Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois


Worth Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 152,633. It was founded in 1849, when the county voted to subdivide itself into townships.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Worth Township covers an area of ; of this, is land and is water.
The township covers and holds 62,042 dwellings as of the 2010 census. The population is 79.6% White, 9.9% Black, 0.3% American Indian or Alaska Native, 1.7% Asian, 0.05% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 6.2% some other race, and 2.2% two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race made up 15.7% of the population.

Boundaries

Worth Township is bordered by Harlem Avenue on the west, 87th Street on the north, Western Avenue on the east and 135th Street on the south. The township, however, does not include the parts of the city of Chicago that lie within these boundaries.

Demographics

Governance

Worth Township is governed by 8 elected officials, chosen every four years. The current administration is:
The south edge of the city of Chicago is within this township geographically but is a separate entity.

Adjacent townships

The township contains these fifteen cemeteries: Beverly Memorial Park, Burr Oak, Chapel Hills Gardens South, Ever Rest, Evergreen, First Evangelical Lutheran, Hazel Green, Holy Sepulchre, Lincoln, Mount Greenwood, Mount Hope, Oak Hill, Restvale, Saint Benedict Catholic and Saint Marys.

Major highways

In 2002, Lawrence Hupe, the Worth Township school treasurer, retired with one of the largest government pensions in Illinois after receiving annual bonuses exceeding 25% of his salary in the last five years of his 25-year service. At $153,835, Hupe's pension exceeded the state governor's salary. His employer, the Worth Township Board of School Trustees, reported to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund that Hupe took home an extra $302,000 above his salary between 1998 and 2002. Hupe claimed that the additional payments were in lieu of unused annual leave. Hupe's successor was paid a salary of $87,500, just 57% of Hupe's pension.