Known for its vast tallgrass prairies,[3] DuPage County has become mostly developed and suburbanized, although some pockets of farmland remain in the county's western and northern parts.[4] Located in the Rust Belt, the area is one of few in the region whose economy quickly became dependent on the headquarters of several large corporations due to its close proximity to Chicago. As quarries closed in the 1990s, land that was formerly used for mining and plants was converted into mixed-use, master-planned developments to meet the growing tax base.[5] The county has a mixed socioeconomic profile and residents of Hinsdale, Naperville and Oak Brook include some of the wealthiest people in the Midwest. On the whole, the county enjoys above average median household income levels and low overall poverty levels when compared to the national average.[6] In 2023, Niche ranked four DuPage municipalities (Clarendon Hills at #125, Naperville at #130, Hinsdale at #166, and Lisle at #280) amongst the best places to live in America.[7]
History
DuPage County was formed on February 9, 1839, out of Cook County.[8] The county took its name from the DuPage River, which was, in turn, named after a French fur trapper, DuPage.[9] The first written history to address the name, the 1882 History of DuPage County, Illinois, by Rufus Blanchard, relates:[10]
The DuPage River had, from time immemorial, been a stream well known. It took its name from a French trader who settled on this stream below the fork previous to 1800. Hon. H. W. Blodgett, of Waukegan, informs the writer that J. B. Beaubien had often spoken to him of the old Frenchman, Du Page, whose station was on the bank of the river, down toward its mouth, and stated that the river took its name from him. The county name must have the same origin. Col Gurden S. Hubbard, who came into the country in 1818, informs the writer that the name DuPage, as applied to the river then, was universally known, but the trader for whom it was named lived there before his time. Mr. Beaubien says it is pronounced Du Pazhe (having the sound of ah, and that the P should be capitalized). This was in reply to Mr. Blodgett's inquiry of him concerning the matter.
DuPage County at the time of its creation in 1839
The first white settler in DuPage County was Bailey Hobson who, with Lewis Stewart, built a house in 1831 for the Hobson family at a site about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of present-day downtown Naperville.[11][12] Hobson later built a mill to serve surrounding farmers. Today, the Hobson house still stands on Hobson Road in Naperville, and the location of the mill is commemorated with a millstone and monument in today's Pioneer Park.[13]
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 336 square miles (870 km2), of which 327 square miles (850 km2) is land and 8.9 square miles (23 km2) (2.6%) is water.[14] The DuPage River and the Salt Creek flow through DuPage County. According to the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, the highest point in the county is located at the Mallard Lake Landfill, which at its highest point is 982 feet (299 m) above mean sea level.[15]
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Wheaton have ranged from a low of 14 °F (−10 °C) in January to a high of 87 °F (31 °C) in July, although a record low of −26 °F (−32 °C) was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of 105 °F (41 °C) was recorded in July 1995. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 1.56 inches (40 mm) in February to 4.60 inches (117 mm) in August.[16]
DuPage County has become more diverse. The population of foreign-born residents increased from about 71,300 in 1990 to 171,000 by 2009 estimates.[23]
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 $98,441 and the median income for a family was $113,086.[24] Males had a median income of $60,909 versus $41,346 for females. The mean or average income for a family in DuPage County is $121,009, according to the 2005 census. The per capita income for the county was $38,458. 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.[24]
Argonne National Laboratory, one of the United States government's oldest and largest science and engineering research laboratories,[33] is in unincorporated, southeast DuPage County.[34] Both laboratories conduct tours of their facilities.
Oakbrook Terrace'sDrury Lane Theatre is an important live theatre in DuPage County. The Tivoli Theatre, one of the first theatres in the United States to be equipped with sound, is still in use in Downers Grove.[42] In addition to showing movies, the Tivoli is home to several local performing arts groups.[43] The McAninch Arts Center located on the Glen Ellyn campus of the College of DuPage also presents a variety of music, dance, theater and comedy year round both on its three indoor stages and its outdoor Lakeside Pavilion.
The powers of the County Board include managing county funds and business, levying taxes, and appropriating funds. The County Board exercises powers not assigned to other elected officials or other boards.[45]
The county is divided into six districts. Each district elects three members to the County Board in staggered two-year and four-year terms. The Chairman of the County Board is the chief executive officer of DuPage County, and is elected countywide every four years.
DuPage County is part of Regional Office of Education #19 which is coterminous with the county's corporate boundaries.[46]
The County Board is controlled by the Democratic Party by an 11 to 7 margin.[47]
DuPage County was historically a stronghold of the Republican Party, and a classic bastion of suburban conservatism. In recent years, DuPage County has joined other suburban counties outside large U.S. cities trending Democratic in presidential election years since the 1990s. The county also leans Democratic in state and local politics. In the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial election, J. B. Pritzker became the first Democratic candidate for the governorship to win the county in nearly 100 years. Dupage County voters backed Pritzker in his 2022 re-election bid by a large margin.[48]
National politics
United States presidential election results for DuPage County, Illinois[49]
The county supported Barack Obama, a Chicago resident, in 2008 and 2012 (albeit narrowly in 2012). Obama was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the county since Franklin Pierce in 1852. The only time prior to 2008 that a Republican had failed to win the county was in 1912, when the GOP was mortally divided and former president and Progressive Party nominee Theodore Roosevelt won over half the county's vote.
