Founded in , the school serves the Chicago suburbs of Wilmette , Kenilworth , Winnetka , Glencoe , and Northfield , as well as parts of Northbrook , Glenview , and unincorporated Cook County. New Trier High School opened on February 4, , welcoming 76 students. The first edition of The New Trier News was published in In , the track and field team won the school's first IHSA state championship as of , New Trier leads all Illinois high schools in athletic state championships.
In , the New Trier West Campus which, as of , serves the school's first-year students opened in the village of Northfield. In the s, New Trier became the first U. By , New Trier was home to the nation's first public high school-based CCTV instructional station, ITV, which broadcast educational programming to township elementary schools via microwave signals.
Students operated WNTH under a faculty advisor, and ITV was run by students under professional television technical and programming staff. By , student enrollment was more than 4, Some 20 "temporary" trailer classrooms lined the rear of the building, which had been designed for 3, To accommodate the growing baby boomer student body, voters approved a referendum for New Trier to purchase 46 acres of land in Northfield.
The resulting modernist design was widely noted in secondary education architecture literature and practice and emulated by Winnetka's Carleton Washburne junior high school several years later.
In , New Trier West was dedicated as a separate four-year high school. Enrollment reached an all-time peak of 6, students in By , enrollment had dropped significantly.
