Naperville, Illinois

The Martin-Mitchell Mansion within the Naper Settlement outdoor museum.

Naperville (Template:Pron-en) is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,358. A special census taken in 2008 showed the population to be 144,560. Naperville is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago, neighboring Aurora, Rockford, and Joliet. Approximately 100,000 Naperville residents live in DuPage County, while about 50,000 reside in Will County. Naperville was one of the ten fastest growing communities in the United States during the 1990s.

Once a farming town, A number of high-tech companies are located in the city, including Nalco Holding Company, Tellabs, Alcatel-Lucent and the BP North American Chemical Headquarters.

History

In July 1831, Joseph Naper arrived at the banks of the DuPage River with his family and friends settled what would be known as "Naper's Settlement". Among those original settlers were Naper's wife Almeda Landon, his brother John and his wife Betsy Goff, his sister Amy and her husband John Murray, and his mother Sarah. Their arrival followed a nearly two-month voyage across three Great Lakes in the Naper brothers' schooner, the Telegraph. Also on that journey were several families who remained in the still raw settlement that would become Chicago, including the family of Dexter Graves who is memorialized in Graceland Cemetery by a well-known Lorado Taft statue.

By 1832, over one hundred settlers had arrived at Naper's Settlement. These settlers were temporarily displaced to Fort Dearborn for protection from an anticipated attack by the Sauk tribe. Fort Payne was built at Naper's Settlement, the settlers returned and the attack never materialized. The Pre-Emption House was constructed in 1834, as the Settlement became a stage-coach stop on the road from Chicago to Galena. Reconstructions of Fort Payne and the Pre-Emption House stand as part of Naper Settlement, which was first established by the Naperville Heritage Society and the Naperville Park District in 1968 to preserve some of the community's oldest buildings.

After DuPage County was split from Cook County in 1839, Naper's Settlement became the DuPage county seat, a distinction it held until 1868. Naper's Settlement was incorporated as the Village of Naperville in 1857, at which time it had a population of 2,000. Reincorporation as a city occurred in 1890. A predominantly rural community for most of its existence, Naperville experienced a population explosion starting in the 1960s, but largely during the 1980s and 1990s following the construction of the East-West Tollway (now known as the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) and North-South tollways. Since 1990, the city has nearly quadrupled in size as Chicago metropolitan area's urban sprawl brought corporations, jobs, and wealth to the area.

Naperville was a sundown town until at least 1970. In 1968, then Mayor Milton Stauffer said: "There would be some trouble, yes, were a Negro family to move in somewhere in Naperville, but none which couldn't be quickly overcome." Of 23,835 residents only 43 were African American, and 20 of those residents were live-in servants. In about 1970, the priest of the town’s oldest Catholic Church said that African Americans used to be refused residence in Naperville and were not allowed to stay within its city limits after sunset. As of the 2000 census, Naperville was more than eighty-five percent white and less than four percent African American.

On April 26, 1946, Naperville was the site of one of the worst train accidents ever in the Chicago area. Two Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad trains, the Advance Flyer and the Exposition Flyer, collided 'head to tail' on a single track just west of the Loomis Street grade crossing. The accident killed 47 and injured more than 100 passengers. This event is commemorated in a metal inlay map of Naperville on the southeast corner of Nichols Library's sidewalk area.

Forty acres once housed Nike Site C-70 in Naperville, Illinois. It has since been divided into an office park and Nike Park, part of the Naperville Park District, with soccer, softball and Little League fields. The site is located at the south-east corner of Mill Street and Diehl Road in northern Naperville.

Naperville marked the 175th anniversary of its 1831 founding in 2006. The anniversary events included a series of celebrations, concerts, fireworks, and an electric light parade.

Geography

Naperville is located at 41°44′53″N 88°09′56″W (41.7481889, -88.1656320).

Topography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 35.5 square miles (92 km²). 35.4 square miles (92 km²) of this area is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) of it is water.

Downtown Naperville is located within DuPage County, but the city has expanded south into neighboring Will County.