DuPage County has historically been a fiscally and socially conservative Republican stronghold, though in recent years has become more politically liberal especially on issues of race and immigration.[50][51] DuPage County has been shifting more Democratic, with Joe Biden winning nearly 58% of the vote in 2020. DuPage County has not voted for a Republican candidate for president since 2004. Donald Trump was the first Republican nominee for president since 1912 to get less than 40% of the DuPage County vote, both in the 2016 and 2020 general elections. Many DuPage County communities which normally vote Republican, including but not limited to Naperville, Lisle, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Carol Stream, Downers Grove, and Elmhurst did not support Donald Trump in 2016.[52] In December 2019, shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump, Carol Stream-based Christianity Today published a controversial editorial calling for the removal of Trump from office, citing the need to hold him to the same standards to which they held Bill Clinton in the 1990s (who was the last Democratic nominee for president to get less than 40% of the DuPage County vote).[53]
In the U.S. House of Representatives, DuPage County is in the 5th, 6th, 8th, 11th and 14th districts. In the 2018 general election, despite the county's historical Republican dominance, Democrats won every congressional district within the county.[54]
Local politics
Republicans historically controlled local politics in DuPage County from the nineteenth century until modern times. During the twentieth century, Democrats only held countywide office twice. In 1934 William Robinson was elected Circuit Clerk and Arthur Hellyer was elected Treasurer. That year also saw the first ever Democratic majority county board and only such majority that century.[55][56] Robinson and Hellyer each served one term; Robinson lost his bid for a full term in 1936 and Hellyer left the Treasurer's office to make a failed bid for probate judge in 1938.[57] In 2018, as part of a larger suburban realignment, Democratic candidate Jean Kaczmarek won the election for County Clerk and Daniel Hebreard won the President of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.[54][58][59]
During that same period Democrats were sporadically elected to the county board and township government. In 1972, Don Carroll was elected to the County Board. In the Democratic wave of 1974, Jane Spirgel, Mary Eleanor Wall, and Elaine Libovicz were elected. All four were from the northeastern portion of DuPage, which at that time was the most Democratic region of the county.[60] Eventually, Republicans regained all seats on the board when Jane Spirgel ran for Illinois Secretary of State with Adlai Stevenson III under the Solidarity Party banner.[61] In 2000, Linda J. Bourke Hilbert was elected. Like her 1970s counterparts, she was from the northeastern portion of the county.[62] During the 2008 Democratic wave, three Democrats were elected to the board.[63] After the initial Obama wave, Republicans reasserted themselves on the board and by 2017 Democrats held only one of the eighteen board seats. In the 2018 general election, Democrats won seven seats as well as the offices of County Clerk and Forest Preserve District President.[54]
In 1973, a slate of Democrats took eight of nine offices in Addison Township. This feat would not be replicated until 2017 when Democratic candidates won a majority of offices in Naperville and Lisle townships.[64] Between these two victories, Democrats only held two township offices. Mark Starkovich served as York Township Supervisor from 1989 to 1993 and Martin McManamon has served as Wayne Township Highway Commissioner since 2013.[65]
In 2020, Democrats won control of the DuPage County Board, expanding on their 2018 lead.[66] In 2022, Democrats expanded their majority in the County Board to 11 seats out of 18.[67] Concurrently, Democrat Deb Conroy was elected as the chairman of the County Board.[68]
The DuPage County Regional Office of Education provides regulatory and compliance oversight, quality services and support, and a variety of other services and information to the public schools within 42 school districts of the county that provide education to over 161,000 students in 245 schools.[69]
The following is a list of school districts that not only includes those supported by the DuPage County Regional Office of Education, but includes others which may have schools and/or administrative headquarters outside of DuPage County but which have any territory, no matter how slight, within the county:[70]
North–south roads (from west to east) include: IL 59 (Neltnor Boulevard), IL 53, I-355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway) and IL 83 (Kingery Highway). East–west roads (from south to north) include: I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) I-88 (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway), US 34 (Ogden Avenue), IL 56 (Butterfield Road), IL 38 (Roosevelt Road), IL 64 (North Avenue), Army Trail Road, US 20 (Lake Street), IL 19 (Irving Park Road) and IL 390 (Elgin–O'Hare Expressway), which begins at the Thorndale Avenue exit on I-290 and ends on Lake Street, in Hanover Park. I-294 partially enters DuPage County on its eastern border between Westchester, in Cook County, and Oak Brook, in DuPage County. Only the southbound lanes enter the county though. Historic U.S. Route 66 crosses through the southeast portion of the county near Darien and Willowbrook.[73]
^Kuethe, T. (April 26, 2019). "Changes in Farms and Farmland in Illinois". farmdoc daily. 9 (76). Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
^Thompson, Richard A. "The French Connection". History of DuPage County: DuPage Roots. DuPageHistory.org. Archived from the original on 13 March 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
^Blanchard, Rufus (1882). "History of DuPage County, Illinois". Illinois Digital Archives. Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
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