Editing Wilmette, Illinois (section)

====Early 20th century====
[[Sheridan Road]] opened on October 8, 1900. This opened up the North Shore to automobiles, providing a north–south arterial roadway along the lakeshore.<ref name="shea"/>

In 1900, by a margin of 62 to 52, village residents approved a referendum to establish a free public library, thus establishing the [[Wilmette Public Library]].<ref name=wilmettelibrarytimeline>{{cite web |title=Wilmette Public Library Timeline |url=https://www.wilmettelibrary.info/about/about-us/mission-and-strategic-plan/library-history |publisher=Wilmette Public Library |access-date=August 19, 2019}}</ref> In 1905, [[Carnegie library|with the assistance]] of funds from [[Andrew Carnegie]], the village was able to erect a new building for its library at the corner of Park and Wilmette Avenues.<ref name=images/><ref name=wilmettelibrarytimeline/>

[[File:North Shore Channel - Wilmette, IL.JPG|thumb|North Shore Channel in Wilmette in 2013]]

The North Shore Channel, which terminates in Wilmette, was a crucial part of the huge engineering and sanitary project to reverse the course of the Chicago River in order to carry Chicago's sewage away from Lake Michigan. In 1907, upon beginning construction of the [[North Shore Channel]], Sanitary District of Chicago president [[Robert R. McCormick]] noted that the construction of the canal would ultimately create approximately twenty-two acres of landfill from excavated materials next to the mouth of the canal.<ref name=parkdistrict>{{cite web |url=http://www.wilmettepark.org/about-us/history |title=Park District History |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=www.wilmettepark.org |publisher=Wilmette Park District |access-date=June 15, 2017 |archive-date=June 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615075837/http://www.wilmettepark.org/about-us/history |url-status=live }}</ref> Illinois law stipulated that an organized Park District had the authority to, without any cost, take possession of any man-made land for use as parkland. Citizens, thereafter, petitioned for a vote to be held on the prospect of establishing Park District.<ref name=parkdistrict/>

An election was held January 1908, with 174 votes in favor of creating a park district and 37 votes against it. The Wilmette Park District Board of Commissioners was appointed, serving the entirety of the village, as well as a segment of northeast Evanston (responsibility for which was later assumed by the Evanston Park District). The Wilmette Park District's Board of Commissioners held their first meeting on February 17, 1908.<ref name=parkdistrict/> State legislation was passed May 25, 1911, granting the Park District ownership of the landfill. Ultimately, the Park District gained ownership of a riparian property stretching between Lake Avenue and Forest Avenue. Today, this land forms much of Gillson Park.<ref name=parkdistrict/> The excavated material that formed the landfill turned out to largely consist of a relatively impervious blue clay. Mulchings and plantings began part of a years-long process of transforming the landfill into usable parkland.<ref name=parkdistrict/> The North Shore Channel project, completed in 1909, also resulted in the creation of Wilmette Harbor.

Wilmette's first informal beach was established at the foot of Elmwood Avenue in 1910. Wooden steps were constructed down the bluff to allow access to the beach from the street.<ref name=images/> In 1914 the Wilmette Beach Improvement Association was founded to clean up the village's unsupervised shoreline. The group established an official swimming beach at the foot of Lake Avenue, the site of today's Gillson Beach, with facilities including a bathhouse, swings, benches, and umbrellas.<ref name=images/>

In 1912 the [[Northwestern Elevated Railroad]] (today's [[Chicago Transit Authority]] [[Purple Line (CTA)|Purple Line]]) extended its service into Wilmette.<ref name=images/> This occurred without permission from the village, as the tracks were extended from the route's [[Central station (CTA Purple Line)|existing terminal in Evanston]] into the village's border under the cover of darkness before the morning of April 1, 1912.<ref name=images/><ref name=ctalinden>{{cite web |url=https://www.chicago-l.org/stations/linden.html |title=Linden (500N/400W) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=www.chicago-l.org |publisher=chicago-l.org |access-date=June 8, 2017 |archive-date=June 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621111932/http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/linden.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Later that year, a second track was added in Wilmette and the station's platform was elongated.<ref name=ctalinden/> In 1913 the tracks were extended deeper into the village and the makeshift station that had been constructed under the cover of darkness was replaced with two new stations in Wilmette at [[Isabella station|Isabella]] and [[Linden station (CTA)|Linden]],<ref name=images/> the latter of which was designed by [[Arthur U. Gerber]] and served as the line's terminus.<ref name=ctalinden/>

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More than 400 men from Wilmette and Gross Point Village served during World War I.<ref name=images/> 150 of them served overseas, thirteen (12 from Wilmette, and one from Gross Point) lost their lives in the war. Many women back home volunteered in the Wilmette branch of the [[American Red Cross]] Auxiliary.<ref name=images/>

By 1918 the village of Wilmette had increased its population to 5,000 from a population of only 1,500 twenty years earlier.<ref name=images/> The Wilmette Health Center (a [[free clinic]]) was founded that same year.<ref name=images/>