Climate

According to Koppen Climate Classification, Naperville is a DFA climate. Naperville has an annual average of 37.94 inches (964 mm) of precipitation per year. Naperville’s seasonal average temperatures vary drastically, due to its inner position on the continent, an average high temperature in July is 86.8 °F (30.4 °C) and an average temperature in January is 14.2 °F (−9.9 °C). Naperville does see significant amounts of snowfall in the winter. In the summer, Naperville is often the target of severe storms, the majority occurring because of frontal uplift or mid afternoon convection. However, because of Naperville’s close proximity to lake Michigan, the most severe convective storms are often dismantled by the cool winds originating from Lake Michigan.

Demographics

As of 2008, Naperville is the 167th most populous city in the United States. According to the 2005 American Community Survey, there were an estimated 147,779 people, 48,655 households, and 37,143 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,162.8 inhabitants per square mile (1,607.3/km²). There were 51,636 housing units at an average density of 1,454.5 per square mile (561.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.2% White, 4.3% African American, 0.2% Native American, 12.3% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.26% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.4% of the population.

There were 48,655 households out of which 45.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.0% were married couples living together, 6.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 17.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.04 and the average family size was 3.55.

In the city, the population was spread out with 30.2% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.9 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.

In 2008, the median household income in the city was $101,470, and the median family income was $123,485. The mean income for a family in Naperville was $153,340, according to the 2008 estimates. The per capita income for the city was $44,787. About 3.4% of the population was below the poverty line, including 2.8% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Naperville is located in the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. Major area private employers include Alcatel-Lucent on the site of Bell Labs, BP Labs, Nalco Holding Company, Nicor, Calamos Investments, Kraft Foods, and Edward Hospital. Tellabs and Laidlaw have corporate headquarters in Naperville, and ConAgra's Grocery division offices now occupy the former corporate headquarters of Allied Van Lines in Naperville. OfficeMax moved its corporate headquarters to Naperville in 2006. Dukane Precast, one of the area's major precast concrete manufacturers, maintains its headquarters and a manufacturing plant in Naperville.

The Naperville area is home to many popular retailers, restaurants and shopping centers, such as the Main Street Promenade in Downtown Naperville, Freedom Commons, Springbrook Prairie Pavilion, and the Route 59 and Ogden Avenue corridors. Naperville has over eleven automobile dealerships, and in October 2006, the city opened the country's first public-private automobile test track, situated on a 9-acre (3.6 ha) course, at a cost of $1.5 million.

Arts and culture

Public libraries

The flagship 95th Street Naperville Public Library

American Libraries magazine ranked the Naperville Public Library among the top public libraries since 1999.

There are three public library locations within city limits.

• The Nichols Library is located in downtown Naperville, at 200 W. Jefferson Street. It has been in this location since 1986. It is a 63,000 square feet (5,900 m²) structure. The previous library building still stands on Washington Street, just south of the YMCA building, at Washington and Van Buren.
• The Naper Boulevard Library was dedicated in December 1992 and underwent internal renovations in 1996. It is located at 2035 S. Naper Boulevard and is the smallest of the three buildings at 32,000 square feet (3,000 m²).
• The 95th Street Library is located near the intersection of 95th Street and Route 59, at 3015 Cedar Glade Drive (just west of Neuqua Valley High School). It is the newest (opened in September 2003) and largest of the three libraries at 73,000 square feet (6,800 m²) and features a modern, curving architectural style.

Moser Tower, containing the Millennium Carillon

In May 2005, a local technology company was contracted to install fingerprint scanners as a more convenient access method to the libraries' internet computers, provoking some controversy. After further testing, the technology was not implemented.

The three libraries are used heavily by the public including around one and a half million visitors and a circulation of about four million items yearly.

Tourism

Moser Tower and Millennium Carillon

In 1999, Naperville was designated a White House Millennium Community, due to the construction of the Moser Tower and Millennium Carillon. The tower is located just north of Aurora Avenue and at the base of Rotary Hill within the Riverwalk Park complex. The Millennium Carillon is specially designated as a Grand Carillon, with 72 bells, and is one of only four worldwide that span six octaves. The Millennium Carillon was dedicated in an Independence Day event on June 29, 2000, with a reception attended by over 15,000, and a performance by the Naperville Municipal Band and the Naperville Men's Glee Club and Festival Chorus. The Carillon is both manually and computer-playable, with most performances by hand, but with half the bells played by a computer-controlled system at set times during the day. The Moser Tower was opened to the public in the summer of 2007. The design of the tower won an award for "Best Custom Solution" from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI).

