Northbrook is a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, located at the northern edge of

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 2 ...

, United States, on the border of Lake County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorporated in 1901, the village was known as Shermerville in honor of Frederick Schermer, who donated the land for its first

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing ...

. The village changed its name to Northbrook in 1923 as an effort to improve its public image. The name was chosen because the West Fork of the North Branch of the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons fo ...

runs through the village. Glenbrook North High School, founded in 1952 as Glenbrook High School, is located in Northbrook. The village is also home to the Northbrook Park District, the

Northbrook Court Northbrook Court is a shopping mall in Northbrook, Illinois with a collection of stores serving the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. Located on of land, the mall currently features Neiman Marcus as well as a handful of popular specialty stores ...

shopping mall, the

Ed Rudolph Velodrome The Ed Rudolph Velodrome is a velodrome in Northbrook, Illinois used to host track cycling events and soccer games. It was the more centrally located of two Chicago metropolitan area velodromes (the other residing in Kenosha, Wisconsin), until ...

, the

Chicago Curling Club The Chicago Curling Club is located in Northbrook, Illinois, about 15 miles north of Chicago. It offers curling for men and women from October through April annually. The club was founded in 1948. Annual tournaments include the Open Bonspiel ...

, and the

Northbrook Public Library The Northbrook Public Library, located at 1201 Cedar Lane, serves the 33,170 residents of the Village of Northbrook, Illinois. The library received 470,700 visitors and circulated 856,000 items from its collection of 337,300 books, audio materi ...

History

Members of the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

tribe were the earliest recorded residents of the Northbrook area. After signing the

1833 Treaty of Chicago The 1833 Treaty of Chicago struck an agreement between the United States government that required the Chippewa Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes cede to the United States government their of land (including reservations) in Illinois, the Wisco ...

, the Potawatomi ceded their Illinois lands and moved to a place near

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...

. Afterward, Joel Sterling Sherman moved from

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

with his family and bought of land in the northwest quarter of Section 10 for $1.25 per acre; as of 2010, Northbrook's downtown is located on this site. A German immigrant named Frederick Schermer donated a portion of the land he bought from Sherman to be used for the town's first railroad station, which was named after him. By the 1870s, Shermerville (which also took its name from Shermer) was a farming community. In 1901 the community was incorporated as the Village of Shermerville after a close referendum for incorporation. At the time of incorporation, it had 311 residents and 60 houses. In these early years, Shermerville became notorious for rowdy gatherings at its five saloons; by 1921, therefore, residents believed that the name "Shermerville" had a negative reputation and sought to change it. A renaming contest was held, and the name "Northbrook" was submitted by the US postmaster (and then President of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association) Edward Landwehr. Edward Landwehr was the son of Herman and Anna Helene Landwehr, both German immigrants and early settlers in the community and for whose family Landwehr Road in Northbrook is named. In 1923 "Northbrook", the winning name, was adopted. At the time, Northbrook had 500 residents. Later on, after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Northbrook's population began to rapidly increase. In 1997, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

visited Northbrook to congratulate the 8th-grade students of Northfield Township (which is mainly Northbrook) for getting the highest score on a world science test, and for getting the second-highest score on a world math test. Between 1950 and 1980, the town's population rose from 3,319 to 30,735. Northbrook was the first

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

not bordering

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

to filter Lake Michigan water for public use. Owing to the suburbanization of the community, the last working farm in Northbrook, the Wayside Farm, was sold and closed in 1987.

Geography

Northbrook is located at (42.129226, −87.840715). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Northbrook has a total area of , of which (or 99.51%) is land and (or 0.49%) is water. Northbrook is generally considered to be a part of the Chicago North Shore.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 35,222 people, 12,749 households, and 9,347 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 14,209 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 77.53%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.76%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.07% Native American, 16.35% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.80% from other races, and 4.49% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 3.41% of the population. There were 12,749 households, out of which 53.66% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.61% were married couples living together, 5.79% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.68% were non-families. 24.98% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.31% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 2.55. The village's age distribution consisted of 20.8% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 17.5% from 25 to 44, 30.5% from 45 to 64, and 25.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males. The median income for a household in the village was $128,883, and the median income for a family was $173,545. Males had a median income of $105,262 versus $53,061 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the village was $72,969. About 1.7% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over. ''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''

