No Man's Land | |
|---|---|
  No Man's Land Location of No Man's Land within Illinois | |
| Coordinates: 42°04′38″N87°43′25″W / 42.07722°N 87.72361°W Coordinates: 42°04′38″N87°43′25″W / 42.07722°N 87.72361°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| Website | www |
No Man's Land, Illinois was never an official place name, but has been used to refer to at least two areas that fit the broader meaning of No man's land.
Most commonly, the term was used to refer to a small unincorporated area north of Chicago on Sheridan Road, along the shore of Lake Michigan. It was bordered by the exclusive North Shore suburbs of Wilmette, on the south and west, and by Kenilworth on the north. Undeveloped for nearly a century after the first settlement of the area, no neighboring municipality wanted to annex it, and it became a haven for shady activities. [1]
In the 1920s, a developer envisioned and began construction of a planned club and beach hotel complex to be called "Vista Del Lago" (Spanish for "Lakeview"). The club was actually built, in a Moorish Revival architectural style, on the west side of Sheridan Road, but the Great Depression prevented completion of the hotel. In 1928, one of the earlier automobile-oriented shopping centers, Spanish Court, opened adjacent to the club.
The lack of development on the east side of the road, coupled with the club's location in a relatively lawless unincorporated area, led to a state legislator in the 1930s terming No Man's Land "a slot machine and keno sin center where college students were being debauched with beer, hard liquor and firecrackers." [1] In 1942, after decades of disputed ownership and legal wrangling, the area was annexed by the village of Wilmette. [2] [3] The club burned down shortly thereafter. The area is now the home of the Plaza del Lago shopping center on the west side of Sheridan Road and a small number of anomalous high-rise residential buildings east of Sheridan.
Prior to the redevelopment of the area in the 60's, such establishments as firework stores, hot dog stands, ice cream shops, car dealerships, and service stations had earned the area nicknames of 'Coney Island of the North Shore' [4] and 'honkey-tonk town of the North Shore'. [2]
Actor Charlton Heston was born in the Wilmette-adjacent No Man's Land while his family was living in the area. [5]
The term, according to one author, was used prior to the expansion of Evanston and Chicago to refer to what is now the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. [6] It is also identified by the United States Geological Survey as being a variant name of the Howard District, located at 42°1′15″N87°40′9″W / 42.02083°N 87.66917°W [7] .
Charlton Heston was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film The Ten Commandments (1956), for which he received his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and the title role in Ben-Hur (1959), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Secret of the Incas (1954), Touch of Evil (1958) with Orson Welles, The Big Country (1958), El Cid (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Khartoum (1966), Planet of the Apes (1968), The Omega Man (1971) and Soylent Green (1973).
Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is 12 miles (19 km) north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wilmette to the north, and Lake Michigan to the east. Evanston had a population of 78,110 as of 2020.
Glenview is an incorporated village located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, approximately 15 miles northwest of the Chicago Loop. Per the 2020 census, the population was 48,705. The current Village President is Michael Jenny.
Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,222.
Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located 14 miles (23 km) north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The first and only Baháʼí House of Worship in North America is located here. Wilmette is also home to Central Elementary School and Romona Elementary School, both recent recipients of the National Blue Ribbon award bestowed by the U.S. Department of Education.
Winnetka is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located 16 miles (26 km) north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,744 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was the second-ranked Illinois community on Bloomberg's 2019 Richest Places Annual Index. In 2020, 24/7 Wall St ranked Winnetka as the second-best small town to live in in the United States.
The North Shore consists of many affluent suburbs north of Chicago, Illinois, bordering the shore of Lake Michigan. These communities form part of Cook and Lake Counties. Exactly which communities comprise the "North Shore" is often a topic of debate, and some definitions include suburbs which do not border Lake Michigan. In general, Evanston, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Northfield, Highwood, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Deerfield, Glenview, and Lake Bluff are recognized as part of the North Shore.