Riverwalk

The Naperville Riverwalk is a four mile (6 km) long walkway along the west branch of the DuPage River. The project began in 1981 as a memorial to Naperville's Sesquicentennial anniversary. Using volunteer time and donated money and materials, residents turned what was previously considered an eye-sore into a major attraction. The winding paths stretch through Naperville's downtown area and the residential neighborhoods flanking downtown. With fountains, benches, scenic bridges, and the Riverwalk amphitheater, the Riverwalk is referred to as Naperville's "Crown Jewel" by the Naperville Riverwalk Foundation.

Local media

Newspapers

• The Naperville Sun
• The Daily Herald
• Naperville Reporter

Radio

• WPFP, 1610 AM provides emergency, city and road information
• WONC, a radio station at North Central College
• 'Stop and Go Radio', an Internet based community radio

Television

• Naperville Community Television, Channel 17

Parks and recreation

View of the Riverwalk Quarry in Naperville from Eagle Street, near Jackson Street. Moser Tower is in the right-center background and Rotary Hill (serving as a sled hill) is in the left background.

The Naperville Park District manages and provides leisure and recreational activities for Naperville and nearby residents. The District was established by referendum in 1966. As of 2007, the Park District manages over 2,400 acres (10 km²) of open space, including over 130 parks and four sports complexes.</ref> The Park District also manages two golf courses, Springbrook and Naperbrook. The Park District is also responsible for the Naperville Riverwalk.

Some of the other facilities managed by the Park District include:

• Centennial Beach, with adjacent Centennial Park.
• Two parks dedicated to skateboarding and in-line skating, at Frontier Sports Complex and Centennial Park.
• Commissioners Park, which includes Naperville's first official Cricket pitch, opened in 2006.
• Alfred Rubin Riverwalk Community Center
• Community Garden Plots, located on West Street.
• Knoch Knolls Park, which includes a nine-hole disc golf course, located on Knoch Knolls Road.
• Naperville Sportsman's Club – Trap shooting range

Law and government

Naperville employs a Council-Manager form of municipal government consisting of a city manager, a part-time mayor, and an eight-member City Council. Though the current Mayor A. George Pradel works as though it is a full-time job, that is not intended or required.

Police

The Naperville Police Department employs over 180 officers. On October 5, 2008, The Biography Channel started airing the show Female Forces, which followed the 18 female officers of the NPD.

Education

Colleges and universities

• North Central College is located on a 59-acre (24 ha) campus in Naperville's residential Historic District. It was founded by a predecessor church to the United Methodist Church in 1861 and has been located in Naperville since 1870. The college remains affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
• Northern Illinois University maintains a satellite campus on Diehl Road offering several degrees at its 113,000-square-foot (10,500 m²) facility.
• DePaul University maintains a satellite campus on Warrenville Road. It has been in Naperville since 1997.
• The Naperville Regional Center of the College of DuPage is located on Rickert Drive.
• DeVry University maintains a satellite campus on Westings Avenue in Naperville.
• Governors State University recently opened a satellite campus on West 95th Street in Naperville.
• Northwestern College has a Naperville campus on North Mill Street.
• The University of Illinois system opened the Business Innovation Services campus in Naperville in 2007.

Primary and secondary schools

Two K-12 public school districts serve the city of Naperville, along with a number of private and parochial schools. Naperville Community Unit School District 203, established in 1972 through the merger of the elementary and high school districts, serves central Naperville, as well as portions of neighboring Lisle and Bolingbrook. The current District 203 school buildings were constructed between 1928 (Ellsworth) and 1990 (Kingsley). Within the Naperville city limits, the district has two high schools: Naperville Central High School and Naperville North High School, four junior high schools, and fourteen elementary schools. A fifth junior high school is located in Lisle, Kennedy Junior High School.

