DUPAGE COUNTY, ILLINOIS

'DuPage County' is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. Its county seat is Wheaton. According to the 2000 census, the population is 904,161, making it the second most populous county in Illinois after Cook County, which borders it to the north and east; the two counties account for half the state's population. As of 2005, the estimated population is around 930,000. This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The county is divided into nine different townships: Downers Grove, Lisle, Naperville, York, Milton, Winfield, Addison, Bloomingdale and Wayne. The majority of DuPage is in the 630 area code; however, the areas of the county that are in the City of Chicago are in area code 773, although the part of the county within Chicago is primarily part of O'Hare International Airport.
The most populous municipality within DuPage County is Naperville. Wheaton and Downers Grove are the next largest communities, respectively. A small portion of the City of Chicago is located within the county limits, however the area is primarily commercial and as of recent census estimates, only has 230 residents.

Contents

Geography

History

Notable features

Architecture

Commerce

Education

Hospitals

Museums

Music and theater

Parks, trails, golf courses

Religion

Science

Transportation

Demographics

Townships by population

Finance

Cities and towns

Median house values

External links

References

Further reading

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 872 km² (337 mi²). 864 km² (334 mi²) of it is land and 8 km² (3 mi²) of it (0.88%) is water. The DuPage River and the Salt Creek flow through DuPage County.
Counties that are adjacent to DuPage include:

★ Cook County (north, east, and south)

★ Will County (south)

★ Kendall County (southwest)

★ Kane County (west)

History

DuPage County was formed in 1839 out of Cook County. It is named after the DuPage River, which flows through it. The first written history to address the name, the ''1882 History of DuPage County, Illinois'' relates:

Notable features

Long known as one of the nation's wealthiest counties, DuPage County has transformed itself from a primarily agricultural economy to one rich in many different types of commerce. Today, DuPage County boasts a personal per capita income which is highest in the state, with Lake County a close second. The county's personal per capita income is the highest in the midwest (of counties with population under 1 million) and 24th highest in the nation. Over twenty of the county's towns have median (single family) house values of over $400,000. However, with the recent housing bubble and the exaggerated incomes associated with alt-a "liar-loans," these statistics do not reflect real wealth, as the wave of foreclosures starting in 2007 indicate. The median household income for Dupage county is only $66,000 (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/17043.html), approximately 50% higher than the US median household income. The bursting of the debt-fueled speculative housing bubble is already having a profound effect on the property values in Dupage county, where sellers in recent years were asking as much as $350,000 for a 1,000 square foot shack. Housing prices are expected to continue a downward plunge throughout 2008 and 2009.
Much of the county has been incorporated into municipalities.^[1]

Architecture

The 31-story Oakbrook Terrace Tower in Oakbrook Terrace, designed by Helmut Jahn, is currently the tallest building in Illinois outside of Chicago^[2]. The Elmhurst Art Museum is housed in a Mies Van Der Rohe building. There is a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Elmhurst. BAPS, a conservative Hindu sect, has built a large, intricately carved, marble temple in Bartlett. There are many Sears Catalog Homes in Downers Grove. The Byzantine-style clubhouse of the Medinah Country Club is also an architectural highlight of the county.

Commerce

DuPage County is the primary location of the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. It is home to many large corporations, including:

★ Ace Hardware (Oak Brook, IL)

★ BP (formerly ''British Petroleum'') (Warrenville, IL)

★ Calamos Investments (Naperville, IL)

★ Laidlaw (Naperville, IL) (Fortune 500)

★ McDonald's Corporation (Oak Brook, IL) (Fortune 500)

★ Molex (Lisle, IL)

★ Namco Cybertainment (Bensenville, IL)

★ Navistar International Corporation (Warrenville, IL) (Fortune 500)

★ Nicor (Naperville, IL) (S&P 500)

★ OfficeMax (Itasca, IL)

★ Powershares Exchange Traded Funds (Wheaton, IL)

★ ServiceMaster (Downers Grove, IL) (Fortune 500)

★ Tellabs (Naperville, IL)

★ Ty Warner (Beanie Babies) (Westmont, IL)
DuPage shopping malls include Oakbrook Center, Westfield Shoppingtown Fox Valley, Lombard's Yorktown Mall, and Bloomingdale's Stratford Square.

