Many people might have pedestrian knowledge of the location of the Home Alone house in Winnetka or famed architect’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s imprint in Glencoe or the origins of the nation’s first planned shopping center, which happened in Lake Forest.
Now a new book reveals additional details on these places and many other parts of the North Shore tapestry. Author Ellen Shubart takes readers to 13 suburbs supplying nuggets and details in “Secret North Shore — Chicago: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure.”
There are 84 one-to-two page descriptions of sites, with about a third from Evanston and extending as far north as Lake Bluff. There are mentions of famous restaurants, fishing spots and iconic architectural locations.
While a Chicago resident for the last 10 years, Shubart lived in Glencoe for roughly four decades working as a journalist including for Pioneer Press. She was elected as a Glencoe Village Board trustee and was president of the Glencoe Historical Society.
More Top Picks Tents Family
“I have a pretty good idea what goes on in the North Shore. To me, what is secret in one town maybe very well known in the next town,” Shubart said. “However, people in the other villages may not know about it at all. It wasn’t too difficult to find the places that are unique in some way or secret but in wide-open spaces.”
Over a year ago, Shubart started working on what is now her fifth book determined to reveal details about a collection of sites that she initially started by scrawling them down on a napkin.
“I thought the North Shore functions as a small city unto itself and to write a ‘Secret North Shore’ would be kind of fun,” she said.
With her husband Richard serving as photographer and chauffeur, the Shubarts traveled to more than 100 north suburban locales including an Edens Expressway shoulder, explaining why it is the only major Chicago thoroughfare sans billboards.
She explains a state law was passed in 1971 prohibiting advertisements in residential areas, but prior to that, Illinois Garden Club members fought against placards on all expressways contending they were “nuisances.”
They were only successful in their quest with the Edens, Shubart writes.
But the rest of the section provides context on the life of the expressway’s namesake, William Grant Edens, describing his advocacy for additional highways as the number of cars increased in the first part of the 20th Century.
Shubart also spends pages on the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, an iconic part of the North Shore. Completed in 1953, the building is easily identified by its white circular 190-foot high dome.
Yet, Shubart takes time to explain why the dome sparkles and writes that quartz crystals are embedded in its concrete panels.
“Some of these things are hidden in plain sight,” she said.
Shubart noted despite her lengthy time as a Glencoe resident, she was unaware there were horse troughs on Sheridan Road in Highland Park. They were created at the end of the 19th Century if soldiers needed to get into Chicago quickly in case of labor unrest, Shubart wrote.
“I never knew why it was there,” she said.
Shubart believes readers will provide additional context on their immediate surroundings.
“It is a fun book to find out about places in your area that you may not about,” Shubart said. “And then spend an afternoon.”
Shubart is set to appear virtually Jan. 31 at the Glencoe Public Library starting at 7 p.m. That will be followed by presentations and book signings at the History Center of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff on Feb. 15 and the Northbrook Public Library from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.