Skokie

Settled in the 1840s, incorporated as Niles Centre in 1888, German and Luxembourger immigrants founded Skokie and created a rural community of farms and greenhouses.
A short-lived real estate boom in the 1920s gave Skokie its current boundaries, streets, and sewer systems. Due to the Great Depression, however, these paved roadways remained vacant until after World War II. Aided by the construction of the Edens Expressway, Skokie experienced tremendous growth and became a bustling suburban community. Many of the families that settled in Skokie during this time were Jewish. In the last quarter century, other families moved to the suburb, many with Indo-Asian origins, leading to the ethnically diverse community that Skokie has become today.

Using photographs and documents from the Skokie Historical Society's extensive collection, Richard J. Witry, vice president of the Skokie Historical Society and coeditor of Chronology of Events: Niles Township, Village of Niles Center/Skokie, 1500 A.D.--2000 A.D, and Amanda J. Hanson, facility manager of the Skokie Heritage Museum, illustrate Skokie's progression from a small rural community to a diverse suburb.