If you don’t see your question here, contact us at museum@wilmette.com, or phone 847-853-7666. If you have questions about how to care for your family keepsakes, you can schedule an appointment with a member of the museum staff to bring in your photos, albums, documents or small heirlooms for some free tips and advice about their care and preservation.
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 place you can find information about the history of your house, or more properly, the property it sits on, is the Cook County Clerk’s Office. If your house was built after 1920, the Community Development Department in the Wilmette Village Hall will have the building permit.
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. Once you have put together some names, our biographical reference materials may be able to fill in more information.
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 of brass and designed for display outdoors near the entrance of the home. WHS will assist homeowners in determining the approximate age of their home for display on the plaque. The cost of the plaque will be $210 for WHS members and $260 for non-members, which covers the production and shipping of the plaque from the vendor. If you are interested in purchasing such a plaque, please contact the museum at museum@wilmette.com or (847) 853-7666. A museum representative will contact you to assist you in dating your house and in arranging for your purchase.
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 at the Museum can help you apply for landmark status for your house, including helping you find out some of the historical information you’ll need to fill in on the landmark application. It is the Village of Wilmette’s Historic Preservation Commission, however, that oversees the nominations for Local Landmark status. Here is a list of criteria for landmark status, as well as the Landmark Application Form. To learn more, contact us at museum@wilmette.com or directly contact the liaison to the Historic Preservation Commission at 847-853-7522.
The Museum has an electronic database of our photos that can be searched by keyword. Most (but not all) of the database is available online at wilmettehistory.pastperfectonline.com, where you can also request images. When you visit the Research Room, you can also browse through copies of photos organized by last name or subject. There are also photos of houses in the real estate files.
If you’d like just a photocopy printout of a photo for your reference, we can make that for you at no charge. For something more permanent and displayable, we can give you a digital file for a modest fee, payable in advance. View the Image Use Agreement Form, then contact us to order images.
The first place we’ll check is our Biographical File in the Research Room. Our Vital Records Index, which includes, birth, death, and marriage records, is available online; the original documents listed in these indices are also in our Research Room.
Other kinds of records at WHM that may be helpful include:
- albums of genealogy
- oral histories
- reminiscences
- manuscript and artifact collections
- family photos
- real estate records and plats of survey
- city directories and phone books
- local business files
- 1850 New Trier Township tax records
- inventory of St. Joseph’s cemetery
Yes! We have select death certificates. If you’d like a copy of one in our holdings, send a check for $5 and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Wilmette Historical Museum, 609 Ridge Road, Wilmette, IL 60091. If you visit us, we can make copies for you here at little or no expense.