Illinois law stipulated that an organized Park District had the authority to, without any cost, take possession of any man-made land for use as parkland. Citizens, thereafter, petitioned for a vote to be held on the prospect of establishing Park District. An election was held January 1908, with 174 votes in favor of creating a park district and 37 votes against it. The Wilmette Park District Board of Commissioners was appointed, serving the entirety of the village, as well as a segment of northeast Evanston (responsibility for which was later assumed by the Evanston Park District). The Wilmette Park District's Board of Commissioners held their first meeting on February 17, 1908. State legislation was passed May 25, 1911, granting the Park District ownership of the landfill. The village acquired additional land bordering the landfill, including a parcel gifted to the village by Northwestern University. Ultimately, the Park District gained ownership of a riparian property stretching between Lake Avenue and Forest Avenue. Today, this land forms much of Gillson Park. The excavated material that formed the landfill turned out to largely consist of a relatively impervious blue clay. Mulchings and plantings began part of a years-long process of transforming the landfill into usable parkland. The North Shore Channel project, completed in 1909, also resulted in the creation of Wilmette Harbor. Wilmette's first informal beach was established at the foot of Elmwood Avenue in 1910. Wooden steps were constructed down the bluff to allow access to the beach from the street. In 1914 the Wilmette Beach Improvement Association was founded to clean up the village's unsupervised shoreline. The group established an official swimming beach at the foot of Lake Avenue, the site of today's Gillson Beach, with facilities including a bathhouse, swings, benches, and umbrellas. In 1912 the Northwestern Elevated Railroad (today's Chicago Transit Authority Purple Line) extended its service into Wilmette. This occurred without permission from the village, as the tracks were extended from the route's existing terminal in Evanston into the village's border under the cover of darkness before the morning of April 1, 1912. Later that year, a second track was added in Wilmette and the station's platform was elongated. In 1913 the tracks were extended deeper into the village and the makeshift station that had been constructed under the cover of darkness was replaced with two new stations in Wilmette at Isabella and Linden, the latter of which