About Naperville

Naperville (pronounced /ˈneɪpɚvɪl/) is an affluent city in DuPage and Will counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,358, and the population was estimated at 147,779 in 2006. Naperville is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago, neighboring Aurora, Rockford, and Joliet. Approximately 100,000 Napervillians live in DuPage County, while about 50,000 reside in Will County.

Once a quaint farming town,Naperville has evolved into a wealthy city due in part to a massive migration of professionals in the 1990s seeking jobs and globally renowned public schools. ^]This can be seen in part by the enormous growth of high-tech companies such as Tellabs, Lucent Technologies and the BP North American Chemical Headquarters, all located in Naperville. With 150,000 Napervillians averaging $150,000 family incomes, the construction of thousands of multimillion dollar houses across the city has resulted, making Naperville the wealthiest city (with a population of 90,000 and over) in the entire country. U.S. News and World Report recently ranked both Naperville School District 203 high schools among the top 3 percent of high schools in the country. Also, District 204's Neuqua Valley High School and Waubonsie Valley High School won the Grammy Gold Signature School award in 2005 and 2007 respectively, ranking them top in the nation for a music program in a high school.

History

In July 1831, Joseph Naper arrived at the banks of the DuPage River with his family and friends to found what would be known as Naper's Settlement. Among those original settlers were Naper's wife Almeda Landon, his brother John with wife Betsy Goff, his sister Amy with 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 that of Dexter Graves who is memorialized in Graceland Cemetery by a well-known Loredo 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 1969 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. In the past two decades, it has nearly quadrupled in size as Chicagoland's urban sprawl brought corporations, jobs, and wealth to the area.

Geography

Naperville is located at 41°44′59″N, 88°9′21″W (41.749826, -88.156719).

Topography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 35.5 square miles (92.0 km²). 35.4 mi² (91.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 mi² (0.4 km²) of it is water.

Downtown Naperville is located within DuPage County, but the city has stretched south into Will County, since at least the early 1980s.

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 a blistering 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; sometimes due to the lake affect snow off of lake Michigan. 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.

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 also computer-playable, with most performances being done by hand, but with half the bells played by a computer-controlled system at set times during the day. The Carillon instrument was dedicated in June of 2000 and 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). The City of Naperville was designated a White House Millennium Community in 1998 because of the Millennium Carillon project.

Riverwalk

The Naperville Riverwalk is a four mile long walk-way 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. Rich with fountains, benches, and scenic bridges, the Riverwalk is known as Naperville's "Crown Jewel" according to the Naperville Riverwalk Foundation.

Economy

Naperville is located in the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. Employers contributing to the population explosion of the 1980s and 1990s include Bell Labs, Western Electric, BP Amoco Labs, Nalco Chemical, Nicor, Porsche Finance and Edward Hospital. Tellabs and Laidlaw have corporate headquarters in Naperville, and ConAgra's Grocery division offices are also in Naperville. OfficeMax moved corporate headquarters to Naperville in 2006. Also, Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory are nearby. Naperville was one of the ten fastest growing communities in the United States during the 1990s.

Naperville is also home to one of the largest congregations of automobile retailers in the state, as part of the "Ogden Avenue Strip," which extends from Hinsdale to Aurora and includes every mainstream make of automobile available. AutoNation and Bill Jacobs are two of the largest groups within the city itself.

Naperville is also home to a plant and the headquarters of Dukane Precast, one of the area's major precast concrete manufacturers.

Demographics

According to the 2005 American Community Survey, there were 147,779 people, 48,655 households, and 37,143 families residing in the city; as of 2006-07-01, Naperville is the 164th most populous city in the United States. The population density was 4,162.8 people per square mile (1,606.3/km²). There were 51,636 housing units at an average density of 1454.5/sq mi (561.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.00% White, 2.54% African American, 0.07% Native American, 12.65% 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 4.23% 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.

The median income for a household in the city was $110,858, and the median income for a family was $122,454. Males had a median income of $87,527 versus $51,586 for females. The mean, or average, income for a family in Naperville was $148,316 according to the 2005 census. The per capita income for the city was $44,235.  About 2.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.