Education

DuPage County contains many colleges: Benedictine University, College of DuPage, the Naperville campus of DePaul University, the Addison campus of DeVry University, Elmhurst College, the Wheaton campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Lisle campus of National-Louis University, the National University of Health Sciences (formerly the National College of Chiropractic), the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, North Central College, Midwestern University, and Wheaton College. McDonald's has a training facility in Oakbrook called Hamburger University.
It is also home to several private high schools, including Montini Catholic High School,Timothy Christian High School, Benet Academy, Wheaton Academy, St. Francis High School, Driscoll Catholic High School, College Preparatory School of America, Marmion Academy, and the Islamic Foundation School.
Dupage county is also home to many successful public schools such as Downers Grove South Highschool, Downers Grove North Highschool, Naperville North Highschool, Naperville Central Highschool, Willowbrook Highschool, Hinsdale South Highschool, Hinsdale Central Highschool, and York Highschool.

Hospitals

Central DuPage Hospital, Winfield, IL

Museums

DuPage museums include the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, Wheaton College's Billy Graham Center, the Cantigny Estate and War Museum on the former estate of ''Chicago Tribune'' magnate Robert R. McCormick, the DuPage County Historical Museum, Hinsdale's Graue Mill, Elmhurst's Lizzadro Lapidary Museum, Oak Brook's Mayslake Peabody Estate, Naperville's Naper Settlement, the Elmhurst Art Museum (housed in a Mies Van Der Rohe building)^[3], and Glen Ellyn's Stacy's Tavern.

Music and theater

DuPage also plays host to a rich local music scene. Some of the better-known bands to come out of the area include Material Issue, The Hush Sound, Lucky Boys Confusion, Spitalfield, and The Plain White T's. DuPage County is commemorated in the tongue-in-cheek tribute song, "DuPage Reprazent" by Suburban Murda.^[4]
Oakbrook Terrace's Drury Lane Theatre is the most important live theatre in DuPage County.

Parks, trails, golf courses

Main articles: Forest Preserve District of DuPage County

37.5 square miles of DuPage County (9.0%) consists of forest preserves^[5]. DuPage parks include Lisle's Morton Arboretum; Westmont's Ty Warner Park; Lombard's Lilacia Park; and Naperville's Centennial Beach.
The Illinois Prairie Path, a 116-mile rail-to-trail multi-use path runs through the center of DuPage County. It intersects with the Great Western Trail at several points.
DuPage golf courses include Wheaton's Chicago Golf Club, the Medinah Country Club, Glen Ellyn's Village Links and Glen Oak Country Club, Wheaton's Cantigny Golf Course, Addison's Oak Meadows, Wood Dale's Maple Meadows, Westmont's Green Meadows, Lisle's River Bend (9 Holes) and West Chicago's St. Andrew's to name a few.

Religion

DuPage county has hundreds of Christian churches. Community Christian Church of Naperville was named the 13th most influential church in the nation by The Church Report^[6], and College Church of Wheaton was ranked #37. Other well-known churches include Wheaton Bible Church and Oakbrook Church of Christ. There is also a large Catholic contingent led by the Diocese of Joliet.
The Theosophical Society in Wheaton provides lectures and classes on Theosophy, meditation, yoga, and on Eastern and New Age spirituality. Islamic mosques are located in Villa Park, Naperville and Glendale Heights^[7]. There are Hindu temples in Bartlett, Medinah, Itasca, Bloomingdale, and Aurora. There is a Nichiren Shoshu Zen Buddhist temple in West Chicago^[8], and a Theravada Buddhist Temple called Buddha-Dharma Meditation Center in Willowbrook^[9]. There are reform synagogues in Lombard and Naperville. There is a Sikh ''gurdwara'' in Carol Stream.

Science

Fermilab, which has one of the most powerful particle accelerators in the world, is in Batavia, a town in neighboring Kane County, though Fermilab straddles the border between Kane and DuPage counties^[10]. Argonne National Laboratory, one of the United States government's oldest and largest science and engineering research laboratories, is in an unincorporated area in southeast DuPage County^[11]. Both laboratories conduct tours of the facilities.

