Regretting Mr. Wright: Mamah Tells Her Own Story

Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright fell in love. They were both married to other people and had eight children to care for between them. Flaunting all social mores of their time and abandoning their obligations, they ran off together. They spent time in Europe and then later settled in Wisconsin where Mr. Wright built Taliesin for Mamah….

Great Gatsby Gala - June 9th

Save The Date for our Annual Gala at 457 Ash.

Saturday, June 9, 2012
Invitations have been mailed. If you did not receive one, call or email us and we’d be happy to send one to you.

What to do with Boys? The Origins of the Winnetka Community House

Gazette Article by: Nan Greenough
Appeared in the Gazette: Spring 2012

Boys—and what to do with them—were a major Winnetka issue in the early 1900s. The question had dogged the Village for years, with no good solution. Regularly, articles in The Messenger (the Congregational Church newspaper) complained that, by loafing around the depot, the stores and the post office, boys disturbed the peace. They got into trouble. They used bad language. Some urged the Village to hire an additional police officer to deal with perceived delinquency.

The Village had been transformed from a small farming village of several hundred in the 1860s to a commuter suburb of 3,000 by 1910….

The Store on the Corner at Chestnut and Elm

Gazette Article by: Courtney Jennings
Appeared in the Gazette: Spring 2012

For almost a century, the golden era of department stores heralded many changes in America, including the shift from rural to urban and suburban living, new careers for women, mass consumerism fueled by advertising and individual expression through products and their branding. For Winnetka shoppers, the intersection of Chestnut and Elm was the place to be for over fifty years—spanning the 1920s to the 1970s, and evolving from a dry goods store to the site of a major department store.

Winnetka Spirits Part 2: Blind Pigs, Roadhouses and Change

Gazette Article by: Becky Hurley
Appeared in the Gazette: Spring 2012

In our last issue we explored the early history of drinking in Winnetka, from the 1869 Village Charter banning the sale of “spirituous liquors” to the spirited support for Prohibition from Winnetka organizations and residents. Long after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Winnetka chose to remain “dry,” not even allowing the sale of liquor in grocery stores until 1982—almost 50 years later.