Winnetka  is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located 16 miles (26 km) 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.

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 w ... Read more »

Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located 14 miles (23 km) 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.

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 ... Read more »

Wheeling is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it is primarily in Cook County, approximately 23 mi (37 km) northwest of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,137. Wheeling is named for Wheeling, West Virginia.

The land that is now Wheeling, Illinois, was controlled by the Miami Confederacy (which contained the Illini and Kickapoo tribes) starting in the early 1680s. The Confederacy was driven from the area by the Iroquois and Meskwaki in the early 1700s.

The French-allied Potawatomi began to raid and take possession of Northern Illinois in the 1700s. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Potawatomi expanded southwards from their territory in Green Bay and westward from their holdings in Detroit, until they controlled in an L-shaped swath of territory from Green Bay to the Illinois River, and from the Mississippi River to the Maumee River.

The descendants of the Potawatomi who on ... Read more »

Wauconda is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 14,084. It is the site of the Wauconda Bog Nature Preserve, a National Natural Landmark. Wauconda Community Unit School District 118 serves students from Pre-K through 12th grade who live in Wauconda and surrounding communities (Island Lake, Lakemoor, Volo, and unincorporated sections of McHenry County). Fremont School District 79 also serves students from communities from northern part of Wauconda.

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,448 people, 3,611 households, and 2,404 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,445.0 inhabitants per square mile (944.0/km2). There were 3,822 housing units at an average density of 989.1 per square mile (381.9/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 90.2% White, 0.4% African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 6.4% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. 11.9% o ... Read more »