The Village of Northbrook (60026, 60062, 60065 zip codes), is a Chicago suburb (20 miles N-W of the Loop), occupied by approximately 33K residents, located between Glenview (Southern border) and Deerfield (Northern border).

Northbrook tuckpointing | Northbrook masonry

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The area was inhabited by Potawatomi Indians up until 1833, and stayed dormant for decade or so after they moved out. In 1843, two individuals – James M. Strode and Silas W. Sherman, claimed their rights to 160 acres of land which translated into ownership of a substantial portion of today’s Northbrook. By the way, todays downtown of Northbrook is located within that area.

The first business in the area, brickmaking, was established in 1850, with addition of a tavern and general store, that served travelers. Following years brought German settlers to the area, who begun farming businesses. The 1871 Chicago Fire accelerated growth of brickmaking industry since the entire wooden frame house construction business shifted to masonry.

Due to rich clay deposits located in this area, the National Brick Company and the Illinois Brick Company operated here fabricating bricks for Chicago rebuilding process. New bricks were moved to the devastated city by single track train. Local kilns operated for several decades and were permanently closed by 1950.

A local, Frederick Schermer, donated some land for a local train station, named Shermer Station (originally Schermer Station). The 311 resident’s community occupying 60 houses, and surrounding the train station, was incorporated in 1901 and also got its first name from the station’s founder, it was named the Village of Shermerville. The name was used for over 20 years but eventually got changed to Northbrook in 1923. In 2 decades, local population grew very slowly reaching 500 at the time of name change.

The most dynamic population growth in Northbrook happened between the years 1950-1980 peaking at 30,735.