Religion

The North Shore is known for having many

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

; Northbrook and its neighbors are home to many synagogues and the local high school offers

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

language courses. Northbrook has eight synagogues, is home to a K-8 Jewish Day School, Sager Solomon Schecter Day School of Meperpolitin Chicago and a branch of JCC Chicago. Besides Judaism,

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

and

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

are major religions in Northbrook. Northbrook has many churches, including the St. Nortbert Catholic Church, the Village Presbyterian Church of Northbrook, the Northbrook United Methodist Church, the St. Giles Episcopal Church, and the Northbrook Covenant Evangelical Church. There is also a small

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...

community. The Islamic Cultural Center of Greater Chicago is located in Northbrook. The

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Hanuman Temple of Greater Chicago is located in neighboring Glenview, and there is a Bahá'í House of Worship in nearby Wilmette.

Society of the Divine Word The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation ...

constructed Northbrook's Techny Towers in 1901 to house their North American headquarters and St. Joseph's Technical School, which operated for twelve years. Techny's name is derived from this school. St. Mary's Mission Seminary, the first of its kind which prepared priests and brothers for foreign missions, was opened by the Divine Word Missionaries in 1909.

Economy

Northbrook had 15,613 employed civilians as of the 2006–2008 census estimate, including 6,841 females. Of the civilian workers, 12,458 were private for profit wage and salary workers. The corporate headquarters of Underwriters Laboratories, Crate & Barrel, and Bell Flavors & Fragrances are located in Northbrook, as are the North American headquarters of Astellas, a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

, and Italian-based Barilla, the largest pasta company in the world. Allstate's

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

are in a nearby area in Northfield Township. In 2021, the company announced it would sell the property.

Top employers

According to Northbrook's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the village are:

Arts and culture

Founded in 1973, the Northbrook Historical Society works to preserve Northbrook's heritage and educate people about it. It operates a museum located in the former Northfield Inn. Founded in 1980, the Northbrook Symphony is a nonprofit that plays orchestral music in the town. Just outside of Northbrook lie the

Kohl Children's Museum Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago is a children's museum in Glenview, Illinois that provides a hands-on learning laboratory for children ages birth to 8. It is named for philanthropist Dolores Kohl, daughter of the founder of Kohl’s ...

in Glenview and the

Botanic Garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

in Glencoe.

Annual cultural events

Northbrook's largest event is Northbrook Days, a multi-day festival typically held every year towards the end of the summer. It features carnival games, roller coasters and amusement rides, food vendors, live music, and raffles. Another prominent event is the Farmers' Market held every Wednesday from June to October in the Meadow Shopping Plaza parking lot on the corner of Cherry Lane & Meadow Street in downtown Northbrook. There, vendors sell locally-made goods such as produce, cheese, pies, and condiments.

Parks and recreation

Northbrook has many parks and golf courses. Parks in Northbrook include Village Green Park, Techny Prairie Park and Fields, Wood Oaks Green Park, Stonegate Park, Crestwood Park, and Greenfield Park. Golf courses in Northbrook include Heritage Oaks Golf Club (formerly Sportsman's Country Club), Anetsberger Golf Course, and Willow Hill Golf Course. Other facilities in the town include the Techny Prairie Activity Center, Northbrook Sports Center, Northbrook Leisure Center, and Meadowhill Aquatic Center. In recognition of the village's vast greenspace, the Arbor Day Foundation has designated Northbrook as a Tree City U.S.A. community since 1994. The Northbrook Park District, headquartered in Northbrook, operates recreational facilities in Northbrook. The park district, formed in June 1927, serves all of Northbrook and some

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

s within Cook County. The park district lies within the townships of

Northfield Northfield may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland * Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland * Northfield, Birmingham, England * Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England United States * Northfield, Connect ...

and Wheeling. Situated along the

Des Plaines River Trail The Des Plaines River Trail is a recreational multiuse trail that follows the course of the Des Plaines River through most of Lake and part of Cook County in northeast Illinois in the United States. Trail uses include hiking/walking, bicycli ...

upon the

Des Plaines River The Des Plaines River () is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American H ...

