When Patrick Leary and Kathy Hussey-Arntson of the Wilmette History Museum first considered an exhibit on the history of west Wilmette, they thought about calling it “Where is west Wilmette?”
“Geography is not just about where things are on a map but also the meanings that people give to places,” Leary, a curator at the museum, told DailyNorthShore.
Since the village’s founding in 1872, residents have held shifting ideas of what is west Wilmette, and the actual boundaries of the village changed when Gross Point was annexed in 1926.
The museum’s new exhibit “Exploring West Wilmette”, tackles some of the historic tension between east and west and how the post-World War II housing boom transformed the village. When creating the exhibit, west Wilmette was defined as anywhere west of Ridge Road, Leary said.
The museum will host a presentation and a behind-the-scenes peek at how the new exhibit was created on October 15 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The exhibit tracks a housing boom that opened up the village to many more people — largely diversifying the village with new Jewish residents — by virtue of the development of ample housing in west Wilmette.
According to the exhibit, the village of Gross Point was primarily agrarian when it was annexed. While the farmland was open for development in the late 1920s, the Depression of the 1930s and World War II slowed down construction at that time. There were some spurts of development around west Wilmette, such as the Indian Hill Estates neighborhood in the late 1920s. Likewise, through government programs encouraging construction in the 1930s, neighborhoods such as Kenilworth Gardens were developed at that time.
But the exhibit shares how west Wilmette was largely built out in the 1950s, when subdivisions, cul-de-sacs and large tracks of affordable ranch and split-level homes were rapidly constructed. Two large aerial photos of Wilmette show how west Wilmette changed from farmland to suburbia in a decade.
Visitors will enjoy thumbing through a brochure from Hollywood Builders, a Chicago firm that developed large portions of west Wilmette. The marketing of colored bathroom fixtures, modern laminate kitchens and sunken living rooms is pure 1950s retro. Likewise, the marketing of home designs that include open floor plans, sliding glass doors, and patios, will appeal to mid-century home lovers.
Anyone familiar with Wilmette will recognize old photos of some iconic west Wilmette businesses that are still cherished today, such as Dairy Queen, Irving For Red Hot Lovers, and Chalet, plus a few that have since disappeared, like Alpine Pharmacy.
The large population bump, plus the Baby Boom of that time, prompted Wilmette to open three brand new schools in the 1950s and 1960s. The exhibit also explores the controversy surrounding New Trier High School’s west campus, exposing the tensions between east and west Wilmette.
This exhibit is timely, as the village considers a costly sewer project that could potentially update west Wilmette’s aging sewer system. Once again, the residents living east and west of Ridge Road will be forced to set aside their differences, and decide how they want to proceed as a community.
The Wilmette History Museum is located at 609 Ridge Road, Wilmette and is open Sunday through Thursday 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Museum Director Kathy Hussey-Arntson and Curator Patrick Leary will give a presentation on the development of West Wilmette and a behind-the-scenes peek at how the new exhibit was created on October 15 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The presentation is free for members and $5 for non-members. For more information go to www.wilmettehistory.org.
A 1914 photo of a farm in the village of Gross Point. Photo courtesy of Wilmette Historical Museum.
A brochure by Hollywood Builders marketing home models. Photo courtesy Wilmette Historical Museum.
Homes being constructed on Highcrest Drive in West Wilmette. Photo courtesy Wilmette Historical Society.