Wilmette is named after Archange and Antoine Ouilmette, who moved from Chicago in 1825 and built a cabin near Lake Michigan. A land grant was awarded to Archange and her children, known as the Ouilmette Reservation, under the Treaty of Prairie du Chien. The two-square-mile plot became the cornerstone for Wilmette’s future development. The area of Gross Point, to the west of Wilmette, was partly annexed to Wilmette in 1924 with the remainder annexed in 1926. The railroad brought more people to the area. Wilmette was incorporated on September 19, 1872 and has steadily increased its population coinciding with the growth of Chicago and its neighboring communities.

District 39 serves most of Wilmette, with some service by Avoca-District 37 and Kenilworth-District 39. Private education choices include several pre-schools: St. Francis Xavier Elementary School, Baker Demonstration School, Regina Dominican High School, and Loyola Academy. Loyola University and National Louis University offer college-level courses at campuses within the Village.

Wilmette offers a wonderful park district with 18 parks on 300-plus acres of land. The new Community Recreation Center provides an early childhood center, a fitness club, a senior center and offers an assortment of recreation classes. The Centennial complex offers outdoor swimming pools, indoor tennis courts and ice rinks for year-round hockey and ice-skating. Broadway musicals and band concerts are featured in the Wallace Bowl (an outdoor amphitheater) at Gillson Park. Gillson Park is considered the North Shore's most beautiful lakefront park with beaches for swimming and sailing. Don’t forget Wilmette’s own 18-hole golf course. You will find it tucked amongst miles of Cook County Forest Preserve that offers hiking, biking, and equestrian paths for your outdoor enjoyment.

The Wilmette Library is part of a 24-member regional network with an internal book collection of 200,000. The facility offers patron use of both IBM and Macintosh computers. An extensive children’s department serves pre-school to 8th grade offering story-times, films, summer reading programs, and other special events. Seminars and lectures on a variety of subjects are also available to the adult community.

Chicago is close at hand and provides a multitude of cultural and leisure attractions: spectacular shopping on the Magnificent Mile and celebrated State Street, delectable dining from four-star restaurants to authentic cultural cuisine, world-renowned museums (Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry and the Museum Campus institutions: The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium), exciting entertainment for all ages including the theater district, live Blues and Jazz clubs, and more. Don’t forget the wealth of employment opportunities Chicago has to offer.

Let one of Wilmette’s wonderful homes be your ticket to the best of both worlds…peace and quiet when you require it, but still easily accessible to work and leisure opportunities.