History of Winnetka Caucus
In 1895, Reverend Quincy Dowd, Henry Lloyd, and S.S. Burr introduced the "Old Town Meeting" to discuss village policies. This led to the acquisition of land for Horace Mann School, which is now Dwyer Park.
In 1915, a group of leaders "grieving over the nonsense of municipal elections in which, except for personalities, there were no real issues", organized what today is the Caucus Council. It has been nearly a century since Winnetka officially adopted the Caucus form of non-partisan self-government where everyone who has a vote has a voice. This means that any resident of voting age is a member of the Caucus and may vote on Caucus matters. Today, our Caucus is one of the country's most successful!
What is the Caucus Council?
"The aim of this Caucus is to bring together a representative body of citizens, fairly harmonious with respect to policies in order that a ticket of fit candidates, standing for those policies, may be presented to the voters. Any other group out of sympathy with those policies will always be at liberty to put its own candidate in the field."
The work of the Caucus is carried out by the 64 member Caucus Council. Five residents from each of Winnetka's 16 voting precincts », and up to four at-large members from Northfield and Glencoe serve on the Council for up to three years each. Any resident of the Village of Winnetka, or of the Winnetka Park or Library districts can serve.
The Caucus Council is the community's liaison to the four Boards that comprise Winnetka's government - Village Council, Parks, Schools and Library Boards. The Caucus Council is divided into committees. During the first part of the year, the committees explore issues of concern to both the community and the boards, then seek the community's input on the Annual Survey. This survey has been a Winnetka tradition since 1955. During the second part of the year, the committees recruit, interview and slate candidates for any open positions on the four boards. the committees also develop platforms based on the annual survey results. The platforms serve as guidelines for the four boards. If you have a concern or know of a qualified candidate, please contact the Caucus Council.
The Caucus Council sponsors the two Town Meetings, publishes, collects and tabulates the Annual Survey (and now the e-survey), hosts this website, slates candidates and writes the platforms by which the Village boards are guided.
More information about how the Winnetka Caucus works can be found on our list of Frequently Asked Questions ».
Photo courtesy of the Winnetka Historical Society
Click here » to read an interesting article about the origination of the Winnetka Town Meeting that was prepared by Barbara Aquilino on behalf of the Winnetka Historical Society.
Click here » to read an comprehensive article about the state of the Caucus system on the North Shore in 1976. The article was written by Clarice Stetter, who during this period was an editor for the Illinois Voter and the Suburban Tribune.