Map of Winnetka village

Winnetka (/wɪˈnɛtkə/) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located 16 miles (26 km) north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,744 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was the second-ranked Illinois community on Bloomberg’s 2019 Richest Places Annual Index. In 2020, 24/7 Wall St ranked Winnetka as the second-best small town to live in in the United States.

Winnetka village overview:
Name:	Winnetka village
LSAD Code:	47
LSAD Description:	village (suffix)
State:	Illinois
County:	Cook County
Incorporated:	1869
Elevation:	650 ft (200 m)
Total Area:	3.89 sq mi (10.08 km²)
Land Area:	3.81 sq mi (9.87 km²)
Water Area:	0.08 sq mi (0.21 km²) 2.06%
Total Population:	12,744
Population Density:	3,344.00/sq mi (1,290.96/km²)
Area code:	847 and 224
FIPS code:	1782530
Website:	www.villageofwinnetka.org

Online Interactive Map

Click on to view map in "full screen" mode.

Winnetka online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Winnetka location map. Where is Winnetka village?

Winnetka location on the U.S. Map. Where is Winnetka village. — Winnetka location on the U.S. Map.

Winnetka location on the Illinois map. Where is Winnetka village. — Location of Winnetka in Illinois.

History

The first houses were built in 1836. That year, Erastus Patterson and his family arrived from Vermont and opened a tavern to service passengers on the Green Bay Trail post road. The village was first subdivided in 1854 by Charles Peck and Walter S. Gurnee, President of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. Winnetka’s first private school was opened in 1856 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Peck with seventeen pupils. In 1859, the first public school building was built with private funds at the southeast corner of Elm and Maple streets. The first year’s budget for this school was $200. The village was incorporated in 1869 with a population of 450. The name is believed to originate from the Potawatomi language, meaning ‘beautiful place’.

The oldest surviving house in Winnetka is the Schmidt-Burnham Log House. Originally constructed on what is now the Indian Hill Club on the south edge of town and in 1917 moved to Tower Road, it was moved in 2003 from Tower Road to the Crow Island Woods.

Winnetka’s neighborhoods include estates and homes designed by distinguished architects including George Washington Maher, Walter Burley Griffin, John S. Van Bergen, Robert Seyfarth, Robert McNitt, Howard Van Doren Shaw and David Adler. Among Winnetka’s celebrities are actor Rock Hudson and rock singer/songwriter/producer Richard Marx.

Churches in Winnetka were also designed by noted architects. Among them, the former First Church of Christ, Scientist, 440 Ridge Avenue, was designed in 1924 by architect Solon S. Beman.

In the 1920s, a colonial Georgian house was built at 671 Lincoln Avenue. The house is now known as the famous Home Alone house for its interior being used as a shooting location for two films in the series, starting in 1990.

The Chicago and Milwaukee Railway was built in 1855 through Winnetka, connecting its namesake cities. It eventually became the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. Between 1937 and 1942 the railroad tracks through Winnetka were grade separated after several people were hit at grade crossings. In 1995 the C&NW was merged into the Union Pacific. Only Metra trains are operated on this track now; freight operations ended in the late 1980s. Winnetka has three Metra stations: Hubbard Woods, Winnetka, and Indian Hill.

The Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee electric interurban was built through Winnetka and the North Shore in the first decade of the 1900s, and the line through Winnetka was removed in 1955. This is now the Green Bay Trail bicycle path.

In 1904, the Winnetka Park District was established, making it the fourth oldest park district in the state of Illinois. Today, the park district maintains and operates 27 parks, five beaches, and golf, tennis, ice skating/hockey, and paddle tennis facilities.

The Crow Island School, designed by Eliel & Eero Saarinen and the architectural firm Perkins, Wheeler & Will, was declared a National Historical Landmark in 1990. It was declared 12th among all buildings and the best architectural design of all schools. Ten thousand people attended the opening in 1938.

In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Winnetka. A plaque dedicated to him is on the Village Green, a park in the town, where he spoke. As a result of Dr. King’s open housing campaign and the North Shore Summer Project, the nonprofit now known as Open Communities was founded.

Winnetka Road Map

Winnetka city Satellite Map

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Winnetka has a total area of 3.893 square miles (10.08 km), of which 3.81 square miles (9.87 km) (or 97.87%) is land and 0.083 square miles (0.21 km) (or 2.13%) is water.