North Shore Views

Archive for the 'Winnetka' Category

The North Shore’s Oldest House

Whenever we drive by the Schmidt- Burnham log house on Willow Road, my 8 year old says, “Look Mom, there’s where you went to school when you were a kid.”  The first time she said this she was 5 or 6 and she really did think that it was an old one-room schoolhouse and that I had, in fact, gone to school there. Now, it’s just a little joke between us, a way for her to rub it in how old I am.

I think a lot of the people that drive by there every day don’t even know the story behind this little house. They probably don’t realize that it is the oldest standing structure in Cook County outside of the city of Chicago. The house was built around 1837 and was the home of the Schmidt family, immigrants from Germany. Originally the house was located on the Green Bay Trail, near what is now the corner of Winnetka Avenue and Church Road.

Anita Willets Burnham, a local artist and writer, purchased the home in 1917 for $25 and had it moved to 1407 Tower Road.  It was later donated to the Winnetka Historical Society by her daughter and moved to its current location in Crow Island Woods.  Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, the house is now open to the public and offers a glimpse into life in early Winnetka.

Tags: Anita Willets Burnham, North Shore's oldest house, Schmidt-Burnham log house, Winnetka

More Ice for Winnetka and Wilmette

If you figure skate or play hockey, you know that ice time is a precious commodity. There  never seems to be enough of it to accommodate all the games, practices, clinics and lessons, and skaters are often forced to practice at odd hours in order to pursue their sport.

Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of a few folks, the communities of Wilmette and Winnetka  have much more  ice time available with the construction of the North Shore Ice Arena (NSIA). The arena is jointly owned by the Winnetka Hockey Club and the Wilmette Hockey Association, whose teams practice and play at NSIA as well as at the Winnetka Ice Arena and Centennial Rink. The North Shore Ice Arena is also home to the DePaul Hockey Club and the New Trier Hockey Club. A men’s league and a figure skating school were recently added.

NSIA opened in the fall of 2008. It’s a 48,000 sq. ft. facility with one NHL sized rink and one 5,000 sq. ft. studio rink. There is also a pro shop, run by Total Hockey, as well as a snack bar and a few arcade games. To get there, take Waukegan Rd. north from Willow Rd and go west on Techny to Founder’s Drive. The rink is at 2111 Founders Drive in Northbrook (just north of  Willow Festival shopping center).

Tags: DePaul Hockey Club, ice hockey, New Trier Hockey Club, north shore ice arena, Northbrook, Wilmette, Wilmette Hockey Association, Winnetka, Winnetka Hockey Club

Got Stocking Stuffers?

I am WAY behind on my Christmas shopping. But today I made some headway,with just one visit to Beat Street on Green Bay Road in Hubbard Woods. This store is packed to the gills with literally thousands of items for sale, most of which are for kids and most of which are small and inexpensive. In other words, perfect stocking stuffers.

I bought my daughter a psychedelic fleece throw with multicolored peace signs, a spy case, a voice changer, a Bronx Cheer noisemaker, a little sparkly jewelry box,  a tarantula that expands about 1000% when immersed in water and miscellaneous other items.  I was tempted to buy the remote control giant scorpion but I decided enough is enough.

One hour and $97 later, I finally dragged myself out of there.

So, if you’re still shopping for stocking stuffers or other unusual gifts, beat it over to Beat Street.

Tags: Beat Street, holiday gifts, stores in Hubbard Woods, Winnetka

Winnetka Story

If you’re interested in (painlessly) learning about the history of Winnetka and the North Shore, check out a new documentary by John Newcombe in collaboration with the Winnetka Historical Society, called Winnetka Story: The History of Winnetka & The North Shore. Just produced this year, the film is a little over two hours long, but it’s divided into three parts so you can enjoy it in bite-sized pieces. Part 1 is about the early settlers to the area and covers the period 1832-1871. Part 2 takes us up to the turn of the century and Part 3 deals with the period 1900-1945.   John Newcombe now lives and works in California, but grew up in Winnetka and approached the Historical Society in the fall of 2007 about making a film about the history of the area. In an interview that coincided with the release of the film, he talked about how he went about crafting a film that would be both informative and entertaining. He said that he followed four rules:

1. Focus on personal stories, not just facts and dates.
2. Recount personal anecdotes and events, especially those that were dramatic or humorous.
3. Use comparisons (then and now photographs)
4. Edit ruthlessly to prevent boredom

One of the things I liked best was the effective use of then and now photographs. He would take an old photograph of a particular place and morph it into a new photograph of the same place taken from the same angle, right before your eyes. For example, a photo of the old school house that stood at the northwest corner of the Village Green fades out as a picture of the Village Green as it looks now fades in. This cool technique really brought the history to life.

The DVD is available from the Winnetka Historical Society for $19.95 plus tax.

Tags: Chicago North Shore, North Shore history, Winnetka

North Shore Housing Inventory Snapshot – December 1, 2009

Here’s a snapshot of what’s on the market right now, including list prices and time on market. Not surprisingly, there seems to be a direct correlation between price level and time on market, with Winnetka, Kenilworth and Lake Forest being the priciest markets and also the ones where market time is longest, at well over 300 days.

Town	# Units for Sale*	Median List Price	Average List Price	Average D.O.M.
Evanston	225	$514,000	$695,154	240
Wilmette	155	$710,000	$887,632	280
Glenview	380	$664,950	$792,208	263
Northfield	64	$732,000	$885,750	314
Kenilworth	43	$1,899,000	$2,183,942	336
Winnetka	176	$1,499,000	$1,970,967	339
Glencoe	98	$1,099,450	$1,813,779	259
Highland Park	345	$679,000	$1,027,431	287
Lake Forest	316	$1,250,000	$1,911,778	320
North Shore	1802	$799,000	$1,236,879	288

* Detached single family houses (Source: MRED)

Tags: Glencoe, Glenview, Kenilworth, Lake Forest, North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends, Northfield, Real estate, Wilmette, Winnetka

Winnetka- Home of the First Jungle Gym

Here’s a little known bit of North Shore trivia: the first-ever Jungle Gym, constructed in 1920, is still being enjoyed by children at Crow Island School on Willow Road in Winnetka.  It was invented and patented by lawyer and Winnetka resident Sebastian Hinton. Apparently Hinton’s father, a mathematician, had built a three-dimensional bamboo frame in their backyard in Japan in order to teach his children about Cartesian-coordinates. But Sebastian and his siblings thought it was just a toy where they could climb and swing like monkeys. As an adult he saw that it could be a fun and space-efficient way to encourage physical development in children and he proposed it to Winnetka school superintendent, Carleton Washburne.

The first prototype was placed at North Shore Country Day School. While it was a big hit with the kids, it also had some design flaws, which needed correcting. A sturdier version was installed at Horace Mann School (where the Post Office now stands).  When the school was demolished in 1940, the apparatus was then moved to Crow Island School, where it still sits on the southeast corner of the school’s playground.

Tags: Crow Island School, North Shore history, Winnetka