Glencoe, Illinois facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Glencoe, Illinois
Village
View of Lake Michigan
Seal
Location of Glencoe in Cook County, Illinois.
Glencoe, Illinois Location in Greater Chicago Show map of Greater Chicago Glencoe, Illinois Location in Illinois Show map of Illinois Glencoe, Illinois Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Cook
Township	New Trier
Incorporated	1869
Government
• Type	Council-manager
Area
• Total	3.78 sq mi (9.79 km2)
• Land	3.72 sq mi (9.63 km2)
• Water	0.06 sq mi (0.16 km2)  1.59%
Population  (2020)
• Total	8,849
• Density	2,378.76/sq mi (918.9/km2)
ZIP code(s)	60022, 60093 (southeast corner), and 60062 (small commercial area in the southwest)
Area code(s)	847 and 224
Geocode	29652
FIPS code	17-29652

Glencoe (/ˈɡlɛnˌkoʊ/) is a village located right on the shore of Lake Michigan in northeastern Cook County, Illinois, United States. In 2020, about 8,849 people lived there. Glencoe is part of Chicago's North Shore area and is known as one of the wealthiest communities in Illinois. In 2022, the average household income in Glencoe was $228,750.

History of Glencoe

The name "Glencoe" has a couple of possible origins. Some people think it was named after an early resident, Matthew Coe. Others believe it's named after a place in Scotland with the same name. The village started to grow in the late 1800s around a train stop. Walter S. Gurnee, a former mayor of Chicago, was in charge of the railroad line that connected Chicago and Milwaukee. He often bought land near train stops to develop it. One historian thinks the village might be named after Gurnee's wife, as he bought the land in 1867. The village's first official seal even looked like the seal of Glencoe, Scotland.

Famous Architecture

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many beautiful homes were built in Glencoe. The village is especially famous for having the third-largest collection of buildings designed by the well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright. His designs include seven houses, a concrete bridge, and three special markers in the Ravine Bluff area. There are also two larger homes he designed nearby. Other famous architects like Howard Van Doren Shaw, David Adler, and George Washington Maher also designed houses in Glencoe.

Community Development

Glencoe has had an African American population almost since it became a village in 1869. Many Black and Italian families lived in a five-block area near what is now Vernon Avenue. In 1920, the village decided to create a new park. To do this, the village acquired properties in this area to make space for the park.

In 1920, the African American community in Glencoe had 676 residents. By 1930, this number was 313, and in the 2000 census, it was 176.

Homer Wilson was the first Black person to own property in Glencoe. He used his home as a mortgage to help start the St. Paul AME Church, which is still an active church in Glencoe today. Glencoe's beaches were not open to everyone until 1942. That year, a court order allowed a Black family, A.L. Foster, his wife Mildred, and their two sons, to buy beach passes for the Park Avenue beach, which had previously been for white people only.

The Glencoe Metra Station in 2012, a local landmark.

Glencoe has a "Village Manager" type of government. It was one of the first places to combine its police, fire, and paramedic services into one public safety department. In 1921, Glencoe created the first zoning code in Illinois, which helps decide how land can be used. The village's land-use plan from 1940 has mostly stayed the same. For example, the village used a law called eminent domain to acquire homes where Black and Italian residents lived to build a new park next to South School. The 1940 plan mainly set aside land for single-family homes, with no industrial areas. Glencoe has a small downtown area with basic services like a post office, library, Village Hall, a theater for performances, and a train station that goes to Chicago.

Geography of Glencoe

Glencoe covers about 3.78 square miles (9.79 square kilometers). Most of this area, about 3.72 square miles (9.63 square kilometers), is land, and a small part, 0.06 square miles (0.16 square kilometers), is water.

Glencoe is located on the western side of Lake Michigan. It is separated from other towns to the north and west by over 1,200 acres of natural forest area, which is part of the Cook County Forest Preserve. There are also three golf clubs that act as a buffer around the village: the Lake Shore Country Club to the north, the Glencoe Golf Club (run by the village) to the northwest, and the Skokie Country Club to the west.

The village is surrounded by other wealthy communities: Highland Park to the north, Northbrook to the west, and Winnetka to the south. The Skokie Lagoons, a series of connected waterways, are located in the forest preserve just west of the village. This forest preserve also has a bike trail that connects to other preserves to the south. Inside Glencoe, the Green Bay Trail allows bicyclists to ride south to Wilmette and north past Lake Forest. The highest point in Glencoe is about 690 feet (210 meters) above sea level, along Green Bay Road in the northern part of the village.

Southern Boundary Challenge

Glencoe shares its southern border with Winnetka, and this border actually cuts through 58 homes! This means that homeowners in these houses have to pay taxes to, and get permits from, both villages. The two villages started talking about this problem in the 1920s. In 2007, they reached a temporary agreement where each homeowner could choose which village they wanted services from, even though the official border didn't change. At first, 46 homeowners chose Winnetka, and others could decide later. The boundary was later updated to reflect these choices.

Education in Glencoe

Glencoe School District 35 is the elementary school district for Glencoe. All of its schools are located within the village.

For high school, Glencoe is part of the New Trier Township High School District. This district has two campuses: one in Northfield for freshmen (9th graders) and another in Winnetka for students in 10th through 12th grades.

Population and People

As of the 2020 census, Glencoe had 8,849 people living there, with 3,302 households and 2,563 families. The population density was about 2,341 people per square mile (918.9 per square kilometer).

The people living in Glencoe were mostly White (87.3%), with smaller percentages of Asian (4.3%), African American (1.0%), and other groups. About 4.2% of the population identified as Hispanic or Latino.

Out of the households, 38.5% had children under 18 living with them. Most households (69.96%) were married couples. The average household had 3.14 people.

The age breakdown of the village showed that 27.9% were under 18, 30.7% were between 45 and 64, and 21.5% were 65 or older. The average age was 47.2 years.

The median income for a household in Glencoe was $195,600, and for a family, it was $250,001. The average income per person in the village was $121,589, which makes Glencoe one of the 20 wealthiest communities in the United States.

Arts and Culture in Glencoe

Points of Interest

The Glencoe Public Library

Glencoe has its own public library. The first library was in the old Hawthorne School. A new, dedicated library building opened in 1941.

Media and Filming Locations

Local news about Glencoe can be found in The Glencoe Anchor, Winnetka-Glencoe Patch, TribLocal, and Pioneer Press. A company called The Free Press, which published social science books, started in Glencoe in 1947 before moving to New York City in 1960.

Glencoe on Screen

Glencoe has been a filming location for several movies and TV shows:

• Scenes from the popular films Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Sixteen Candles were filmed in Glencoe.
• The Glencoe train station appears in scenes from Flags of Our Fathers and She's Having a Baby.
• The 2011 movie Contagion also had scenes filmed in Glencoe.

Transportation in Glencoe

The Glencoe station offers Metra commuter train service. These trains travel south to the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago and north to Kenosha station. Pace also provides bus service on Route 213, connecting Glencoe to other places across the North Shore area.

Notable People from Glencoe

Many interesting people have lived in or are from Glencoe:

See also

In Spanish: Glencoe (Illinois) para niños