Editing Wilmette, Illinois (section)

==== The 1890s ====
[[File:Early Wilmette village hall.jpg|thumb|left|Wilmette constructed its first village hall in 1890.]]

By the early 1890s the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad had double-tracked its line in Wilmette.<ref name=images/> In 1890 Wilmette constructed its first village hall. In 1892 the village began purchasing treated water from Evanston<ref name=images/> and had begun to set up telephone service.<ref name="shea"/> In 1895 the village established the Wilmette Public Works Department to provide maintenance to the village's infrastructure.<ref name=images/> In 1897 the railway built a new and larger [[Frost & Granger]]-designed station house for its Chicago & Milwaukee station, on the east side of the tracks. The 1874 station building was [[Structure relocation|relocated]] and used for freight, and later for general storage.<ref name=images/>

[[File:North Shore Line in Wilmette.jpg|thumb|right|North Shore Line began service through Wilmette in 1899.]]

The [[Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee]] (North Shore Line) began service in Wilmette in 1899. Its route (from south to north) entered Wilmette along the Northwestern Elevated tracks.<ref name=images/> After leaving the Linden station, the trains [[street running|ran west on Greenleaf Avenue]], before running north alongside the tracks of the Chicago & Milwaukee railroad.<ref name=images/>  The segment which ran parallel to the Chicago & Milwaukee railroad is today occupied by the 9-mile [[Green Bay Trail]].

Wilmette was home to a variety of social and literary clubs. Among these was the Wilmette Woman's Club, which was founded in 1891 as a reading club but quickly expanded to embrace a wide variety of philanthropic activities. Another was the Sunday Evening Supper Club, which would host such prominent speakers as [[William Jennings Bryan]] and [[Jane Addams]].<ref name=images/>

[[File:Anti annexation circulator (Wilmette).jpg|thumb|right|100x100px|Circulator opposing annexation]]
[[File:Old Wilmette fire department station on Central Avenue.jpg|thumb|right|150x150px|Among the improvements to the village's services was the construction of a central fire station.]]

Referendums were held in 1894 and 1897 over whether Wilmette should seek to be annexed by neighboring [[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]]. Proponents wanted to take advantage of Evanston's then superior fire, police, and water services, as well as Evanston Township High School. One annexation referendum lost by a vote of 168 to 165; three others also failed.<ref name="EncycChi">{{cite web| title = Encyclopedia of Chicago, Wilmette, IL| publisher = Chicago Historical Society| url = http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1360.html| access-date = January 15, 2008| archive-date = December 24, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071224130231/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1360.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first=David W. | last=Scott | title=North suburban history: Temperance, tolerance, and the shaping of the northshore | date=March 1, 2005 | url=http://www.lib.niu.edu/2005/ih030705.html | work=Illinois Heritage | pages=7–8 | access-date=December 18, 2008 | archive-date=June 17, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617021002/http://www.lib.niu.edu/2005/ih030705.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Following the result of these votes, the village improved its own services.<ref name=images/> Among the efforts at improving the village's services was the construction of a central fire station in 1899.  Paving of the village streets with specially made bricks began in earnest at this time, as well.  New Trier High School, built in Winnetka but also drawing students from Wilmette, was opened in 1901.<ref name=bushnell/>

A series of new schools were built in the nineties to serve Wilmette's growing community. In 1892 an eight-classroom brick school building was built to house Central School, replacing the previous one-room structure.<ref name=images/> Logan school was opened in 1893 on Kline Street as a one-room school house. Its building would subsequently be expanded.<ref name=images/> Today, McKenzie Elementary School stands at the former site of Logan School.<ref name=images/>