Neuqua Valley High School

Indian Prairie School District 204 was also formed through merged districts in 1972. Neuqua Valley High School, along with four middle schools and fourteen elementary schools from this district, are all within the Naperville city limits. Although located in Aurora, Waubonsie Valley High School also serves some pockets of Naperville-based residents of District 204. A third high school, Metea Valley High School, opened on time on August 20, 2009, for the 2009-2010 academic year, with portions of the school still under construction until February 2010. The district serves western and southwestern Naperville, along with eastern Aurora and parts of Bolingbrook and Plainfield. Remaining schools in the district are located in Aurora and Bolingbrook, and these also serve students from Naperville.

Infrastructure

Health care

Edward Hospital, located on Washington Street just south of Naperville's downtown, is the primary hospital for the city. Neighboring hospitals, such as Central DuPage in Winfield, and Advocate Good Samaritan in Downers Grove, maintain affiliated medical offices within Naperville city limits.

Public utilities

The city of Naperville receives water from Chicago and Lake Michigan. Naperville's gas supplier is Nicor, which is also headquartered in Naperville.

Transportation

Roads

The Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (the tolled portion of Interstate 88) runs near the north edge of Naperville, and Interstate 55 runs south of the city, through Bolingbrook and Romeoville.

Street naming protocol

From 75th Street south (including 83rd Street, 87th Street, etc.) Naperville east-west streets and their names roughly follow the same grid layout as the City of Chicago. For example, if 75th street continued east past its terminus at Illinois Route 83, in Willowbrook, it would eventually be the same 75th Street as found in Chicago city limits. However, the older part of Naperville has a second numerical grid, starting downtown at Main and Benton, with 4th and 5th Avenues just north of the BNSF tracks, and continuing through 15th Avenue. The difference is that the numbers in the older system go up from downtown, traveling south to north, and the other grid's numbers go up as one travels north to south. (Refer to the Streets and highways of Chicago article for more information.)

There is also a geographical based naming system, with West Street and North Street defining the older boundaries of the city. Along with these are streets named after the city they lead to, i.e., Naper/Plainfield Road heads towards Plainfield, while Aurora Avenue leads to Aurora and Chicago Avenue to Chicago (it becomes Maple Ave. in neighboring Lisle before becoming 55th Street). Oswego Road, while having once led to Oswego via U.S. Route 34, no longer connects to that highway, and thus no longer leads directly to Oswego. Other major thoroughfares, such as Diehl Road, Bailey Road, Hobson Road, Modaff Road, and Wehrli Road, are named after early farming families and settlers of the area. Also, Ogden Avenue, a street in Naperville, was named for the first mayor of Chicago.

Train service

Pace bus at the Naperville Metra station.

See also: Naperville (Amtrak station) and Route 59 (Metra)

The first rail link to Chicago dates to 1864. Naperville currently has three tracks belonging to the BNSF Railway that run through the north end of town, with passenger rail service provided by Metra and Amtrak. BNSF Railway operates trains from the Aurora Transportation Center in neighboring Aurora to Chicago Union Station with stops at the Route 59 Station and the Naperville Station, both of which are located within the city limits. Amtrak operates four routes through Naperville: The Illinois Zephyr and the Carl Sandburg, both with services to Quincy, Illinois; the California Zephyr, with services to Oakland, California; and the Southwest Chief, with services to Los Angeles, California. Metra's STAR Line would also have a station in Naperville.

Bus service

The regional transit agency operates Pace, which provides feeder bus service to the Metra regional rail stations and local midday service, both operated under contract. Pace also operates bus routes from Naperville to Aurora (which serves Aurora's Westfield Fox Valley Mall) and Wheaton (which serves the College of DuPage).

Airport

There is also one private airport, the Naper Aero Club field, designation LL-10, on the western edge of town. The field is notable for being the home of the Lima Lima Flight Team.

