Yip-Wah Chung, 2001

The Village of Wilmette’s first Asian American trustee, is Yip-Wah Chung, an accomplished scientist and professor.

During his time as a trustee, Chung used his training to help mediate issues between neighbors. In a 1998 article in the Chicago Tribune, Chung said, “The two parties must come up with a solution themselves…They are more likely to abide by the solution if they develop it.”

Chung is a professor of materials science and engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. He has received several accolades for his work, including Materials Science and Engineering Teacher of the Year multiple times. Chung has also published numerous monographs, textbooks, and articles.

Yip-Wah Chung served as a Village of Wilmette trustee until 2005. He continues to teach at Northwestern University.

In 1966, Gary Watanabe was hired as Physical Education teacher at Wilmette Junior High (Locust), as reported by the Wilmette Life, which ran a column every summer on new teachers hired at Wilmette schools. The newspaper remarks that he had previously taught in Chicago. Gary Watanabe earned his B.S. in Education in 1965 at the University of Illinois, followed by his M.S. in 1969. In 1972, Watanabe served on the National Education Association’s Task Force on Drug Education. By the 1990s, Mr. Watanabe had moved to Romona School, where he taught fifth grade.

Gary Watanabe (second from left) in 1991, receiving his 23-year Service Recognition Award

Electric Place around 1910. At the center, the white building with black awnings has a sign above the door that reads, “TAILORING.”

The first Asian American residents of Wilmette were also likely the first Asian American business owners. By looking at 1910 census records, we learn that Charlie and Toy Yong, Chinese-American brothers from California lived at 6 Electric Place, where they operated a laundry business.

Electric Place was a short thoroughfare just north of Central, where the Metra parking lot is today. The street had just a handful of inhabitants, most of them business owners. It is possible that the Yongs and their neighbors on Electric Place, including an undertaker, a tailor, and a music teacher, lived in apartments or rooms in the buildings where they also worked.

We can get a little more information from census records about the two entrepreneurs. Charlie was the elder brother. He was 35 in 1910 and born in 1875. Toy was 15 years younger, just 20 years old in 1910. Under “Birthplace,” the vague “Cal. Chinese” is written for both brothers and their mother and father. It is possible that they were all born in California, or perhaps Charlie and Toy’s parents were immigrants to California from China. These records tell just some of their story.

We can say for certain that Charlie and Toy Yong were only in Wilmette for a brief time. After being recorded in the 1910 census, their business appears in the telephone directories and on a Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from 1914. By 1920, the two are no longer living in Wilmette, according to both census records and telephone directories. Toy appears to have eventually made his way to Humboldt Park, where he shows up in the 1940 census, still running a laundry business.

In the early 1990s, the Wilmette Police Department, under the direction of Chief George Carpenter, was dealing with an issue of diversity. There were no Asian American officers on the force, even though Wilmette’s population was almost 7 percent Asian American at the time. In a Chicago Tribune article from March 1991 titled “Wilmette seeks Asian and women officers,” the police department said their goal was to hire four women and two Asian Americans within five years. This was part of a larger plan to diversify the police force, which had just two black officers, two women, and no Hispanic officers. Carpenter is quoted as saying, “The interests of the village are best served when the police department is comprised of officers representative of their jurisdiction.”

The problem was not that Asian American candidates were not hired, but rather that they didn’t even apply. So, the WPD began a recruitment campaign that involved running recruitment materials in Asian American newspapers throughout the area and in Chicago. Though it wasn’t until several years later, that’s how Stephen Leigh came to find out that the Police Department was hiring. Leigh, who is Korean American, saw the posting in a local publication, applied, and was hired as the first Asian American police officer in Wilmette. In 2012, Leigh was credited with using his Korean translation skills to help solve an investigation into a fatal car crash. In 2017, Leigh and four others helped to save the life of a man who collapsed while riding his bike.

Officer Leigh retired in June 2024 after over 25 years with the Wilmette Police Department.

Officer Stephen Leigh

Lillian Der, circa 1973

Cover of Chinatown Sunday

In 1973, author Carol Ann Bales published a non-fiction book titled Chinatown Sunday, told through the words of a real 11-year-old girl, Lillian Der. Lillian began the book by recalling an interaction with classmates: One time last summer some kids started asking me: ‘Are you from China or Japan?’ It’s pretty hard to explain. I told them I’m not from China or Japan. I was born in Chicago. But I am a Chinese-American.

Throughout the book, 11-year-old Lillian describes her life in Wilmette and her time spent in Chinatown. Her father was assistant manager of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Chinatown, which was located at 2350 S. Wentworth. The family’s church, Chinese Christian Union Church, was also located in that neighborhood, and the family shopped for groceries at a nearby store after church on Sundays.

These important connections to the Chinatown neighborhood brought Lillian’s family there frequently, but Lillian’s parents wanted their children to grow up in Wilmette. “Mother says we don’t live in Chinatown because she thinks we’ll get a better education in Wilmette. It is also so hard to find a place to live in Chinatown. It’s crowded.”

Lillian also gives glimpses into her life at school (which she says is hard!), her friends, and her involvement in Girl Scouts.

The profiles featured in this online exhibit were originally created as a poster series in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We are proud to share them here so that these stories can reach and continue to inspire our community.