Editing Skokie, Illinois (section)

===Beginnings===
[[File:summer 2006 0882.jpg|thumb|A 1925 "Chicago"-style bungalow in Skokie]]
[[File:Skokie Village Hall.JPG|thumb|Skokie Village Hall]]
In 1888, the community was incorporated as Niles Centre.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Niles Center Incorporation Papers, March 8, 1888|url=https://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/skokiepo02/id/1670/|access-date=June 17, 2021|website=www.idaillinois.org}}</ref> About 1910, the spelling was [[American and British English spelling differences|Americanized]] to "Niles Center". However, the name caused postal confusion with the neighboring village of [[Niles, Illinois|Niles]]. A village-renaming campaign began in the 1930s. In a referendum on November 15, 1940, residents chose the Native American name "Skokie" over the name "Devonshire".

During the real estate boom of the 1920s, large parcels were subdivided; many two- and three-flat apartment buildings were built, with the "Chicago"-style [[Bungalow#Chicago bungalow|bungalow]] a dominant architectural specimen. Large-scale development ended as a result of the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|Great Crash of 1929]] and consequent [[Great Depression]]. It was not until the 1940s and the 1950s, when parents of the [[baby boom]] generation moved their families out of Chicago, that Skokie's housing development began again. Consequently, the village developed commercially, an example being the Old Orchard Shopping Center, currently named [[Westfield Old Orchard]].

During the night of November 27–28, 1934, after a gunfight in nearby [[Barrington, Illinois|Barrington]] that left two [[FBI]] agents dead, two accomplices of notorious 25-year-old bank-robber [[Baby Face Nelson]] (Lester Gillis) dumped his bullet-riddled body in a ditch along Niles Center Road adjoining the St. Peter Catholic Cemetery,<ref>[http://www.mapquest.com/maps?name=St+Peter's+Catholic+Church&city=Skokie&state=IL&address=8116+Niles+Center+Rd&zipcode=60077&country=US&latitude=42.028788&longitude=-87.753977&geocode=ADDRESS&id=7518987 St. Peter Catholic Cemetery, 8115 Niles Center Rd., Skokie 60077]</ref> a block north of Oakton Street in the town.<ref>"Trace Outlaw Nelson on Death Ride". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. November 29, 1934. p. 1</ref>

The first African-American family to move to Skokie arrived in 1961, and [[Open Housing Act|open-housing]] activists helped to integrate the suburb subsequently.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Integration Eases into Highland Pk.|last = Yackley|first = Sel|date = April 30, 1967|journal = Chicago Tribune}}</ref>