Wilmette, IL, a suburb of Chicago is located 14 miles north of downtown Chicago on the western shores of Lake Michigan. Ranked as the best place to live in Illinois in 2015 by HomeSnacks, this North Shore has had Tree City U.S.A. status since 1983. Like much of Chicagoland, Native Americans were the first inhabitants of the area that is now Wilmette. It was then farmed by French explorers and German immigrants. The village is names after early settlers Archange and Antoine Ouilmette when it was incorporated in 1872. The train line that operates in Wilmette today dates from 1910. The Edens Expressway opening in 1951 changed Wilmette from farmland to an urban center close to a major U.S. city.
Wilmette collaborates with a sister city in Australia, Mona Vale, a suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales. Both sister cities have one of the seven Baha’i Houses of Worship in the world. Mona Vale and Wilmette’s public high school, New Trier, hold an annual student exchange program.
The North Shore village is full of art, beautiful unique architecture, cultural activities, fine dining, and an exciting fine dining scene less than an hour from ore of the same in downtown Chicago.
Wilmette is an ethnically diverse place with residents belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The majority identify as White, followed by Asian, with ancestries including Irish, German, Italian, English, Polish and Russian.
Wilmette has a total population of around 27,087 in about 6 square miles. There are just over 10,000 households, with the majority being owner occupied and about 1,300 renter occupied. The median resident age is 45, with the majority of residents over 25 years old. About 40 percent of households have children under 18 and 23 percent are non-families.
Over three quarters of Wilmette residents are college educated. The average household income in Wilmette is $268,356. About one quarter of the residents hold associate or bachelor degrees, and just over a quarter of them hold graduate degrees. Wilmette residents overwhelmingly work in computers and math and almost 12 percent of the workforce works from home. Wilmette also has a large percentage of artists.
Wilmette residents and visitors are never at a loss for cultural activities. There are art shows, concerts, theater, and dance studios. The village’s Fine Arts Commission sponsors art shows and concerts at various venues including the Wilmette Theatre, the Wilmette Children’s Theatre, the Adult Community Theater, the Wilmette Park District, the Wilmette Community Recreation Center, and local shops.
The Bahá'í House of Worship or Bahá'í Temple is located in Wilmette and houses the administrative offices for the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly. It’s the only surviving temple of its kind in the world and the only one in the U.S. It receives 300,000 visitors each year and was named one of the “Seven Wonders of Illinois” by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism. It’s a beautiful and unusual structure constructed of a mixture of concrete and quartz. It’s carved with intricate details and inscribed with symbols and religious writings. The temple is one of nine places in Wilmette that are on the National Register of Historic Places. Other religious architecture includes the Tudor Revival First Congregational Church, Neo-Gothic Trinity United Methodist Church, and Art Deco St. Joseph’s. There are other examples of famous architecture in Wilmette, including the Frank J. Baker house and the Lewis Burleigh House that were both built by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Festivals in Wilmette include Wilmette Summerfest and the NoSh Guide. People can also attend the nearby festivals of the Evanston Lakeshore Arts Festival, Skokie Festival of Cultures, and the Glenwood Avenue Arts Festival.
Restaurants and bars in Wilmette include Depot Nuevo Restaurant, Nick’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill, 153 Akira Japanese Restaurant, Windy City Pie Company, AO Sushi, Napolita Pizzeria & Wine Bar, Firefly, Akai Hana Japanese Restaurant, Covito Café and Market, Café Fleuette, Tsing Tao Mandarin Chinese, Rock House, The Bottle Shop, and Wilmette Wine Cellar.
Famous people who were born in or grew up in Wilmette include Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Christie Hefner (daughter of Playboy’s founder Hugh Hefner), actor Bill Murray, and Thomas Ricketts, owner of the Chicago Cubs.
Wilmette is a wealthy North Shore community with great schools and community cultural attractions. It’s half an hour from downtown Chicago by train or expressway. It’s a very stable, secure community known for its schools and culture. It was named one of ten “Best Places to Raise Your Kids” by BusinessWeek. There’s a French Market in the summer, the Wilmette Historical Museum that hosts walking tours, lectures, and workshops, and two Lake Michigan beaches, Gillson Beach and Langdon Beach. Wilmette has seven unique commercial districts with restaurants, retail and service businesses, and an antique row.
The median home value for a house in Wilmette is $620,900, $329 per square foot. Rentals run around $3,216.
A majority of Wilmette residents use private vehicles for transportation to work and about a third use available public transportation including Metra rail service, CTA bus service, and Pace bus service.
Some of the public schools in Wilmette are two school districts, Wilmette Public Schools District 39 and Avoca School District 37, and the high school, New Trier High School. Elementary and middle schools include Central School, Harper School, McKenzie School, Romona School, Wilmette Junior High, Avoca West, and Marie Murphy. Private schools in the area include Loyola Academy, Regina Dominican High School, Ronald Knox Montessori, Rose Hall Montessori, St. Joseph School, St. Francis Xavier School, and Baker Demonstration School.
Hospitals near Wilmette include Evanston Hospital, Presence Saint Francis Hospital, Northshore University Healthsystem, Glenbrook Hospital, and Swedish Covenant Hospital.
Wilmette is best known as a wealthy North Shore Chicago suburb with an exceptional quality of living. The community has an eclectic mix of dining, art, theatre, and architecture, with some buildings dating to the 1800s. With a reputation as an artist haven and plenty of arts events and festivals, Wilmette is a theater , creative place to live and grow up.
