302 forest, 2021.

302 Forest has served many purposes over its nearly 150-year history, and thanks to several dedicated owners, remains much the same as it did when it was originally built. Constructed in 1873, this beautiful Italianate clapboard house was built for Winnetka settlers George and Sarah McKinney, who were active members of the Winnetka community for 30 plus years. They were early members of the Winnetka Congregational Church, which was founded in 1874. In fact, Sarah played the organ during services throughout the Church’s earliest years.

Oak Hall at 302 Forest, c. 1910.

In 1909, the McKinney’s sold their home at 302 Forest, but, interestingly, not to another family. Instead, 302 Forest was purchased by the Girton School for Girls, a boarding and day school founded by Francis King Cooke in 1901, where it served as a dormitory and was referred to as “Oak Hall,”. The house remained part of the Girton school until 1919, when it was appropriated by the present-day North Shore Country Day School.

Students outside Oak Hall at 302 Forest, 1919.

That year, 302 Forest was sold to noted architect Chester Walcott, who converted the building back into a single-family home. Walcott was well-known locally for designing several historic homes in Winnetka on his own. He also worked with Edwin Clark, another local architect who designed Village Hall and several of the new buildings on North Shore Country Day School’s campus.

Since the Walcotts sold the house in 1925, several long-term Winnetkans have called 302 Forest home. While an addition was built in 1937 and some renovations were done in 1975, the house remains remarkably similar to the original structure.