Bordering Lake Michigan, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Skokie, Northfield, Glenview, and Evanston, Illinois, it is located 14 miles (23 km) north of Chicago's downtown district.

On July 29, 1829, as a condition of the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien, the U.S. government awarded 1,280 acres (5.2 km2) of land in present-day Wilmette and Evanston to Archange Chevallier Ouilmette.

Mary Dennis, Max Dusham, Charles Beaubien, Simon Doyle, Wendal Alles, Joel Stebbins, and Arunah Hill were among the most prominent members of this thinly settled community, and some of their descendants remained in the area for generations.

William Netstraeter was appointed in 1872, and he would serve the faith community for five decades, as well as become a Wilmette trustee for two terms (i.e. mayor) and help found New Trier High School.

[6][15] Some prominent Gross Point family names include Hoffmann, Braun, Bauer, Schneider, Schaefer, Schaefgen, Reinwald, Bleser, Schwall, Engel, Steffens, Lauermann, Thalmann, Loutsch, Rengel, Nanzig, and Borre.

These were controversial: many in surrounding communities, especially Evanston (home to the Women's Christian Temperance Union) bitterly opposed the saloon trade, and made several attempts—ultimately successful—to shut it down.

[6] Prior to then, because Masses were only celebrated in German, English-speaking Catholics petitioned the Archdiocese of Chicago to open a second parish in the area, which would become St. Francis Xavier Church in 1904.

[6] After leaving the Linden station, the trains ran west on Greenleaf Avenue, before running north alongside the tracks of the Chicago & Milwaukee railroad.

Marshall made an offer to members of the headquarterless organization, he would let them house their headquarters in the basement of the studio if they could convince the village to issue a permit.

[29] In 1932, despite the onslaught of a national depression, Dubbs was able to finish construction on Lochmoor, his Phillip Brooks Maher-designed lakefront mansion located along Wilmette's Michigan Avenue.

A fire that broke out in the Miralago on the night of March 8, 1932, severely damaged the building along with many nearby properties (such as the structures abandoned by the defunct Breaker's Beach Club and Vista del Lago), thus tolling the final death knell for an exuberant era of No Man's Land's history.

The Wilmette Council of Civil Defense, under the chairmanship of David C. Leach, organized a wide range of activities, including classes designed to train citizens in first aid, fire-fighting, demolition, marksmanship, and bomb disposal.

On Sunday, May 23, 1943, a mock air raid on the village dropped hundreds of paper-bag "bombs" of brightly colored streamers, to test local readiness.

[11] In August 1943 a ship named the USS Wilmette was given the honor of transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Admiral William D. Leahy, James F. Byrnes and Harry Hopkins on a 10-day cruise to McGregor and Whitefish Bay to plan strategies for World War II.

Several high-rise apartment towers and town homes were built, and the Spanish Court shopping center was renovated and renamed Plaza del Lago.

[20] Previous plans to construct a sports complex (featuring a swimming pool, children's park, bath house/warming house, natural ice rink, and a toboggan hill) on the site of the Community Playfield were blocked afters voters narrowly opposed it in a 1968 referendum.

[6][7][20] A compromise was reached in 1968 where the Park District allowed Loutsch to continue operating his farm until his death, at which point the village would assume control of the land.

[32] The space was used for a televised Guinness world record-setting 135,000 piece domino show in 1979,[32] but would otherwise sit vacant until being converted into a senior housing complex named The Atrium in 1982.

Mallinckrodt property was under contract to be sold by Loyola University Chicago to a developer that intended to raze the historic 1916 structure and build a tract of single family homes.

On March 19, 2002, a referendum was held, and Wilmette residents vote in favor of granting the Park District the authority to issue up to $25 million in bonds in order to purchase, improve, and maintain the Mallinckrodt College property.

In May 2003 the Illinois Department of Natural Resources awarded the Park District a $2 million grant through the Open Land Trust program in order to preserve 5.22 acres of the property.

Also that year, the village government prosecuted local resident Hale DeMar, age 59, for violating the town's handgun ban when he shot a burglar inside his house.

[54] The handgun ban was enacted in direct response to an incident in 1988 when Laurie Dann opened fire on a classroom full of children in neighboring Winnetka.

The Wilmette Public Library provides educational support to students at all grade levels, including those residing in neighboring Kenilworth.

The interior is particularly well preserved and features Art Deco light fixtures and stained glass windows designed and fabricated by Giannini & Hilgart of Chicago.

St Francis Xavier School (1924), just east of the church, is a unique modern blend of Gothic architecture by Chicago architect Barry Byrne.

[65][66] In addition, Wilmette has homes designed by Wright's contemporaries in the field of Prairie School architecture, including John S. Van Bergen.

[69] The village of Wilmette has a stated commitment to "promoting and creating a more sustainable environment through energy efficiency, improved stormwater management, water conservation, pollution reduction, and recycling."

[87] Wilmette's sister city in Australia is Mona Vale in Northern Beaches, New South Wales and in Japan is Neyagawa in Osaka Prefecture.

The high schools in Wilmette and Mona Vale participate in an annual student exchange program and the two communities are also spiritually connected, since each is home to a continental Bahá'í House of Worship.