Elk Grove Village, Illinois


Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorporated on July 17, 1956. It is directly adjacent to O'Hare International Airport and is economically important to the Chicago metropolitan area due to its large industrial park, located on the eastern border of the village. The community is served by several Interstate highways including I-90, I-290/I-355/Route 53, and IL-390. Elk Grove is also expected to be served by the I-490 Western O'Hare Bypass upon completion of the project. The population was 33,127 at the 2010 census.

History

The area comprising modern-day Elk Grove Village was originally settled in 1834 by pioneer farmers from New England. The village was formally incorporated in 1956 in Elk Grove Township, and was founded as a planned suburban community. The majority of houses were constructed by Centex Corporation. As part of the original planning concept, the village was to be home to separated residential and industrial areas.
Prior to its development as a residential community, it was home to many farmers and their families. Many of the major streets in and around the village are named for these farmers. Busse Farm was the final undeveloped agricultural property in the village, located between Higgins Road and Oakton Street, and was at one time considered as a location for a new Chicago Bears stadium, to replace the aging Soldier Field. In 2018 the land was sold to be developed into the Elk Grove Technology Park.
The original boundaries of Elk Grove Village's residential area were Higgins Road on the north, State Road on the west, Landmeier Road on the south, and Wildwood Road on the east. The village easily doubled in size during the 1960s. By the end of the decade, most of the land between O'Hare Airport and I-290/IL-53 was developed. As the village expanded to the south and west, new roads, schools, and parks were added to the community. Rupley Elementary was the first school to be constructed in Elk Grove Village. It was named after Ira Rupley, an executive vice president at Centex who helped lead the early development of the village.
In the 1970s, the village developed land west of the expressway in Schaumburg Township along with industrial development into Addison Township. New apartment communities were constructed in Elk Grove Village along Tonne Road and Ridge Avenue. These developments have since been sectioned, and some converted to condominium homes. The village saw continuous residential, commercial, and industrial growth during the 1980s. However, Lively Junior High School was no longer necessary and saw fast-declining enrollment numbers. It was shut down by the school district, leased to Elk Grove Park District, and remodeled to become the Jack E. Claes Pavilion Recreation Facility. School District 59 built administrative offices at the site.
In the 1990s and 2000s, the village embarked on a series of beautification and redevelopment programs which included the installation of a clock tower at Village Hall, installation of brick-paved crosswalks in residential areas, new landscaping in boulevards and other public lands, and installation of retro-themed street lights.
In 2006, Elk Grove Village became one of the first municipalities in Illinois to enact a public smoking ban, and in 2008 became one of the first Chicago suburbs to use red light cameras. In June 2010, Elk Grove Village's Municipal Administration and Public Safety Complex was LEED Gold Certified by the US Green Building Council.

Economy

Elk Grove Village is home to the largest consolidated business park in North America. There are nearly 3,600 businesses operating in the Village's business park along the western edge of O'Hare International Airport, employing nearly 100,000 persons. In 2018, the business park became the title sponsor of the Bahamas Bowl college football bowl game, making it officially the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl after the business park's advertising slogan, "Makers Wanted".
The Elk Grove business park is home to the largest concentration of manufacturers in the Midwest; the largest concentration of logistic freight companies in the United States, and the second-largest source of manufacturing in Illinois behind only the City of Chicago. The village is home to many large data centers which rely upon the convergence of national fiber optic networks and natural gas lines in Elk Grove, which has other strategic advantages for business including the convergence of national fiber optic cables, national gasoline and oil pipelines, and a virtually unlimited supply of fresh water from Lake Michigan.
Elk Grove Village is home to Alexian Brothers Medical Center hospital, which is the largest employer in the community with over 2,200 workers. There are a number of other well-known corporations including Apple Vacations, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Illinois Tool Works, ADP, CitiGroup, Symons, and Pepsi Cola Distribution.
In 2014, the city launched a new website to serve as an online oasis for all things business related in the city. Current and prospective businesses and real estate professionals can access tools and resources for recruitment resources, work referrals, job requests and more. Those that own or work for a business within Elk Grove qualify for a free membership and profile.
On December 30, 2014, Global Trade Magazine named Elk Grove Village one of America's best cities for global trade.

Top employers

According to the village's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the village are:
#Employer# of Employees
1Alexian Brothers Medical Center2,900
2ADP1,300
3Symons by Dayton Superior770
4Cooper Lighting600
5Creative Werks500
5Lawrence Foods500
7Antioch Tire470
8Harvard Maintenance420
9Little Lady Foods400
10Graphic Packaging International365

Geography

Central Elk Grove Village is located at . The geographic confluence point of 42°N and 88°W is also located within the village, on Brantwood Avenue.
According to the 2010 census, Elk Grove Village has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Education

Residents of Elk Grove Village enjoy a high quality of education. Areas east of I-290 are served by Elk Grove High School and Elk Grove Township Elementary School District 59. Areas west of I-290 are served by James B. Conant High School which is part of Township High School District 211 and Mead Junior High which is part of Community Consolidated School District 54. Queen of the Rosary Catholic School is located in Elk Grove Village and was named by Chicago magazine in 2014 as one of the top 25 private elementary schools in the Chicago area. Elk Grove Village has many other national and state award-winning schools and instructors.
Schools in Elk Grove Village:
Elementary:
Middle Schools:
High School:
At the 2000 census, there were 32,727 people, 13,278 households and 9,294 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,145.8 per square mile. There were 13,513 housing units at an average density of 1,224.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 86.03% White, 1.41% African American, 0.10% Native American, 8.79% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.30% from other races, and 1.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.23% of the population.
Ancestries were: German, Polish, Irish, Italian, English, Swedish.
There were 13,278 households of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.4% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.0% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.17.
24.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 31.8% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.
The median household income was $62,132 and the median family income was $71,834. Males had a median income of $50,141 versus $34,054 for females. The per capita income for the village was $28,515. About 1.5% of families and 2.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.

Culture

Media

The area metropolitan newspapers are the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. Elk Grove Village is also served by the Daily Herald and , publishers of the weekly Elk Grove Journal and the monthly Elk Grove Business Journal.

Religion

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago operates Catholic churches. On July 1, 2020, St. Julian Eymard Parish and Queen of the Rosary Parish will merge, with the latter having both the combined church and the school.

Sports

In July 2018, the village, as part of its "Makers Wanted" campaign announced that they would be taking over its naming rights sponsorship of the Bahamas Bowl beginning with its 2018 edition of the bowl; replacing the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant franchise as their naming rights sponsor.

Elk

As the name suggests, Elk Grove Village is home to a small herd of elk kept in a grove at the eastern edge of the Busse Woods forest preserve for which the grove is named. Elk are not native to the area, but were brought by train from Montana by an early resident, William Busse, in the 1920s. The elk are currently maintained by the Chicago Zoological Society veterinary staff and the Busse Woods Forest Preserve wildlife biologists.

Notable people