The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, also known as the North Shore Line, was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service over an 88.9-mile (143.1 km) route between the Chicago Loop and downtown Milwaukee, as well as an 8.6-mile (13.8 km) branch line between the villages of Lake Bluff and Mundelein, Illinois. The North Shore Line also provided streetcar, city bus and motor coach services along its interurban route.
The North Shore Channel is a drainage canal built between 1907 and 1910 to flush the sewage-filled North Branch of the Chicago River down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The sewage carrying duty has been largely taken over by the Chicago Deep Tunnel, but there are still occasional discharges due to heavy rains.
The Skokie River is a 20-mile-long (32 km) river that flows through the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. It flows almost parallel to the shore of Lake Michigan, and historically discharged its outflow into that lake via the Chicago River. However, the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900 caused the drainage of the Chicago River, including its Skokie River tributary, to flow southwestward towards the Mississippi River.
Sheridan Road is a major north-south street that leads from Diversey Parkway in Chicago, Illinois, north to the Illinois-Wisconsin border and beyond to Racine. Throughout most of its run, it is the easternmost north-south through street, closest to Lake Michigan. From Chicago, it passes through Chicago's wealthy lakeside North Shore suburbs, and then Waukegan and Zion, until it reaches the Illinois-Wisconsin state line in Winthrop Harbor. In Wisconsin, the road leads north through Pleasant Prairie and Kenosha, until it ends on the south side of Racine, in Mount Pleasant.
Northfield Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 85,102. The township office is located at 2550 Waukegan Road in Glenview. The township was established on April 2, 1850.
The Green Bay Trail is a rails with trails built on the former Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad. It runs parallel to Metra's Union Pacific / North Line for nearly nine miles from Wilmette, Illinois, to Highland Park, Illinois. It was originally a path used by various users between the Chicago area and the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area.
Plaza del Lago is a shopping center at 1515 Sheridan Road in Wilmette, Illinois, United States, which opened in 1928 as Spanish Court. It has been reported as the second-oldest shopping center in the United States designed for automobile use, and the first such center in the state of Illinois.
Market Square is a 103,000-square-foot (9,600 m2) neighborhood shopping center in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States, in the Chicago metropolitan area. Opened in 1916, it is often cited as the first planned shopping center in the United States, with common design and management and designated area for parking automobiles.
Antoine Ouilmette was a fur trader and early resident of what is now Chicago, Illinois. He was of French Canadian and possibly Native American ancestry. The village of Wilmette, Illinois is named in his honor.
Edwin Hill Clark was a Chicago architect best known for designing public buildings and private residences. His buildings, many of which are located along Chicago's North Shore, reflect a wide range of styles from English Tudor to Mediterranean and Spanish. Among his best known works is the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois, which was the first zoo in the United States to display animals in simulated natural environments rather than behind bars. He is also known for his work on the Thorne Rooms, commissioned by Narcissa Niblack Thorne, which are on permanent display at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Edens Plaza is a strip mall in the town of Wilmette, Illinois. It was built by Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (Carson's) in 1956, and, until 2018, was anchored by one of their stores. It is located on a triangular parcel of land between Lake Avenue, Skokie Boulevard and the Edens Expressway.
The Marshall/Goldblatt mansion refers to a demolished mansion that was formerly located on the shore of the Wilmette Harbor in Wilmette, Illinois at 612 Sheridan Road. The exterior of the forty-room pink stucco structure was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Built between 1922 and 1924, the mansion was among the most extravagant mansions constructed in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago and was considered an unofficial landmark. The residence was designed by noted architect and hotel magnate Benjamin Marshall and constructed as his personal residence and studio. Amid the Great Depression, the mansion was sold in 1936 to Nathan Goldblatt. The mansion became abandoned after Nathan Goldblatt's widow moved out in 1947. The Goldblatt family offered to sell it to the village of Wilmette's government to serve as a community center. This offer was rejected, and the mansion was town down between 1949 and finished in 1950. The land was then purchased in 1951 by the Baháʼí Faith, whose North American continental temple is located across Sheridan Road. Today, all that remains of the palatial mansion are a pair of gates along Sheridan Road.