Private Jet to Winnetka

Remember the big, beautiful brick house where Kevin had to fight off crooks after he was accidentally left behind by his family in the movie, “Home Alone”?

That house is – in the movie and in real life – located in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Illinois, one of the wealthiest towns in the United States. Winnetka, which has 2.75 miles of Lake Michigan coastline, is 20 miles north of Chicago and five miles south of Northwestern University. The town got its start in 1836 when a family moved from Vermont in an ox-drawn cart and opened a tavern to provide food and shelter for travelers. A town founder named it Winnetka, a Native American word for “beautiful land.”

Winnetka is the wealthiest city in Illinois with a median household income of $209,000, almost four times the state average. The median home price is $989,000. Half the households in the town of 12,000 include kids under 18 and there is also a sizeable population over 65.

Another of its bragging rights include its level of education. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 88.1 percent of adults in Winnetka have at least a bachelor’s degree as opposed to 33 percent statewide. It has both its proximity to Northwestern University and its own public school system to thank for that. Inspired by research at the University of Chicago, Carleton Washburne, superintendent of schools from 1919 to 1943, formulated the Winnetka Plan to include creative and emotional growth in the education process and allow students to advance at their own rate. His philosophy, which led to curriculum changes throughout the country, continues to this day in Winnetka.

Winnetka is so charmingly Americana that some two dozen films, shorts, and documentaries have been shot there, at least, in part. In addition to “Home Alone,” they include “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Uncle Buck,” “Ocean’s Twelve,” “Home Alone 2,” “Meet the Parents,” “National Lampoon's Vacation,” “Risky Business” and “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.” The characters on the TV series, “The League,” live in Winnetka.

A few other facts about Winnetka:

• The Winnetka Park District has 27 parks, five beaches, golf, tennis, hockey and tennis facilities.
• The Forest Preserve District of Cook County has more than 68,000 acres of land, most of it wild, with trails for hiking or horseback riding, picnic sites, and fishing spots.
• Winnetka has three Metra stations on the Union Pacific North Line, providing easy access south to Chicago and north to Kenosha, Wisconsin.