthur Fellowship.
• Rock Hudson, actor who was born in Winnetka in 1925.
• Brendan Leonard, filmmaker best known for his hit series on ABC Family, The Brendan Leonard Show.
• John Moore (ice hockey)
• Chris O'Donnell, actor, known for portraying G. Callen on NCIS: Los Angeles
• Liz Phair, musician.
• Ralph Pomeroy, poet and writer.
• Pat Ryan, founder and executive chairman of Aon Corporation.
• Donald Rumsfeld, American politician and businessman.
• Jenny Sanford, former First Lady of South Carolina.

Local Media

Media outlets covering Winnetka include Winnetka-Glencoe Patch, TribLocal, Pioneer Press, Winnetka Talk, and 22nd Century Media.

External links

• Winnetka Public School District
• U.S. Census data on Winnetka
• Village of Winnetka
• Winnetka Historical Society
• Winnetka Historical Society: History of Buildings

Further reading

• Dickinson, Lora Townsend. The Story of Winnetka. Winnetka: Winnetka Historical Society, 1956. Print.