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'Blue Island' (formerly 'Portland') is a city in Cook County, Illinois. The population was 23,463 at the 2000 census.
Blue Island is so named because it is situated south of a ridge of land that was once an island when the glacial Lake Chicago covered the area thousands of years ago. Early pioneers gave the ridge, located in the present day neighborhood of Beverly at , the name because at a distance it looked like an island in set a tractless prairie sea. The blue color has attributed to atmospheric scattering or to blue flowers growing on the ridge. The city is a hub for Metra trains.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

Government

Blue Island's claims to fame

References

External links

Geography

Blue Island is located at (41.658412, -87.679424).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.7 km² (4.1 mi²). 10.4 km² (4.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (2.18%) is water.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 23,463 people, 8,247 households, and 5,467 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,247.9/km² (5,822.4/mi²). There were 8,750 housing units at an average density of 838.3/km² (2,171.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 53.68% White, 24.10% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.37% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 17.68% from other races, and 3.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 37.93% of the population, including 34.0% of Mexican descent.
The top four non-Hispanic, non-African American ancentries reported in Blue Island as of the 2000 census were German (11.7%), Irish (10.4%), Polish (6.7%) and Italian (6.6%).^[1]
There were 8,247 households out of which 37.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.3% were married couples living together, 19.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.54.
In the city the population was spread out with 30.1% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $36,520, and the median income for a family was $42,277. Males had a median income of $31,599 versus $26,425 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,156. About 12.3% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.4% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Nearly all of Blue Island is in Illinois' 1st congressional district; the portion east of the Dan Ryan Expressway is in the 2nd district.

Blue Island's claims to fame

Acclaimed actor Gary Sinise was born in Blue Island. The rock band Enuff Z'Nuff also originated in this town; one of their songs on the album ''Strength'' is named "Blue Island," and a later album is titled ''Welcome to Blue Island''. Chicago-born glamour model & artist Traci Glon grew up in Blue Island. As well as former Mest frontman Tony Lovato
Also, scenes from the 1987 film ''Light of Day'', starring Michael J. Fox, were filmed in Blue Island, including the scenes at the arcade "The Video Zone" (now a Big Boy submarine sandwich shop).
Scenes from the movie ''Flags of Our Fathers'', directed by Clint Eastwood, were filmed in Blue Island. Scenes from the short-lived television show ''Cupid'' were filmed here, as were two episodes of the TV series ''Early Edition''.
Current Detroit Tigers outfielder and lead-off hitter Curtis Granderson was born in Blue Island.

References

1. . U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed 2007-07-11.

External links