, the River Trail Nature Center houses educational exhibits and events about local biology and wildlife.

Law and government

The

Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of Northbrook adopted a council-manager form of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

after a 1953 referendum. The Village President, six-member Board of Trustees, and the Village Clerk, all of whom must be residents of Northbrook, are elected at large for staggered four year terms. The board establishes policies and hires a village manager to operate the day-to-day business.Elected Officials
." Village of Northbrook. Retrieved on August 10, 2010 The most recent board election took place in 2021, with Kathryn Ciesla winning 4,263 votes (63.31% of the total vote). The current board consists of: The Northbrook Police Department provides law enforcement and the Northbrook Fire Department provides fire suppression and emergency medical services for the village and its residents. Civil and criminal law cases are heard in the Cook County Circuit Court of the State of Illinois court system, or in the Northern District of Illinois in the federal system. In the state court, the public prosecutor is the Illinois state's attorney; in the Federal court it is the United States attorney.

Politics

Like other suburbs in the area, Northbrook is considered a Democratic stronghold. In the 2008 presidential election,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

received over 60% of Northfield Township's vote. At the national level, Northbrook is represented by Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Democrats. The northern and western parts of the village are part of Illinois's 10th congressional district, which is currently represented by

Brad Schneider Bradley Scott Schneider (born August 20, 1961) is an American businessman and politician who became the U.S. representative for Illinois's 10th congressional district in 2017, previously holding the position from 2013 to 2015. Before he was el ...

, a Democrat from Deerfield. The southern and eastern parts of the village are part of Illinois's 9th congressional district, which is currently represented by

Jan Schakowsky Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative from since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is anchored in Chicago's North Side, including mu ...

, a Democrat from Evanston. At the state level, Northbrook is a part of the 9th Senate District represented by

Laura Fine Laura Fine (born 1967) is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate for the 9th district. Fine previously represented the 17th district of the Illinois House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019 and as Northfield Township Clerk. She grew up i ...

(D- Glenview), the 29th Senate District represented by Julie Morrison (D- Deerfield), and the 30th Senate District represented by

Adriane Johnson Adriane Johnson is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the Illinois Senate from the 30th district. Johnson assumed office on October 11, 2020, succeeding Terry Link. The 30th district includes all or part of the municipal ...

(D-Buffalo Grove). Additionally, the village lies within the 17th House District represented by

Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives for the 17th district. The 17th district includes all or parts of Evanston, Glenview, Golf, Morton Grove, Northbrook, Skokie and Wilmette. Electoral ...

(D- Glenview), the 18th House District represented by Robyn Gabel (D-

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

), the 57th House District represented by

Jonathan Carroll Jonathan Samuel Carroll (born January 26, 1949) is an American fiction writer primarily known for novels that may be labelled magic realism, slipstream or contemporary fantasy. He has lived in Austria since 1974. Life and work Carroll was ...

(D-Northbrook), who has an office in Northbrook, the 58th House District represented by Bob Morgan (D- Deerfield), and the 59th House District represented by Daniel Didech (D- Buffalo Grove). At the county level, the municipality lies within District 14 represented by Scott R. Britton (D- Glenview).

Crime

The North Shore is known for its low crime rates. In fact, Northbrook was ranked by MoneyGeek, a financial planning website, as being the safest town in Illinois, largely due to its low ($116 per capita) expenditure on crime. Northbrook's crime rate is significantly lower than the national average. That being said, thefts in Northbrook are not uncommon and have made headlines. Moreover, a murderer who acted in Northbrook is on the U.S. Marshals ‘15 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Education

