Niles, Illinois

The Ebingers settled near Milwaukee and Touhy Avenues in the early 1830s. John Ebinger had been the head gardener for King William in Württemberg, Germany, but moved to the United States (initially Ann Arbor, Michigan) when he was 62. His eldest son Frederick had traveled to Chicago and worked on the pier or harbor by 1832, and was soon joined by his brother John Jr. and their wives, as well as John Plank. John Ebinger and his youngest son Christian (at 21 newly married to orphaned Barbara Reuhle of Stuttgart in 1834; both of whom walked the route to enable their elders to ride) packed and traveled to join them, but found Chicago too swampy to farm.[10] After their horse stepped on a rattlesnake and died shortly after crossing the North Branch of the Chicago River on an Indian trail leading towards Milwaukee, the Ebingers built a cabin at Milwaukee and Harlem Avenues, and laid claim to 80 acres of land. The older Ebinger brothers (one of whom married the sister of Fort Dearborn's commanders' wife) soon joined them, as did the Planks. John Plank soon sold his house to Mr. Phillips, who opened a store and became the area's first postmaster. Christian Ebinger or his son of the same name (born 1835 and the first white child born in the area, d. 1879), became the first minister to be ordained in their German Evangelical Association, and served as the Village Collector, Township Assessor and Overseer of the Poor (from 1852-1865) and Highway Commissioner, as well as left seven surviving children.[11]

There is no clear indication of the origin of the name "Niles." A Chicago Tribune article from 1929 opined that the name referred to the Niles Weekly Register, a popular newspaper published in the 1820s and 1830s by fervently nationalist (and abolitionist) Quaker Hezekiah Niles out of Baltimore, Maryland. His son William Ogden Niles published the newspaper from Washington, D.C. until it ceased publication in 1849; the Odgen family had longstanding connections with the Chicago area.[12] Another belief is that the name "Niles" was named after Niles Construction which did much of the building early during the city's founding. Alternatively, soldiers from Niles, Michigan reinforced Fort Dearborn during the Black Hawk War, and afterward may have sent word back about the rich farmland to the north. Three early families of settlers came from Niles, Michigan with troops or had relatives at Fort Dearborn. An early history of Cook County, Illinois reported that every two weeks a half-breed Indian traveled to Niles, Michigan for mail. By 1834 a twice-weekly stage connected Chicago and Niles.[13] The North Branch Hotel was built in 1837 and the White House tavern in 1847. By 1839, a traveling German preacher visited Dutchman's Point every two or three weeks.[14]

Niles Township was organized in a meeting at the North Branch Hotel on April 2, 1850, a year after John Odell donated land at Milwaukee and Harlem Avenues to build a second school (constructed by John Ketchem, who was active in the Methodist church) and four years after Joseph Curtis returned to England. Blacksmith Benjamin Lupton had returned to England to marry, then returned with his bride to Dutchman's Point in 1840, and remained the settlement's blacksmith for the next two decades.[15] Residents later said the township name was chosen before the public meeting. The following year, the township adopted an ordinance to regulate livestock running amuck. By 1858, Henry Harms had a store on Harms Avenue in Niles Center, the township's other population center, which was later renamed Skokie.[15] By 1890, that area had six saloons, two blacksmith shops and three churches.

Along with neighboring Skokie and several other suburbs, Niles is partly in Niles Township, from whence it draws its name. The village of Niles was formally incorporated by the state of Illinois on August 24, 1899. The village had a population of 500 people at that time. Niles, like neighboring communities Skokie, Park Ridge and Glenview, grew significantly after veterans of World War II and the Korean War returned home to the Chicago area and established families in the streetcar suburbs. In 1950, Niles had only 3,500 people, but as former farms and nurseries redeveloped into housing, the population tripled in the next five years, then nearly doubled, reaching 18,863 people in 1962.[16] Unlike Park Ridge, Skokie and Glenview, Niles did not have its own commuter rail stop. Residents who did not use their own automobiles to reach their jobs could connect by bus to the Chicago Transit Authority stops at Jefferson Park or the Skokie Swift, or with the Chicago and Northwestern Commuter rail line (incorporated into Metra) in Park Ridge or Glenview or at intervening stops such as Norwood Park and Edison Park (once part of Niles Township until annexed by Chicago). Niles became the first community in Illinois, and one of the first in the United States to establish free ambulance service, in 1946.[17] Several decades later, it instituted a free bus service to connect residents with local shops, government offices and transit options (shown).

