Biohazard Cleanup Near West Glencoe Glencoe, IL

Glencoe is a lakefront village in northeastern Cook County on Chicago's North Shore, about 21 miles north of downtown Chicago.

Glencoe was incorporated in 1869 and developed around a railroad stop after former Chicago mayor Walter S. Gurnee, who had become president of the Chicago-to-Milwaukee rail line, bought the land in 1867 and began subdividing it.

The origin of Glencoe's name is genuinely disputed: it is variously attributed to the Glencoe valley in Scotland, to early resident Matthew Coe, or to the maiden name of Gurnee's wife, and the village's first seal was modeled on the seal of Glencoe, Scotland.

The 2020 census counted 8,849 people in Glencoe, and Census QuickFacts puts the village at about 2,977 households.

Glencoe is one of the wealthiest communities in Illinois: based on 2023 Census data its median household income of $250,001 was the second-highest of any Illinois ZIP code.

Glencoe homes are overwhelmingly owner-occupied, with an owner-occupancy rate of about 92 percent, and Census figures put the median value of owner-occupied homes at about $1.43 million.

Glencoe covers just 3.78 square miles on the west shore of Lake Michigan and is buffered from suburbs to the north and west by more than 1,200 acres of Cook County Forest Preserve, including the Skokie Lagoons.

The Chicago Botanic Garden, with 27 gardens spread across 385 acres, sits at the upper northwest corner of Glencoe, though it technically lies just outside the village limits.

Glencoe contains 13 structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, including the Ravine Bluffs subdivision with its entry monuments and the William A. Glassner House.

Glencoe's North Shore Congregation Israel synagogue was designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, designer of the original World Trade Center towers.