Notable people

• Chris Brown (b. 1981), NFL running back.
• Joe Carducci (b. 1955), author, screenwriter, record producer, former part-owner of the SST Records label.
• Owen Daniels (b. 1982), NFL tight end.
• David Eigenberg (b. 1964), actor (Sex and the City).
• Shane Gericke (b. 1956), author.
• Jerry Hairston, Jr. (b. 1976), Major League Baseball player.
• Kareem Irfan (b. 1958), Muslim activist and lawyer
• Harry Kalas (1936–2009), sportscaster.
• Evan Lysacek (b. 1985), figure skater (2010 Olympic Gold medalist).
• Bob McMillen (b. 1970), arena football player and coach.
• Bob Odenkirk (b. 1962), comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer (Mr. Show with Bob and David and Breaking Bad).
• Babatunde Oshinowo (b. 1983), NFL defensive end.
• Danielle Panabaker, actress.
• Anthony Parker (b. 1975), NBA player.
• Candace Parker (b. 1986), WNBA player.
• Sean Payton (b. 1963), NFL head coach.
• Jeff Pezzati, lead singer of Naked Raygun.
• A. George Pradel, mayor of Naperville since 1995.
• Hillary Scott (b. 1983), actress.
• Paul Sereno (b. 1957), paleontologist.
• Jim Sonefeld (b. 1964), musician (Hootie & the Blowfish).
• Douglas Darien Walker, comedian and actor (That Guy with the Glasses).
• Kenny Williams (b. 1964), Major League Baseball player and general manager.
• Paula Zahn (b. 1956), newscaster.
• Robert Zoellick (b. 1953), president of the World Bank.

Sister cities

Nitra, Slovakia has been Naperville's official sister city since the Naperville City Council approved the partnership on November 17, 1993. Nitra was chosen, in part, due to a desire to create a special bond with a city in one of the newly-formed democracies brought about by the fall of the Iron Curtain. Nitra was also chosen due to several similarities between the two cities, such as:

• both enjoy a riverwalk in the downtown area
• both are college towns
• similar climates
• similar population (100,000+) and size

Since the inception of this partnership, the Naperville Sister Cities Commission has worked to strengthen the bond between Naperville and Nitra through its support of various events and delegations. The primary goal of such sister city programs is to increase awareness of other cultures and promote international friendship, and the Naperville-Nitra partnership has so far been a successful one.

In 2002, the Sister Cities Commission supported a youth baseball exchange, sending the Naperville Patriots baseball team, composed of 15 high school age ballplayers and representing each of the four high schools Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley in the Naperville area, to Nitra. The team travelled throughout Slovakia, and played with and held clinics for the newly-formed Nitra "Little Giants" baseball team. Head coach Dave Perillo and captains Jason Fitterer and Rob Losik were responsible for organizing the clinic for the Nitra players, which proved to be a success. The Naperville Patriots also enjoyed the distinction of being the first baseball team from the United States ever to travel to the nation of Slovakia.

In addition to this exchange, the City of Naperville has supported several other events to strengthen the bond with Nitra, including:

• Hosting the Illinois State Sister City Convention (2000)
• Co-sponsoring Slovak Cultural Heritage Week, a cultural exchange of Slovak folk musicians (1999)
• Hosting a 12-member delegation from Nitra (1997, 1994)
• Sending a 12-member delegation to Nitra (1998, 1993)
• YMCA camp counselor exchanges; hosting a basketball team from Nitra (1998)

The community at large has enthusiastically supported the Naperville-Nitra partnership, as well. In 1999, Naperville's Our Savior's Lutheran Church raised $275,000 to rebuild a church in Nitra, which was then dedicated the following year. NALCO and school districts 203 and 204 have also shipped 6,000 pounds of books to Nitra since 1993.

See also

• List of cities in Illinois
• List of United States cities by population

Further reading

• Ebner, Michael H. "Harold Moser's Naperville". Illinois Periodicals Online. Northern Illinois University. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
• Gingold, Katharine Kendzy; Gingold, Donald M. (2006). Ruth by Lake and Prairie: True Stories of Early Naperville, Illinois. Naperville, Illinois: Gnu Ventures Company Publication. ISBN 9780979241932. OCLC 263683660.

External links

• Official website City of Naperville
• Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce
• Naperville Businesses and Organizations
• Visit Naperville - The Naperville Convention and Visitor's Bureau
• Naperville Carillon