Schools

Public schools

Northbrook is served by multiple school districts. The elementary school districts Northbrook School District 27, Northbrook School District 28, Northbrook/Glenview School District 30, and West Northfield School District 31 serve and are headquartered in Northbrook.School Districts' Boundary Map
." Village of Northbrook. Retrieved on August 10, 2010 Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21, headquartered in Wheeling, also serves sections of Northbrook. District 27 operates three grade-level centers in Northbrook, including Hickory Point Elementary School (K-2), Shabonee Elementary School (3–5), and Wood Oaks Junior High School (6-8). David Kroeze is the Superintendent. In the past, the district also contained the Grove School (closed in 2011) and Indian Ridge School (closed in 1984), which is now home to the Leisure Center and Indian Ridge Park. District 28 operates three (K-5) elementary schools, Meadowbrook Elementary School, Greenbriar Elementary School, and Westmoor Elementary School.Elementary Schools
." Village of Northbrook. Retrieved on August 10, 2010 Northbrook Junior High School (6-8) is the district's middle school.Junior High
." Village of Northbrook. Retrieved on August 10, 2010 Formerly operated by District 28, Oaklane School opened in 1957 and closed in 1977. District 30 operates Wescott Elementary School (K-5) in Northbrook and Willowbrook Elementary School (K-5) in Glenview, with both schools serving Northbrook. Maple Junior High School (6-8) in Northbrook is District 30's middle school. The portion of Northbrook encompassed by District 31 is served by Winkelman Elementary School in Glenview and Field Junior High School in Northbrook. Areas within CCSD 21 are served by two schools, Walt Whitman Elementary School in Wheeling and Holmes Junior High School in Wheeling. Northfield Township High School District 225 is the high school district serving Northbrook. Glenbrook North High School is located in and serves most of Northbrook while

Glenbrook South High School Glenbrook South High School, or GBS, is a public four-year high school located in Glenview, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Northfield Township High School District, which also includes Glenbrook North ...

, Glenbrook North's main rival, serves nearby Glenview but includes some parts of Northbrook. The western area within Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 is served by Township High School District 214 as part of Wheeling High School.

Private schools

* St. Norbert Catholic School, a K-8 Catholic Grade School, is in Northbrook. * The Cove School, a K–12 school for disabled children, is in Northbrook. * Solomon Schechter, a K-8 Jewish school, is in Northbrook. * Countryside Montessori School, a K-8 private school, is in Northbrook.

Colleges

Oakton Community College Learning Center (8973165759)

Oakton Community College (in Skokie,

Des Plaines Des Plaines is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 60,675. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is located just north of O'Hare International Airport. It is situated on and is named after th ...

and other locations) serves Northbrook and surrounding areas.

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

is located in nearby Evanston, and

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts in ...

is located in nearby Lake Forest.

Public library

is the

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamen ...

of Northbrook. The library's origins stem from a reading room created by the Citizens' Club of Shermerville. A primary advocate for a library in Northbrook after World War II was Carolyn A. Landwehr, daughter-in-law of Edward Landwehr who had originally suggested the name "Northbrook" for the community. The Northbrook Public Library first opened on June 30, 1952, in space located in the village hall; the first dedicated library building was dedicated in 1954. The northern portion of the current library opened in 1969, and bonds of 1975 and 1997 expanded the current library.Library History
" Northbrook Public Library. Retrieved on August 10, 2010

Media

Television

Northbrook's government has a television station that all residents are able to access, NCTV Cable Channel 17. The station broadcasts meetings and information about the village.

Newspapers

Northbrook is served by two

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

s, the Northbrook Star and the Northbrook Herald. The Northbrook Star is a division of the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

whilst Northbrook Herald is a division of Daily Herald, which is headquartered in Arlington Heights. In the past, the village also housed The Northbrook Tower, a division of 22nd Century Media which went bankrupt in 2020.

Movies and filming

Director John Hughes, a native of Northbrook, used the fictional town of "Shermer" as a setting for several of his films. David Kamp of ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'' said "Hughes's Shermer was partly Northbrook and partly a composite of all the North Shore's towns and neighborhoods—and, by extension, all the different milieus that existed in American suburbia" and that Shermer "was at once an Everytown for every teen and an explicit homage to Hughes's home turf, the North Shore suburbs above Chicago." Hughes and his family moved to Northbrook in 1962, and Hughes attended Glenbrook North High School. Some exterior shots of Glenbrook North High School were used in the films '' The Breakfast Club'' and '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. Northbrook is notable for being home to the "Save Ferris" water tower featured in the movie, which inspired the name of the synonymous band.

Radio

Northbrook is served by WGBK, a non-commercial station operated by students at Glenbrook North High School and

. It broadcasts popular music, local high school sports, and covers local news.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Northbrook is connected to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

's transportation network.

