[4] When incorporated in 1901, the village was known as Shermerville in honor of Frederick Schermer, who donated the land for its first train station.

The name was chosen because the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River runs through the village.

After signing the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, the Potawatomi ceded their Illinois lands and moved to a place near Council Bluffs, Iowa.

[10] A renaming contest was held, and the name "Northbrook" was submitted by the US postmaster (and then President of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association)[11] Edward Landwehr.

[12] In 1997, President Bill Clinton visited Northbrook to congratulate the 8th-grade students of Northfield Township (which is mainly Northbrook)[13] for getting the highest score on a world science test, and for getting the second-highest score on a world math test.

[21] Interstate 294 curves along Northbrook's western edge while the Edens Spur marks most of the village's northern boundary.

Illinois Route 68 stretches west from Wheeling into Northbrook, terminating at the Edens Expressway near Glencoe.

[1] Situated along the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River, Techny Prairie Park and Fields is the largest park in Northbrook at 113.82 acres and features picnic areas, a sled hill, batting cages, the nine-hole Anetsberger Golf Course[22][23] and Techny Prairie Activity Center, a 44,200 square foot facility housing fitness equipment and studios, an indoor track, pickleball courts, and more.

Northbrook lies in a humid continental climate zone (Köppen: Dfa) and experiences four distinct seasons.

[38] Northbrook is home to a diverse religious community including Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus.

[56] Nearby, the Hanuman Mandir of Greater Chicago is in Glenview[57] and the Bahá'í House of Worship is in Wilmette.

[72][73] Approximately 13% of Northbrook workers are employed at businesses inside the city limits, while about 87% commute elsewhere.

[59] Northbrook workplaces have employees who live across Cook county, with 5 percent from within the village, 18.9% from Chicago, 2.4% from Glenview, and 2.2% from Arlington Heights and Wheeling.

[82] Just outside of Northbrook lie the Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview and the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.

[83] It features carnival games, roller coasters and amusement rides, food vendors, live music, and raffles.

In recognition of the village's vast greenspace, the Arbor Day Foundation has designated Northbrook as a Tree City U.S.A. community since 1994.

[89] The 17.25-square-mile (44.7 km2) park district, formed in June 1927, serves all of Northbrook and some unincorporated areas within Cook County.

The board establishes policies and hires a village manager to operate the day-to-day business.

[104] At the national level, Northbrook is represented by Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Democrats.

In fact, Northbrook was ranked by MoneyGeek, a financial planning website, as being the safest town in Illinois, largely due to its low ($116 per capita) expenditure on crime.

Several neighborhoods in Northbrook north and west of the Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield are served by this school district.

Oakton Community College (in Skokie and Des Plaines) serves Northbrook and surrounding areas.

The library's origins stem from a reading room created by the Citizens' Club of Shermerville.

[136] Northbrook's government has a television station that all residents are able to access, NCTV Cable Channel 17.

[144][145] Director John Hughes, a native of Northbrook, used the fictional town of "Shermer" as a setting for several of his films.

[146] David Kamp of Vanity Fair said "Hughes's Shermer was partly Northbrook and partly a composite of all the North Shore's towns and neighborhoods—and, by extension, all the different milieus that existed in American suburbia" and that Shermer "was at once an Everytown for every teen and an explicit homage to Hughes's home turf, the North Shore suburbs above Chicago".

[147] Some exterior shots of Glenbrook North High School were used in the films The Breakfast Club[148] and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Northbrook is notable for being home to the "Save Ferris" water tower featured in the movie, which inspired the name of the synonymous band.

[153] The village is located along the Milwaukee District North Line, which runs from Chicago Union Station to Fox Lake.

[158][159][160] For elderly or disabled residents, Northbrook offers paratransit in the form of a subsidized taxi program.