In August 1913, about 200 White citizens of Wilmette "paraded" in the streets to demand a stop to allowing Blacks from buying property in the town. Two buildings had recently been sold to Blacks, and locals saw that as the start of an "invasion."

The real estate agent who sold the houses said the Black owners bought them as investments and didn't live in Wilmette. The homes were occupied by Whites, he said.

He promised never to sell to a Negro again.

"We don't mind having them as servants," the Tribune reported one Wilmette citizen saying, "but we don't want them as neighbors."

Not to worry, a village official said: "There are no negroes here except those employed in the various households."

At that time, in 1913, a Black couple, Ellen and John Smith, had been for at least the past 23 years living in an operating a grocery store in this building on Wilmette Avenue.

...AND operating! I so wish we could copy edit tweets after posting.