Transportation

DuPage has many railroads and several small airports, including DuPage Airport. DuPage is served by the Pace bus system.
North-south roads (from west to east) include Illinois Route 59 (Sutton Road), Illinois Route 53 (Rohlwing Road), Interstate 355 (North-South Tollway), and Illinois Route 83 (Kingery Highway). East-west roads (from south to north) include Interstate 55 (Stevenson Expressway), Interstate 88 (East-West Tollway), U.S. Route 34 (Ogden Avenue), Illinois Route 56 (Butterfield Road), Illinois Route 38 (Roosevelt Road), Illinois Route 64 (North Avenue), Army Trail Road, U.S. Route 20 (Lake Street), Illinois Route 19 (Irving Park Road) and the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway (which begins at the Thorndale Ave exit of I-290 and ends on Lake St. (U.S. Rte 20) in Hanover Park.

Demographics

'DuPage County Population by year'

2000 - 904,161 1990 - 781,666 1980 - 658,835 1970 - 491,882 1960 - 313,459 1950 - 154,599 1940 - 103,480 1930 - 91,998 1920 - 42,120 1910 - 33,432 1900 - 28,196 1890 - 22,551 1880 - 19,161 1870 - 16,685 1860 - 14,701 1850 - 9,290 1840 - 3,535

As of the census² of 2000, there were 904,161 people, 325,601 households, and 234,432 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,046/km² (2,710/mi²). There were 335,621 housing units at an average density of 388/km² (1,006/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 84.05% White, 3.05% Black or African American, 0.17% Native American, 7.88% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.12% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. 9.00% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 325,601 households out of which 37.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.90% were married couples living together, 7.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.00% were non-families. 22.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.27.
In the county the population was spread out with 26.70% under the age of 18, 8.20% from 18 to 24, 32.40% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 9.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.20 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $67,887, and the median income for a family was $79,314. Males had a median income of $52,372 versus $35,450 for females. The per capita income for the county was $31,315. About 2.40% of families and 3.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.90% of those under age 18 and 4.30% of those age 65 or over.

Townships by population

DuPage County has nine townships:

★ Downers Grove Township - 148,110

★ York Township - 124,553

★ Milton Township - 118,616

★ Lisle Township - 117,604

★ Bloomingdale Township - 111,709

★ Addison Township - 88,900

★ Naperville Township - 85,736

★ Wayne Township - 63,776

★ Winfield Township - 45,155

Finance

The Primary revenue sources for DuPage County are Sales and Use tax, user fees, and Property tax. From a consolidated point of view, the three revenue sources are about equal.
Fiscal year 2007 will be the last year of the DuPage Water Commission intergovernmental transfer, meaning that the County budget will lose approximately $15 million in revenue. The County is working with other counties and community groups to offset the loss with a Cigarette Tax, but there is no current legislative authority for such a tax. In order to prepare for the anticipated revenue loss, the county has already started to cut services such as community programs.

Cities and towns

★ Addison

★ Aurora - partly in Kane, Kendall and Will County

★ Bartlett - partly in Cook County, very small parcel in Kane County

★ Batavia - primarily in Kane County. Its northeastern boundary crosses into DuPage near Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, south of Fayban Parkway.

★ Bensenville - small section in Cook County

★ Bloomingdale

★ Bolingbrook - primarily in Will County, only areas north of 87th street are in DuPage County.

★ Burr Ridge - partly in Cook County

★ Carol Stream

★ Chicago - A very small part of the City of Chicago covering a western section of O'Hare International Airport falls within DuPage County's boundaries.[2]

★ Clarendon Hills

★ Darien

★ Downers Grove

★ Elk Grove Village - primarily in Cook, only a small section south of Devon Ave. is located in DuPage County.

★ Elmhurst

★ Glen Ellyn

★ Glendale Heights

★ Hanover Park - partly in Cook County

★ Hinsdale - partly in Cook County

★ Itasca

★ Lemont -mainly in Cook County, and also in Will County

★ Lisle

★ Lombard

★ Medinah - unincorporated area

★ Naperville - partly in Will County

★ Oak Brook

★ Oakbrook Terrace

★ Roselle - partly in Cook County

★ Schaumburg - primarily in Cook, only a very small section on the south end of town bisecting the Schaumburg Regional Airport is in DuPage County.