Roads

Interstate Highways: * I-94

Edens Expressway Iens ( nl, Edens) is a small village in Súdwest-Fryslân in the province Friesland of the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name ...

Tri-State Tollway

U.S. Highways The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

: *

Skokie Highway * US_45

Milwaukee Avenue Illinois State Routes: * Illinois_21

Milwaukee Avenue * Illinois_43

Waukegan Rd * Illinois_68

Dundee Road Other major roads include: * Cherry Lane/Church Street *

Lake Cook Road Lake Cook Road (alternatively referred to as County Line Road or Main Street in some areas) is a major east–west highway in Cook, Lake, McHenry, and Kane Counties in Illinois. For much of its length, it marks the border between Cook and L ...

* Landwehr Road * Pfingsten Road * Sanders Road * Shermer Road * Skokie Boulevard * Sunset Ridge Road * Techny Road * Walters Avenue * Willow Road 18 roads in Northbrook are named after pioneer settlers: Bach Street, Dehne Road, Happ Road, Holste Road, Huehl Road, Kiest Avenue, Koehling Road, Landwehr Road, Lee Road, Lorenz Drive, Pfingsten Road, Sanders Road, Sherman Drive, Shermer Road, Voltz Road, Walters Avenue, Wessling Drive, and Winkelman Road.

Public Transit

Northbrook is served by

Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines ...

commuter rail. The village is located along the

Milwaukee District North Line The Milwaukee District North Line (MD-N) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its northern suburbs. Although Metra does not refer to any of its lines by color, the timetable accents for the Milwaukee District North line are pa ...

, which runs from Chicago Union Station to Fox Lake. Northbrook station is located on Shermer Road in downtown Northbrook and

Lake Cook Road station Lake Cook Road (also known as Lake Cook) is a Metra station along the Milwaukee District North Line, situated on the border between Northbrook and Deerfield, Illinois. It is located at 601 Lake Cook Road, is away from Chicago Union Station, the ...

is located just across the border in Deerfield. Furthermore, the Amtrak '' Hiawatha Service'' and '' Empire Builder'' trains stop in nearby Glenview. Northbrook is also served by

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US *Pace Airlines, an American charter airline * Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

suburban bus routes 213, 422, and 471. For elderly or disabled residents, Northbrook offers

paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...

in the form of a subsidized taxi program. Northfield Township, which Northbrook lies in, has an identical program called "Dial-a-Ride".

Airports

Northbrook is located 17 miles away from

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

, 33 miles away from

Midway Airport Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Lo ...

, and next to

Chicago Executive Airport Chicago Executive Airport , formerly Palwaukee Municipal Airport, is a public airport 18 miles (33 km) northwest of Chicago, in the village of Wheeling in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is owned by the City of Prospect Heights ...

. Other major regional airports within driving distance include

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

's General Mitchell International Airport, Chicago Rockford International Airport, and

Waukegan National Airport Waukegan National Airport is a public airport in Waukegan, in Lake County, Illinois. The airport is north of Chicago. It was originally Waukegan Memorial Airport. It has been operated by the Waukegan Port District since 1956 and is the second ...

. From 1929 to 1973 Northbrook was home to Sky Harbor Airport. Today the area it sat on has been transformed into Sky Harbor Business Park, which includes a restaurant and an air conditioning business that operate out of the airport's former

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

Utilities

Northbrook's government manages water and sewer services. Electricity is provided by

Commonwealth Edison Commonwealth Edison, commonly known by syllabic abbreviation as ComEd, is the largest electric utility in Illinois, and the in Chicago and much of Northern Illinois. Its service territory stretches roughly from Iroquois County on the south ...

(ComEd). Internet can be accessed through

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

. Natural gas is provided by Nicor Gas. Garbage and recycling services are handled by

Waste Management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

operates three post offices in Northbrook: the Northbrook Post Office, the Northbrook Downtown Post Office, and the Techny Post Office.

Health Systems

Several clinics and medical service centers exist in Northbrook including a

Lurie Children's Hospital Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, formerly Children's Memorial Hospital and commonly known as Lurie Children's, is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care children's hospital located in Chicago, Illinois. The hospital has ...