In 1964, under then-new mayor, Nicholas B. Blase, Niles was named an "All America City". Niles grew by selectively annexing nearby unincorporated areas of Cook County, the most important for tax revenue purposes being the area that became the Golf Mill Shopping Center. Its population peaked in 1970 at 31,432 people. Blase, the son of Greek immigrants raised in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood and a law and business graduate of University of Notre Dame, had moved to Niles in 1959 and initially worked as a claims adjuster for Allstate Insurance Company. He would become Niles' longest-serving mayor, but resigned in a scandal in 2008 which led to his federal criminal conviction for steering insurance business to cronies. Ironically, Blase was first elected in 1961, when he upset Frank Stankowicz, a former motorcycle cop who had won election first as village clerk, then had won election and re-election as mayor for two decades before passing the gavel to the young upstart.[18] Blase's "New Era Party" ran a door-to-door campaign against corruption (police turning a blind eye to local gambling houses, and prostitution flourishing near the Chicago border) and builder favoritism.[19] During his nearly five decades as mayor, Blase established a free bus service, a new village hall, a senior and fitness center, and a new police station, as well as jobs for nearly 500 municipal employees.[20] Blase resigned in 2008 amid federal charges that he participated in an insurance kickback scheme.[21] Several months later he pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion, and admitted that he had pressured local businesses to buy insurance from a friend's agency in return for a share of the commissions, receiving more than $420,000 over a period of more than 30 years.[22][23] In 2010 Blase, then 81 years old, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.[24][25] After serving his term – first in federal prison, then in a halfway house, and then in home confinement – he returned to live in Niles.[26] In 2011, his name was removed from the plaza outside the village hall and post office.[27] Blase died in 2019.[28]

The Village of Niles operates several human services departments. These include Niles Family Services (counseling and social services), the Niles Senior Center, the Niles Teen Center and the Niles Family Fitness Center. In a 2016 advisory referendum, Village residents voted in favor of continuing to fund these human service divisions.

In 2011, the Niles Teen Center and Golf Mill Shopping Center were awarded a Gold U.S. Maxi Award by the International Council of Shopping Centers for their successful, on-going partnership. The Niles Teen Center was the recipient of the 2010 Bright Ideas initiative. Bright Ideas is an initiative that recognizes creative and promising government programs and partnerships. The initiative is offered through the Innovations in Government Program, a program of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School.

The Niles Police Department provides 24 hour-a-day service and protection to village residents with 55 sworn officers, 36 auxiliaries, 2 Special Service Officers, 4 Operational Service Officers, 30 Community Service Officers, 10 civilians, and 17 school crossing guards. The Police Department is proactive in its efforts to enforce federal, state, and local laws through the utilization of numerous law enforcement strategies.

In 2018, the Niles Police Department created a new Community Policing Initiative, which assigned each officer to one of fourteen beats in an effort to increase familiarity and connection between residents and officers.

The Niles Fire Department began providing service on February 19, 1912. In 1946, the Village began providing free ambulance services, predating all other Illinois communities. In 1962, the Niles Fire Department named its first full-time fire Chief George Pasek. Currently the department is an ISO 3 ranked department (since 1967).

The fire department provides the following services: fire prevention, fire suppression, fire investigation, emergency medical treatment and transport, special technical rescue response, hazardous material response, and public education. Current staff consist of 52 sworn personnel. The department operates two fire engines, two ambulances, one tower ladder/truck, and one command vehicle out of two stations.

Located in fire station 2 is the historic “Blue Boy,” which is the first fire wagon in Niles. It was used as a hand-drawn unit from 1899-1909, and converted to horse drawn in 1910.

The Niles Free Bus is a courtesy bus system, which operates within the Village of Niles at no charge to riders. The Free Bus runs continually from 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends. The buses stop at all major shopping centers, public facilities, and within a short distance of every residence.

Major highways in Niles include: