Your Guide to Buying a Home in Glencoe, IL

Downtown Glencoe, or Uptown as some call it, has never been a huge commercial center, but it has always bustled. From 1902 to 1993, the district's anchor was Henry C. Weinecke's (Win-eh-kee's) hardware store stood as the community watched other stores change. Wienecke's itself changed, after the family sold the hardware store. The building was restored, remaned, and reconfigured into a group of retail and residential spaces.

Over the years, The Glencoe Movie Theater was razed, as was its neighbor, the Masonic Temple, in the mid-1970s. A five-and-dime store, two delicatessens, men's clothing and recored stores, and even big name grocers like A&P, have come and gone. But new shops and restaurants have replaced them; A Bouquet to Remember, Vernon's on Vernon, Sweet Jenny's and Treats among the newest in town.

The Writer's Theater of Chicago, the award-winning Equitey theater, developed in the space behind Books on Vernon, has expanded in the 2003/2004 season to a newly created space in the Women's Library Club.

Depending on which account you read, the Village of Glencoe got its name from a "Coe's Glen," an acknowledgement of Matthew Coe's original ownership of the property in the heart of the town, or Glencoe, Scotland, said to be the town of Gurnee's birth but better known as the site of a bloody clan massacre that took place some three centuries ago. The Scottish word "glen" means a narrow secluded valley and may refer to the ravines near Sheridan Road. Glencoe's first seal was modeled after the seal of Glencoe, Scotland.

Gurnee did not live in his "castle" very long. He declared bankruptcy and moved to New York City in 1862, selling his home to Dr. Alexander Hammond four years later. And, with that transaction, a new chapter in Glencoe history was born.

The early village consisted of scattered homes, a small schoolhouse, church and depot and a couple of stores, loosely connected by dirt roads. People drew their water from wells. Homeowners put up their own oil lamps on posts, donating them to the village to maintain. A lamplighter made regular rounds. Electricity did not come to town until1903, when one arc light was purchased from the Highland Park Electric Light Company on a trial basis. Pleased with the newfangled contraption, the village council promptly ordered 46 more.

One of Glencoe's architectural treasures is the railroad depot, a landmark building designed by Charles S. Frost and dedicated in 1891. The building is representative of enhanced, architect-designed suburban commuter stations built in the midst of what later would be termed the "Railroad Beautiful" movement. The station, which reflects the influence of architectural innovator Henry Hobson Richardson, has been meticulously restored in recent years and in 1991 was determined to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Actual listing has not taken place because of objection by then owner, the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, which routinely opposes such listing of its properties.

In early 1991 the Glencoe Village Board, sensitive to growing concern over the tearing down of historic homes, created the Historic Preservation Commission. Composed of five members who are interested in architecture or history, the commission is charged with public education on the architectural treasures of the town and identifying and nominating for designation architecturally significant homes.

Since its inception, the commission has created an architectural map with walking tours that highlight 96 significant structures, co-sponsored a Frank Lloyd Wright North tour and honored the owners of designated landmark homes.

The commission evaluates, designates and certifies landmark homes on the basis of historical or architectural significance. As of mid-1997, homes and public structures had been designated by the commission and the Village Board.

While the commission would prefer to keep homes in their original locations, if that is not possible it will work with owners in order to save the structures by other means. One such architecturally significant home on Adams Street, originally scheduled for demolition, was successfully moved three blocks away on the same street. Another, one of Dr. John Nutt's homes, was moved from 245 Hawthorne to Vernon Avenue in September 1994. A third, the Union Church's building was moved across the street to Park Avenue.

The Glencoe School District