Tell Me About Glenview (Chicago, Schaumburg: fit in, lease, townhouse)

[hihochicago]

I posted another thread when we were first looking at the suburbs we wanted to rent in. We found a great townhouse in Deerfield but at the last minute the homeowner decided to stay in the place himself.

So we have signed a lease on a single family house in Glenview.

I've done what research I can into the town of Glenview, including doing a search on it here. It seems to be a great place.

Does anyone have personal experience with Glenview? What are things to be aware of? What's the culture like?

We're coming from SoCal where I have lived most of my life. I guess I'm a little scared we won't fit into the community easily. I know no one in Chicago!!

[edsg25]

Like Deerfield and Northbrook, Glenview is the definitive inland North Shore.

A tight knit community with lots of civic connections. Many similarities with Northbrook, a community that shares the highly respected Glenbook High School district with it (GBS and GBN are spoken of in the same breathe as New Trier, Highland Park, Deerfield, Stevenson).

Northbrook, however, has far more big business, which traditionally has produced more revenue for its local school districts, compared to Glenview.

East Glenview tends to be pure North Shore. The middle of town is good solid middle class. West Glenview is more a place of subdivisions more akin to stereotypical suburban growth and sprawl (moderate sprawl in the sense that this is still a close in suburb where land is tight).

Glenview is unique among suburbs in its ability to create a new vibrant core in its center on an extremely large tract of land, the result of the Glenview NAS being converted to non-military use in the form of The Glen, a place with numerous housing communities of forward thinking design, a "town center" that vies for importance with the traditional downtown to its southeast, extensive park and recreational services, and a second METRA station for the community.

Glenview's new public library may be the last monument to a dying era, a lavish structure just completed a little over a year ago and one that could never been recreated based on the different times in which we live.

History sticks in Glenview in the form of The Grove on Milwaukee Avenue, where a forested setting gives you not only the nature of region before settlement, but structures of the Kennicott family who were such an important part of the settlement of 19th century Glenview. You'll see some buildings in downtown Glenview that also hark back to an earlier era.

Glenview is well situated to take advantage of the North Shore/North suburban location, with easy access to both Tri-State Tollway (294) on Willow virtually in-town and nearby Edens Expy on Lake Street in Wilmette. Shopping at Old Orchard and Northbrook Court are minutes away.

[reppin_the_847]

It's very much a suburban town, but has a decent amount of diversity and provides very good proximity to Chicago (like Wilmette to the east of it), good schools, and superb access to O'Hare airport and the highways. Really the only drawbacks I could see is if you're either seeking a place that's (A) more urban, ie. like an Evanston/Oak Park type of town or a city neighborhood or (B) something more exurban like a Barrington or a Lake Forest with more breathing room and larger lots.

Oh yeah, accessibility to the NW suburbs is pretty decent from Glenview as well. A trip to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg is not difficult from here either (in addition to the shopping centers that edsg25 mentioned).

As far as the vibe, picture one of the quieter pockets of Orange County (CA), but being only a 30-35 minute train ride from downtown Chicago. This could be a good thing or bad thing depending on your perspective. Don't expect any real hopping nightlife here lol.

Originally Posted by hihochicago

I posted another thread when we were first looking at the suburbs we wanted to rent in. We found a great townhouse in Deerfield but at the last minute the homeowner decided to stay in the place himself.

So we have signed a lease on a single family house in Glenview.

I've done what research I can into the town of Glenview, including doing a search on it here. It seems to be a great place.

Does anyone have personal experience with Glenview? What are things to be aware of? What's the culture like?

We're coming from SoCal where I have lived most of my life. I guess I'm a little scared we won't fit into the community easily. I know no one in Chicago!!

[hihochicago]

Thanks for the info! I think it sounds fantastic and just what we want *except* I hope it is not as politically conservative as Orange County!

[reppin_the_847]

Glenview probably falls under the fiscally conservative side, but socially I don't think it's all that socially conservative necessarily. You'll probably surrounded by other families, and there are several nationalities and ethnicities represented in the community (and nearby communities as well), although it certainly tends to be an upper-middle class setting.

Originally Posted by hihochicago

Thanks for the info! I think it sounds fantastic and just what we want *except* I hope it is not as politically conservative as Orange County!

[847mom]

Glenview is very family friendly. Safe, great park district, schools and location. I have lived there almost twelve years and have never regretted it. You can pretty much find any activity there, or in a close by suburb. I find the location very central and I like the proximity to the city for more urban activities and non-suburban excitement. I wouldn't call Glenview liberal, but I certainly wouldn't label it as conservative, either. It is slightly more diverse than some of the neighboring suburbs. I would agree with the above poster who said it was an upper middle class environment. I am biased but I think you made a great choice!

[dja4260]

I live in Glenview currently and grew up a few miles from here. If you have any specific questions just let me know.

It is a nice area with great schools.