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Northfield
Inn
Built circa 1894 at what is now Shermer and Waukegan
Roads the Northfield Inn was a well known stopover on
the road between Milwaukee and Chicago. |
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The earliest
recorded residents of the Northbrook area were the Potawatomi
tribe under Chief Shabbona. In 1833 the tribe ceded their
land in Illinois and relocated near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Joel Sterling Sherman and his family bought 159 acres for
$1.25 per acre in the northwest quarter of Section 10. This
is the site of the Northbrook Central Business District.
Soon after
Mr. Sherman bought that land the area was named Shermerville
after Mr. Frederick Schermer who donated the land for the
first railroad station (Schermer Station and later Shermer
Station). By the 1870’s the region was a farm town with
well-established brick yards which prospered during the rebuilding
that followed the Great Chicago Fire in October of 1871.
In 1901
following a close referendum, the town was incorporated as
Shermerville with about 60 homes and 311 residents. By 1921,
residents felt that the Shermerville name had a bad reputation.
After a contest, the new name of Northbrook, submitted by
Edward Landwehr, was adopted as the official name in 1923.
At that time there were 500 residents.
Northbrook
did not grow rapidly until after World War II when subdivisions
of homes were first developed. In 1940 the population was
1,265, but by 1960 the population was 11,635. Another growth
spurt was stimulated by the completion in 1963 of a water
line to bring Lake Michigan water to Northbrook’s new
water treatment plant. By 1970 the population had more than
doubled to 25,422. The current population is 33,435 (2000
census).1
For
more information visit the Northbrook Historical Society web
page.
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