Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Winnetka, IL

Winnetka is an affluent village on Lake Michigan along Chicago's North Shore in Cook County, and its name comes from a Potawatomi word meaning 'beautiful land.'

Winnetka's first houses were built in 1836, when Erastus Patterson and his family arrived from Vermont and opened a tavern serving travelers on the Green Bay Trail post road.

Winnetka was first subdivided in 1854 by Charles Peck and Walter S. Gurnee, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, and the village incorporated in 1869 with a population of just 450.

Winnetka had 12,744 residents at the 2020 census, living in 4,353 households with an average household size of 2.91 people.

Winnetka is home to New Trier Township High School, founded in 1901 and nationally renowned for its academics, whose main sophomore-through-senior campus sits in Winnetka while its freshman campus is in neighboring Northfield.

Winnetka's Crow Island School, designed with the involvement of Eliel and Eero Saarinen, is a landmark of school architecture and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990.

The Georgian house at 671 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka is the famous 'Home Alone' house, used as the McCallister family home in the 1990 film Home Alone and its sequel.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Winnetka in 1965.

The Winnetka Park District cares for 28 park sites on more than 244 acres and operates three Lake Michigan swimming beaches, Maple Street, Tower Road, and Elder Lane, plus the Lloyd Beach boat launch and sailing center and the Centennial dog beach.

Winnetka is one of America's wealthiest communities: the median value of its owner-occupied homes was about $1.34 million in recent Census Bureau estimates, about 92 percent of homes are owner-occupied, and 86.7 percent of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher.