House Research

The first thing to know is, it isn't only very old houses and other buildings that can earn the distinction of being a Local Landmark -- buildings of many styles, from many periods, can be "landmarked." Landmarking your house not only makes others aware of its historic value, but is also an essential step toward preserving your home for future generations to enjoy.  It can also confer substantial tax advantages.  We [...]

Wilmette had over 2,000 residences 100 years ago and most of those homes are still a part of our community.  The Wilmette Historical Society (WHS) is offering homeowners an opportunity to purchase and display a beautiful plaque indicating the age of any homes over a century old. Such plaques are honorary and do not convey any protection for a house or property. The plaque measures 7 inches by 10 inches, is made [...]

The old Wilmette street directories in the Museum's collection are a great place to begin looking for information about the lives lived in your Wilmette house.  Some years (1917-18, 1922-23, 1925, and 1935) have a “reversed” section that allows you to look up the address and see who lived there.  We have created reversed versions of the directories for 1890, 1898, 1908 and 1946; all of these are searchable online. [...]

We might!  We don’t have a file on every house in the Village, but over the years we’ve worked to gather local real estate documents, news clippings, photographs, permits, plats, and other records that might include some information on your house. If you give us an address, we can tell you pretty quickly from our index if we have any materials of interest and what they might be. Another [...]