12,637
population
Lincolnwood
Lincolnwood is 11 miles northwest of Chicago's downtown loop.
$408,246
Average Sale Price
$96,222
Median Household Income
Why Lincolnwood?
Lincolnwood is a small diverse, two-and-a-half-square-mile suburb. The village, formerly called Tessville, incorporated in 1911 with 359 residents.
Lincolnwood according to Niche.com is one of the best places to live in Illinois. Living in Lincolnwood offers residents a suburban feel and most residents own their homes.
The public schools in Lincolnwood are highly rated.
There are four great running paths: Lincolnwood Valley Line Trail, Valley Line Trail, Union Pacific Recreation Path and the longest, North Shore Channel Trail.
History & Location
Potawatomi Native Americans originally settled the wooded area now known as Lincolnwood, but then vacated the land after the Indian Boundary Treaty of 1816.
Johann Tess, for whom the village was originally named, and his family came from Germany in 1856, purchasing 30 acres of barren land in the area. Rural development proceeded slowly on treacherous plank roads along present-day Milwaukee and Lincoln Avenues. The population slowly increased and the first commercial establishment, the Halfway House Saloon, was established in 1873.
The population grew after the establishment of the Chicago & North Western Railway station in nearby Skokie in 1891 and the completion of the North Shore Channel in 1909, which made the easily flooded prairie land manageable. More saloons and taverns soon appeared, specifically along Crawford and Lincoln Avenues. Because only organized municipalities could grant liquor licenses, 359 residents incorporated in 1911 and named the Village Tessville.
During Prohibition, Tessville became a haven for speakeasies and gambling facilities.
Then in 1931 the longest-serving mayor, Henry A. Proesel, a grandson of George Proesel, one of the original American settlers was elected mayor.
Proesel finally changed Tessville’s image and then changed the name of the Village to Lincolnwood in 1936.
Bell & Howell's relocation to east Lincolnwood (1942) spurred growth and increased other industry relocation to the village.
The opening in 1951 of the Edens Expressway had the most profound impact on the growth in the Village’s history. It offered easy and fast access to and from Chicago, causing the community’s population to grow from 3,072 in 1950 to more than 12,000 in 1970.