| Wilmette is a
village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois,
United States. It is located 14 miles (23 km) north
of Chicago's downtown district (or 3 mi/5 km from Chicago's
northern border) and has a population of 27,651. Wilmette
is considered a bedroom community in the affluent North
Shore district. In 2007, Wilmette was ranked as the
seventh best place to raise children in the U.S., according
to Business Week.
Before European settlement, a
Potawatomi village was located on "Indian Hill",
currently the site of a golf course in nearby Winnetka.[2]
The village is named in honor of Antoine Ouilmette,
a French-Canadian fur trader married to Archange, the
daughter of Potawatomi chief Sauganash. For his part
in persuading local Native Americans to sign the Treaty
of Prairie du Chien in 1829, the U.S. government awarded
Ouilmette 1,280 acres (5.2 km²) of land in present-day
Wilmette and Evanston. In 1848, he sold the land to
farmers and developers and it eventually evolved into
modern-day Wilmette.
John G. Westerfield built pickle
and vinegar factories in the area in 1857. Other early
commercial development included a cooperage, a brick
kiln, and an icehouse. The Chicago, North Shore and
Milwaukee Railroad tracks arrived in 1854, but the first
local station wasn't built until 1869. German Catholic
farmers from the area of Trier began settling the area
in the 1840s.
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