North Shore Views

Crow Island Neighborhood Home Sales – 2011

This is the third installment of neighborhood-level real estate stats for Winnetka. It covers the Crow Island School “footprint,” the area bordered on the north by Pine St., on the west by Hibbard Rd., on the east by Green Bay Rd. and on the south by Hill Rd. Although sales in this area were up dramatically over 2010, median and average sales prices decreased 14% and 15% respectively.

Crow Island Neighborhood Home Sales – 2011 vs. 2010

Source: MRED llc- Single family home data. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Wondering what your neighbor’s house sold for? Just email us with the address of the property and we’d be happy to send you that information (caveat: only if the transaction has closed. Until then the information is not available).

Tags: Crow Island School, Winnetka home sales

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.

First Jungle Gym Still Stands at Crow Island School in Winnetka

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