Travel – Skokie, IL

Skokie (/ˈskoʊki/; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 67,824.^[3] Skokie lies approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of Chicago‘s downtown Loop. The name Skokie comes from a Potawatomi word for ‘marsh’.^[4] For many years, Skokie promoted itself as “The World’s Largest Village”.^[5] Skokie’s streets, like those of many suburbs, are largely a continuation of the Chicago street grid, and the village is served by the Chicago Transit Authority by both bus and rail, further cementing its connection to the city.

Skokie was originally a German–Luxembourger farming community, but was later settled by a sizeable Jewish population, especially after World War II. At its peak in the mid-1960s, nearly 60% of the population was Jewish, the largest proportion of any Chicago suburb.^[6] Skokie still has many Jewish residents (now about 30% of the population) and over a dozen synagogues.^[7] It is home to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, which opened in northwest Skokie in 2009.^[8][9]

Skokie has twice received national attention for court cases decided by the United States Supreme Court. In the mid-1970s, it was at the center of National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, in which a Nazi group, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, invoked the First Amendment in an attempt to schedule a Nazi rally in Skokie.^[10] At the time, Skokie had a significant population of Holocaust survivors. Skokie ultimately lost that case,^[11] though the planned rally was never held there; instead, the group first demonstrated in downtown Chicago and later held a rally in Marquette Park.^[12][13]