's Outpatient Center. Nearby hospitals include Glenbrook Hospital and Highland Park Hospital, both of which are operated by NorthShore University HealthSystem.

Area codes

From 1947 until 1988, Northbrook used a single area code, 312. However, in 1988, the 312 area code was made exclusive to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and the 708 area code was introduced. Then, in 1996, the 708 area code was split into three: 708, 630, and 847. Currently, Northbrook uses the 847 area code as well as the

224 Year 224 ( CCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iulianus and Crispinus (or, less frequently, year 977 ''Ab urbe con ...

area code which was introduced in 2002.

Notable people

* David Abidor (born 1992), soccer player *

Scott Adsit Robert Scott Adsit (born November 26, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, Adsit joined the mainstage cast of Chicago's The Second City in 1994 after attending Columbia College Chicago. He app ...

(born 1965), comedian, cast member of ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', tak ...

, voiced Baymax in the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film Big Hero 6'' *

Steve Bartman The Steve Bartman incident was a controversial play that occurred during a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins on October 14, 2003, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 postse ...

, namesake of "Bartman incident" from Game 6 of 2003 National League Championship Series * Steven D. Binder (born 1971), Hollywood producer and screenwriter * Mike Brown (born 1985), right wing for several

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

teams * Meg Waite Clayton (born 1959), novelist * Chris Collins (born 1974), basketball head coach, Northwestern *

J. T. Compher Joseph Taylor Compher (born April 8, 1995) is an American professional ice hockey center for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the second round, 35th overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2013 NHL Ent ...

(born 1995), center for NHL's

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (N ...

Billy Donlon William Joseph Donlon (born February 10, 1977) is an American college basketball coach, currently an associate head coach at Clemson University. Playing career Donlon played four years of basketball at UNC Wilmington under Jerry Wainwright, scor ...

(born 1977), head coach for

Wright State Raiders men's basketball The Wright State Raiders men's basketball is the men's college basketball team that represents Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio. The school's team currently competes in the Horizon League at the NCAA Division I level. The Raiders won t ...

2010-16 * Han Chae-young (born 1980), actress who primarily stars in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n television dramas * Luol Deng (born 1985), small forward for NBA's Chicago Bulls * Anne Henning (born 1955), Olympic speed skater, 1972 gold medalistDamata, Ted. "Anne Henning Sets Record; Wins Olympics 500 meters: Northbrook Gets 2d Gold for U.S." (February 10, 1972). ''Chicago Tribune'', p. D1 * Dianne Holum (born 1951), Olympic speed skater, 1972 gold medalist * John Hughes (1950–2009), film director and screenwriterSinger, Matt.
The Breakfast Club's Newest Member: Kevin Smith
." '' IFC''. August 4, 2010. Retrieved on August 10, 2010 * Kaskade (born 1971), professional DJ *

Ken Goldstein Ken Goldstein (born June 1969), also known as Kene G and Jack Dempsey, is an Americans, American musician, film and television writer, producer, director and occasional actor. He is a co-founder of Planet illogica and CEO of The Six Shooter Compan ...

(born 1969), documentary director; writer; musician, author of "The Way of the Nerd" book series * Krewella, EDM group * Jason Kipnis (born 1987), second baseman for MLB's

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

Jayson Megna Jayson Megna (born February 1, 1990) is an American professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Megna was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but grew up in Northbrook, Illinoi ...

(born 1990), right wing for NHL's

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce ...

* Pat Misch (born 1981), pitcher for MLB's

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

* John Park (born 1988), former

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to ...

contestant; currently active as a musician in

* Kathleen Parker (born 1943), Illinois state senator * Scott Sanderson (1955–2019), pitcher with several MLB teams * Johnny Seo (born 1995), K-pop artist, member of the K-pop groups NCT 127 and NCT (group) * Jon Scheyer (born 1987), American-Israeli All-American basketball player for national champion 2009–10 Duke basketball team, also played for Maccabi Tel Aviv

Sister cities

Northbrook became sister cities with Diegem, Belgium, in 1966.

References

External links

*
Historical society
{{Authority control Villages in Illinois Chicago metropolitan area Villages in Cook County, Illinois Populated places established in 1901 Jews and Judaism in Chicago 1901 establishments in Illinois