Des Plaines, Illinois

Des Plaines is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It has adopted the official nickname of "City of Destiny." As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,720. It is a suburb of Chicago, and is next to O'Hare International Airport. The Des Plaines River runs through the city, just east of its downtown area.

Geography
Des Plaines is located at 42.03389°N, -87.89972°W (42.033848, −87.899786).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.5 square miles (37.6 km²).Of this, 14.4 square miles (37.3 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (0.76%) is water. Des Plaines is traversed by two interstate highways – I-90 Northwest Tollway and I-294 Tri-State Tollway.

Des Plaines is named for the Des Plaines River, which flows through it. The name is French, "of the plains."

Portions of Des Plaines are underlain by the "Des Plaines Disturbance", an area in which the layers of sedimentary rock are highly abnormal. This probably represents an ancient meteor crater, 75 to 200 ft beneath the town. The bedrock was highly fractured by the impact, with large blocks of sediment upended. The crater was eventually filled by glacial activity, so that no trace now remains on the surface.

Addresses in the city limits of Des Plaines have their own numbering system. Areas in unincorporated Maine Township have Des Plaines postal addresses that follow the Chicago numbering system. Devon Avenue in Des Plaines is 3200 South while it is 6400 North in Chicago. Golf Road runs through a large unincorporated area as 9600 North with a Des Plaines mailing address but is 0 North/South when entering the Des Plaines city limits. As sections become incorporated, they take on the city numbering system. For instance in 2003, land at 9661 West Golf Road, Des Plaines, became 2323 East Golf Road, Des Plaines, when it was formally incorporated into the city limits. The largest unincorporated areas are in the O'Hare area and east of the Tri-State Tollway.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 58,720 people, 22,362 households, and 15,071 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,071.2 people per square mile (1,572.3/km²). There were 22,851 housing units at an average density of 1,584.3 per square mile (611.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.44% White, 7.65% Asian / Asian American, 0.26% Native American, 1.01% Black or African American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 4.64% from other races, and 1.97% from two or more races. 14.01% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Biggest ancestries: German (21.5%), Polish (18.2%), Irish (13.8%), Italian (10.6%), English (5.2%), Swedish (3.3%).

There are 22,362 households, out of which 29.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.6% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.21.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $53,638, and the median income for a family was $65,806. Males had a median income of $42,241 versus $30,885 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,146. About 3.0% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.

A notable amount of population resides outside the city limits in unincorporated areas which use a Des Plaines mailing address. These areas are often considered part of the city, giving the impression that it is much larger. In the 2000 census the population of these areas was 25,617 people bringing the incorporated and unincorporated population of Des Plaines to 84,337 people.

History
Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Ojibwe (Chippewa) native American tribes inhabited the Des Plaines River Valley prior to Europeans' arrival. The first white settlers came from the eastern United States in 1833, after the Treaty of Chicago, followed by many German immigrants during the 1840s and 1850s. In the 1850s, land in the area was purchased by the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company along a railroad line planned between Chicago and Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1852, the developers built a steam powered mill next to the river, to cut local trees into railroad ties. Socrates Rand then bought the mill and converted it into a grist mill, which attracted local farmers. The Illinois and Wisconsin Railroad made its first stop in the area in the fall of 1854. In 1857, the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du lac Railroad began running its route, stopping near the mill where a small business section had grown up, and the Town of Rand was platted. In 1859, the Chicago and North Western Railway purchased the rail line, stopping its train and subsequently named its station "Des Plaines." In 1869, the subdivision name was changed to Des Plaines and the Village of Des Plaines was incorporated.

Des Plaines was reincorporated in 1873 and elected a village board the following year. Local brick manufacturer Franklin Whitcomb was the first Village President.

In 1925, village residents voted to convert to a city form of government, and annexed the Village of Riverview to the south. Subsequent annexations included the Orchard Place area in 1956. The city experienced rapid growth after World War II and with the opening of nearby Chicago-O'Hare International Airport.

In 1979, it was the site of the American Airlines Flight 191 disaster, in which a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 lost an engine and wing material and barreled into a local trailer park.

In 2008, the Illinois Gaming Board awarded the state's 10th and last casino license to Midwest Gaming and Entertainment LLC to build a 140000 sqft casino on approximately 21 acre adjacent to the Tri-State Tollway at the northwest corner of Devon Avenue and Des Plaines River Road. Midwest Gaming received the award despite having the lowest bid because other bidders were found unacceptable by the Board, with one board member finding no bidders acceptable. The City approved zoning in early 2010 and the casino was projected to open in mid to late 2011.

