Visit Schmidt-Burnham Log House

The structure carries its own chronology

The Historical Society describes the house’s front as hand-hewn, square-cut white oak logs taken from woods near its original location. Square notched joints fit the corners together, and wooden pegs join the beams. The gaps were first packed with pieces of wood or stone and a mixture of clay, sand, water and straw; modern sealant now protects those joints.

The house changed with its residents. The Schmidt family added clapboard siding, a wood floor and a higher ceiling. After moving the house to Tower Road, the Burnhams removed the siding, built an addition at the back and installed heating, plumbing and electricity. The Society says axe marks on the original logs remain visible and the Burnham addition dates to 1917, giving visitors two distinct periods of work to consider.

Further reading: Schmidt-Burnham Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗ · History of the Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗ · Schmidt-Burnham Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗

A farm home, then an artist’s household

The name joins the house’s two best-documented family chapters. Peter Schmidt and his four children came from Trier, Germany; the family purchased the house and several acres in 1841 and lived there until 1870. The building originally stood in a German immigrant settlement on Ridge Road near the present-day Indian Hill Club, before its later move to Tower Road and then Crow Island Woods.

By 1860, eleven members of the Schmidt family lived in the house. Their work included keeping horses, cows, oxen, sheep and pigs and producing about 500 bushels a year of rye, corn, oats, potatoes and hay, as well as 150 pounds of butter. Those figures give the exhibit on daily life a concrete sense of the household’s farming work.

Artist Anita Willets-Burnham came across the house on a painting trip, bought it in 1917 for $25 and moved it to 1407 Tower Road for $100. She and her husband, Alfred, raised four children there, and Burnham family members remained in the home until 2001. The sequence helps explain why this is not simply a preserved early log cabin: its later family history is part of what the house records.

Further reading: Schmidt-Burnham Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗ · The Schmidt Family - Winnetka Historical Society ↗ · History of the Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗

Exhibits connect the rooms to wider stories

The Society’s listed exhibit panels address why people first settled in Winnetka, daily life at the house and who the Burnhams were. Others trace how the Burnhams acquired the house, why they traveled abroad, how Anita shared those travels, and how the Historical Society acquired the property. Together, the subjects move from the home’s early residents to the decisions that shaped its later preservation.

One identified artifact is Anita Willets-Burnham’s 1907 painting “My Art Institute.” The Society also lists a scavenger hunt and outdoor pioneer games among the ways to explore the site. No separate start times are given for those activities, so visitors should plan around the open-house hours rather than a timed program.

Further reading: Exhibit at the Schmidt-Burnham Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗ · Artifacts on Display at the Schmidt-Burnham Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗ · Schmidt-Burnham Log House - Winnetka Historical Society ↗