Skokie, Illinois, United States

🇺🇸 Skokie (formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of Chicago's downtown Loop. Its name comes from a Potawatomi word for "marsh". For many years, Skokie promoted itself as "The World's Largest Village". Skokie's streets, like that of many suburbs, are largely a continuation of the Chicago street grid, and the village is served by the Chicago Transit Authority, further cementing its connection to the city.

Skokie was originally a German-Luxembourger farming community, but was later settled by a sizeable Jewish population, especially after World War II. At its peak in the mid-1960s, 58% of the population was Jewish, the largest proportion of any Chicago suburb. Skokie still has many Jewish residents (now about 30% of the population) and over a dozen synagogues. It is home to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, which opened in north-west Skokie in 2009.

Skokie has twice received national attention for court cases decided by the United States Supreme Court. In the mid-1970s, it was at the centre of National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, in which a Nazi group, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, invoked the First Amendment in an attempt to schedule a Nazi rally in Skokie. At the time, Skokie had a significant population of Holocaust survivors. Skokie ultimately lost that case, though the rally was never held.

Beginnings In 1888, the community was incorporated as Niles Centre. About 1910, the spelling was Americanized to "Niles Center". However, the name caused postal confusion with the neighboring village of Niles. A village-renaming campaign began in the 1930s. In a referendum on November 15, 1940, residents chose the Native American name "Skokie" over the name "Devonshire".

During the real estate boom of the 1920s, large parcels were subdivided; many two- and three-flat apartment buildings were built, with the "Chicago"-style bungalow a dominant architectural specimen. Large-scale development ended as a result of the Great Crash of 1929 and consequent Great Depression. It was not until the 1940s and the 1950s, when parents of the baby boom generation moved their families out of Chicago, that Skokie's housing development began again. Consequently, the village developed commercially, an example being the Old Orchard Shopping Center, currently named Westfield Old Orchard.

During the night of November 27–28, 1934, after a gunfight in nearby Barrington that left two FBI agents dead, two accomplices of notorious 25-year-old bank-robber Baby Face Nelson (Lester Gillis) dumped his bullet-riddled body in a ditch along Niles Center Road adjoining the St. Peter Catholic Cemetery, a block north of Oakton Street in the town.

The first African-American family to move to Skokie arrived in 1961, and open-housing activists helped to integrate the suburb subsequently.

Geography According to the 2010 census, Skokie has a total area of 10.06 square miles (26.06 km²), all land. The village is bordered by Evanston to the east, Chicago to the south-east and south-west, Lincolnwood to the south, Niles to the south-west, Morton Grove to the west, Glenview to the north-west, and Wilmette to the north.

The village's street circulation is a street-grid pattern, with a major east–west thoroughfare every half mile: Old Orchard Road, Golf Road, Church Street, Dempster Street, Main Street, Oakton Street, Howard Street, and Touhy Avenue. The major north–south thoroughfares are Skokie Boulevard, Crawford Avenue, and McCormick Boulevard; the major diagonal streets are Lincoln Avenue, Niles Center Road, East Prairie Road and Gross Point Road.

Skokie's north–south streets continue the street names and (house number) grid values of Chicago's north–south streets – with the notable exceptions of Cicero Avenue, which is renamed Skokie Boulevard within Skokie, and Chicago's Pulaski Road retains its original Chicago City name, Crawford Avenue. The east–west streets continue Evanston's street names, but with Chicago grid values, such that Evanston's Dempster Street is 8800 north in Skokie addresses.

Economy The village's AAA bond rating attests to strong economic health via prudent fiscal management. In 2003, Skokie became the first municipality in the United States to achieve nationally accredited police, fire, and public works departments, and a Class-1 fire department, per the Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings. Likewise, in 2003 Money magazine named Skokie one of the 80 fastest-growing suburbs in the U.S.

Besides strong manufacturing and retail commerce bases, Skokie's economy will add health sciences jobs; in 2003, Forest City Enterprises announced their re-development of the vacant Pfizer research laboratories, in downtown Skokie, as the Illinois Science + Technology Park, a 23-acre (93,000 m²) campus of research installations—2 million square feet (190,000 m²) of chemistry, genomics, toxicology laboratories, clean rooms, NMR suites, conference rooms, etc.). In 2006, NorthShore University HealthSystem announced installing their consolidated data centre operations at the park, adding 500 jobs to the economy. Map maker Rand McNally is also headquartered in Skokie.

Economy: Top employers According to the Village's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the village are: 1 NorthShore University HealthSystem; 2 Federal-Mogul; 3 Niles Township High School District 219; 4 Macy's; 5 Georgia Nut Company; 6 Nordstrom; 7 Village of Skokie; 8 Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County; 9 Skokie Park District; 10 Generation Brands.

Notable corporations • Peapod, online grocer • FelPro, now Federal-Mogul • Mayfair Games • Rand McNally • USRobotics • Bell & Howell • G.D. Searle, now Pfizer.

Arts and culture Westfield Old Orchard, an upscale shopping centre, is one of the country's first and is the third largest mall by total square footage in Illinois. One of five in the Chicago area of the popular burger chain "Shake Shack" is located there. Additionally, shoppers have the option of eating at Epic Burger, along with multiple other restaurants in the mall.

The Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park is situated along the North Shore Channel between Dempster Street and Touhy Avenue on the east side of McCormick Boulevard. The first sculptures were built in the park in 1988 and it now has over 70 sculptures. Three areas are toured May through October of each year, on the last Sunday of the month with a presentation by a docent. Just north of the sculpture garden is a statue to Mahatma Gandhi with five of his famous quotations engraved around the base. This was dedicated on October 2, 2004.

In addition to municipally-managed public spaces, the village is also home to the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, encompassing Centre East, Northlight Theatre and the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra. The facility celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016.

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center opened in Skokie on April 19, 2009.

Library On October 7, 2008, the Skokie Public Library received the 2008 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, notably for its cultural programming and multilingual services.

Parks and recreation The Skokie Park District maintains public spaces and historical sites within its more than 240 acres (0.97 km²) of parkland and in its ten facilities.

The Valley Line Trail is a multi-use trail connecting the north-west side of Chicago to the communities of Lincolnwood and Skokie.

Public transportation The Chicago "L"s Yellow Line terminates at the Dempster Street station in Skokie. Construction has been completed on a new Yellow Line train station at Oakton Street, to serve downtown Skokie and environs. It opened on April 30, 2012. Additionally, the CTA is commissioning an Alternative Analysis Study on the extension of the Yellow Line terminal to Old Orchard Road for Federal Transit Administration New Start grants. The New Starts program allows federal funds to be used for capital projects provided that all solutions for a given problem (i.e., enabling easy transportation for reverse commuters to Old Orchard Mall) are considered. The solution recommended by the CTA is the elevation of the Yellow Line north of Searle Parkway to a rebuilt Dempster Street station, then following abandoned Union Pacific Railroad tracks and the east side of the Edens Expressway to a new terminal south of Old Orchard Road. Currently this solution needs to undergo public commenting as well as FTA and CTA board approval to continue.

Although the Yellow Line is the fastest transportation to and from the city, the village also is served by CTA and Pace bus routes. However, Greyhound Bus service to the Dempster Street train station has been discontinued. For automobile transport, Interstate 94, the Edens Expressway, traverses western Skokie, with interchanges at Touhy Avenue, Dempster Street, and Old Orchard Road.

Major highways Major highways in Skokie include: Interstate Highways Interstate 94 US Highways US 41 Illinois Highways Route 50 Route 58.