Largest employers
The largest employers in the city area:

Places of interest

 * Rivers Casino – Midwest Gaming
 * McDonald's Museum, a reconstruction of the first franchised McDonald's restaurant built by franchiser Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald's Corporation
 * Lake Opeka in Lake Park
 * Maryville Academy, center for under-privileged children, which hosts the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame
 * Methodist Camp Ground, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, predates the city (founded 1860) and is still active every summer with concerts, day camps, swimming & recreation, picnics, etc.
 * Des Plaines Public Library
 * Des Plaines Theater
 * The Des Plaines Forest Preserve surrounds the Des Plaines River and spans most of the eastern border of the city.
 * Deval Crossing interlocking tower is a very popular spot for train enthusiasts, as one Canadian National and two Union Pacific railways all meet in a triangular pattern. Metra trains run on two of the routes.

Schools
College Campuses include:
 * Oakton Community College, opened in 1969; a community college with campuses in Skokie and Des Plaines.

Public School Districts include:
 * elementary and middle school: District 62 and District 59
 * high school: District 207 with Maine West High School

Private Schools include:
 * The Science and Arts Academy
 * The Willows Academy
 * Immanuel Lutheran School
 * St. Zachary School
 * Our Lady of Destiny; created after the merging of St. Stephen's and St. Mary's Catholic schools

Places of worship

 * Romanian Baptist Church of Chicago
 * St Martin's Episcopal Church
 * First United Methodist Church
 * First Presbyterian Church
 * Faith Alliance Bible Church
 * St Zachary's Roman Catholic church
 * St Mary's Catholic Church
 * St Stephens Catholic Church
 * Trinity Lutheran Church
 * Immanuel Lutheran Church
 * Unity Northwest Church
 * Phat Bao Vietnamese Buddhist Temple
 * Maine Township Jewish Congregation
 * Islamic Community Center of Des Plaines
 * The Bridge Community Church
 * Chicago Mar Thoma Church

Notable residents

 * Eileen Fisher, clothing designer
 * Adrian Fulle, Managing Member of film production company
 * Shawn Green, retired major league baseball all-star
 * Michael Kleen, folklorist, publisher, and social commentator
 * Jill Morgenthaler, politician
 * Heather Schultz, pop singer/songwriter
 * Todd Wessell, newspaper editor and owner
 * Rick Zombo, NHL ice hockey player
 * Eric Suevel, Stained Glass Artist

Pop culture

 * Des Plaines is featured in the Left Behind series of novels as well as a recently released American Girl book.


 * The majority of the hit 1985 film The Breakfast Club was filmed at the now-defunct Maine North High School located in unincorporated Des Plaines.


 * Des Plaines, during the 1940s and 50s, was home to many huge greenhouse complexes and was the world's largest producer of hothouse roses. The city's vehicle stickers sported a large "American Beauty" rose, and the city's logo was "City of Roses" (replaced in the 1960s by "City of Destiny").


 * Des Plaines is featured in an episode called L.D.S.K from the TV series Criminal Minds. A sniper (or as called on the show a Long Distance Serial Killer) starts shooting people in Franklin Park.  The main characters on the show think the killer is a Des Plaines cop, which is eventually found out to be not true.


 * "Des Plaines" is the name of a Venetian Snares track from the 2005 album Meathole. The track erroneously refers to the town where the American serial killer John Wayne Gacy murdered and raped his victims.


 * Des Plaines is the home of the first franchised McDonald's opened by Ray Kroc, which is preserved as a "museum" on Lee Street, north of downtown.


 * Chet and Connie Ripley (played by John Candy and Stephanie Faracy) in the movie The Great Outdoors lived in Des Plaines, according to the address on the check Candy wrote to Dan Aykroyd's character.


 * Mentioned in David Mamet's play, Glengarry Glen Ross.


 * Serial killer John Wayne Gacy did not live in Des Plaines. His house was in an unincorporated Norwood Township, near Chicago. It was the abduction and murder of 15-year-old Robert Piest, a sophomore at Maine West High School, of Des Plaines, that finally led to Gacy's capture. Additionally, a 1975 Maine West class ring engraved with the initials "JAS" was found in the crawl space of Gacy's home. The ring belonged to missing 19-year-old Maine West alumnus John Szyc. Des Plaines City detectives tracked down Gacy, as the 32 previous known victims were investigated by Chicago and other detectives that mainly wrote off the disappearances as "runaways" and closed the files.