A Brief History


The area now called Lincolnwood was first inhabited by the Potawatomi Indians. After the Indian Boundary Treaty of 1816 however, these original natives left the area. Forty years later, in 1856 European farming settlement began with German immigrants arriving in the area. The first area commercial establishment, the Halfway House Saloon, opened in 1873. In 1891, a railway station opened in nearby Skokie, (then called Niles Center) and in 1909, the North Shore Channel was completed, both early developments which further opened the area to European settlement.


In 1911, with a total of 359 residents, the area was officially incorporated as a Village. It was first named Tessville, after Johann Tess, the first European to settle the area. By the 1920’s however, Tessville had became a haven for speakeasies and gambling halls. This sordid early period however changed in the 1930’s, with Lincoln Avenue becoming a state highway in 1932 and the passage of a local liquor license law in 1934. In 1936 the Village was officially renamed Lincolnwood and in 1938 Lincolnwood Elementary School District #74 was formed.


12 | 2011-12 Community Guide


In 1942, Bell & Howell opened its facilities in Lincolnwood, which encouraged other businesses to move into the Village. By 1950 the population of Lincolnwood stood at 3,072. With the ending of World War II and the opening of the Edens Expressway in 1951, the Village saw a tremendous increase in development, with the Village population reaching more than 11,700 by 1960. More than half of all houses in the community today were constructed during the period of 1940-1959.


Continued development of the remaining vacant land in the Village occurred through the 1960’s. One of the Village’s most famous and notorious buildings, the Purple Hotel, was constructed in 1960 at the intersection of Lincoln and Touhy Avenues which became a long standing icon in the Village, due to the unique purple color of its brick.


The Village reached its peak population in 1970, of 12,929 residents. In 1978, both the Lincolnwood Library District was formed and the Lincolnwood Chamber of Commerce and Industry was created. By 1980, the Village population decreased somewhat to 11,921 residents. In the mid to late 1980’s, the Village saw development in the form of a few multistory condominium buildings.


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