★ St. Charles - primarily in Kane County. A very small section on the east side, including the Pheasant Run Resort, off North Ave. near the DuPage Airport is located in DuPage County.

★ Villa Park

★ Warrenville

★ Wayne - partly in Kane County

★ West Chicago

★ Westmont

★ Wheaton

★ Willowbrook - not to be confused with unincorporated Willowbrook, Will County, Illinois, a census-designated place.

★ Winfield

★ Wood Dale

★ Woodridge - partly in Will County and a small parcel in Cook County

Median house values

The United States Census Bureau reported the 2000 median house values of each municipality in DuPage County as the following, ranked in order from highest to lowest. In parenthesis is the per capita income for each community as stated in the 2000 Census:

★ Oak Brook: $635,400 ($106,668)

★ Hinsdale: $520,100 ($63,765)

★ Burr Ridge: $477,800 ($58,518)

★ Wayne: $442,500 ($54,990)

★ Clarendon Hills: $307,500 ($41,859)

★ Glen Ellyn: $274,800 ($39,783)

★ Naperville: $254,200 ($35,551) (Naperville also lies in Will County)

★ Willowbrook: $245,800 ($37,715)

★ Lemont: $225,700 ($28,354) (Lemont lies mainly in Cook County)

★ Wheaton: $222,100 ($34,147)

★ Lisle: $219,200 ($35,693)

★ Darien: $214,500 ($34,795)

★ Elmhurst: $211,100 ($32,015)

★ Winfield: $210,400 ($35,482)

★ Bloomingdale: $209,200 ($30,941)

★ Itasca: $208,300 ($34,117)

★ Downers Grove: $205,900 ($31,580)

★ Bartlett: $204,700 ($29,652) (A portion of Bartlett lies in Cook County)

★ Batavia: $202,700 ($27,783) (Only a small part of Batavia lies in DuPage County)

★ St. Charles: $196,200 ($33,969) (St. Charles lies mainly in Kane County)

★ Elk Grove Village: $189,400 ($28,515) (Elk Grove Village lies mostly in Cook County)

★ Westmont: $180,200 ($26,394)

★ Schaumburg: $178,200 ($30,587)

★ Addison: $173,200 ($21,201)

★ Wood Dale: $171,800 ($25,507)

★ Oakbrook Terrace: $170,700 ($44,345)

★ Carol Stream: $170,400 ($25,252)

★ Roselle: $169,900 ($28,501)

★ Lombard: $168,500 ($27,667)

★ Woodridge: $168,400 ($27,851)

★ West Chicago: $160,000 ($19,287)

★ Bensenville: $155,900 ($20,040)

★ Villa Park: $155,900 ($22,354)

★ Warrenville: $148,900 ($28,922)

★ Glendale Heights: $142,800 ($21,911)

★ Bolingbrook: $142,000 ($23,468) (Bolingbrook lies mainly in Will County)

★ Hanover Park: $141,500 ($19,960) (Hanover Park lies mainly in Cook County)

★ Aurora: $135,500 ($22,131) (Aurora only partially lies in DuPage County)

External links

★ DuPage County Website

★ Forest Preserve District of DuPage County

★ Forest Preserve District of DuPage County Golf Facilities

★ DuPage County Fair Grounds in Wheaton

★ Light Blue Extra - Dupage County music community

★ DuPage Historical Society

★ DuPage House Values

References

1. http://www.co.dupage.il.us/generic.cfm?doc_id=809
2. http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=126138
3. [1]
4. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=105103
5. http://www.dupageforest.com/info/info.html
6. http://www.thechurchreport.com/mag_article.php?mid=672&mname=July
7. http://www.islamiccenterofnaperville.org/
8. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/176.html
9. http://www.buddhistbmc.org/
10. http://www.dupageco.org/cobrd/generic.cfm?doc_id=1100
11. http://www.dupageco.org/cobrd/generic.cfm?doc_id=1097

Further reading

★ Population of states and counties of the United States: 1790 to 1990 : from the twenty-one decennial censuses, , Richard L. (editor), Forstall, United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Population Division, 1996, ISBN 0-934213-48-8