Schaumburg, Illinois

Schaumburg is a city located in Cook County in northeastern Illinois. A common misspelling of the city name is Schaumberg, a spelling which persists on some modern maps. Schaumburg is located just under 30 mi northwest of downtown Chicago and approximately 8 mi northwest of O'Hare International Airport. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 75,386. As of 2005, the population dropped slightly to 72,690, according to the Census Bureau. A special census conducted by Schaumburg in 2007 determines it had actually increased to 75,936.

The city contains the world headquarters of Motorola and one of only two IKEA stores in Illinois. It contains the Woodfield Mall, the second-largest mall in America, which at most times has over 300 stores (Woodfield has more recently also begun including services such as a Currency Exchange and an optical area, which are counted towards this total). Schaumburg's transition from a rural community to that of a suburban metropolis began with Alfred Campanelli's first large scale suburban-style development in 1959 and Woodfield Mall's opening on September 9, 1971. The dinner theater chain, Medieval Times, has one of its nine locations in America in Schaumburg.

Examples of large suburbs similar to Schaumburg, IL include Lake Forest, CA, Troy, MI and Framingham, MA, in terms of both population and suburban location.

19th century
The City of Schaumburg was incorporated on March 7, 1956, but the heritage of Schaumburg dates back to much earlier times when the first inhabitants of the area were members of the Sauk, Fox, Potawatomi, and Kickapoo Native American tribes. By the mid-nineteenth century, settlers first began to arrive from Germany and the eastern United States.

Legend has it that one of the earliest settler was Trumball Kent from Oswego, New York. Kent, a "Yankee," as settlers from New England were called in the west, farmed property in the northeast corner of the township. Another Yankee was Horace Williams, who owned substantial lands but lived in the hamlet of Palatine in Palatine Township. Ernst Schween settled in 1835 not far from what used to be called Olde Schaumburg Centre, in what was then and is now known as Sarah's Grove. Another early settler in Schaumburg Township was German-born Johann Sunderlage. According to one legend, Sunderlage was a member of a survey team that divided Cook County into townships around 1833, or, according to another legend, he worked on a survey team on the Joliet canal. He liked the area so much that, upon completion of the project, he returned to Europe and brought his family and friends from Germany and settled in the area now known as Hoffman Estates in Schaumburg Township around 1836. His home still stands in its original location.

Sunderlage and his family occupied their land in the Township until the federal land sale of 1842 allowed them to buy the property and obtain the deed. Sunderlage and Kent represented the predominant groups that settled Schaumburg Township in its early days. In 1840, 56 percent of the Township households originated from the eastern United States, while 28 percent were German-born. By the 1850s, the population mix had changed to 28 percent “Yankee” and 48 percent German.

By 1870, Schaumburg Township had become completely German. Land records show that most of the property in the Township was owned by German immigrants or their descendants. This pattern emerged as many Yankee 'settlers' continued to travel west for the promise of newly opened lands on the Great Plains. The land they owned in Schaumburg was then purchased by German-born immigrants.

Schaumburg Township remained almost exclusively under German ownership until the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression caused the foreclosure on some German-owned farms which were then purchased by non-German individuals and companies. Nonetheless, German heritage remained important in the area. German was the first language of the majority of households until the 1950s.

St. Peter's Lutheran Church, the community's oldest Christian church, had services in German as late as 1970. The church remains as a museum, as does the second church of this congregation. Services were first held at the then-existing Rohlwing-Fenz store, at the southwest corner of the intersection of Schaumburg Road and Roselle Road, until their first church building was completed in 1847. The pastor was Francis Hoffman, who walked from the Bensenville area to hold the Christian religious meetings in Schaumburg. He later served as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. When he retired from the church's ministry, he moved to Wisconsin where he operated an experimental farm and edited a German-language agricultural newspaper. Other people of the area who were notable in the 1840s included Quindel, Winkelhake, Moeller, Fenz, Kastning, Lichthardt, Meyer, Rohlwing, Thies, Scheiderling, Hattendorf, Nerge, and Freise.

Sarah's Grove
Schaumburg Township was originally known as Sarah's Grove. This name was derived from a grove of woods that ran through the northwest portion of the Township, which was named for three young women whose families lived adjacent to the grove: Sarah McChesney, Sarah Frisbe, and Sarah Smith. Until 1851, the area's official name was Township 41. At the 1850 Township meeting, Citizens discussed two names for the Township; Lutherville and Lutherburg. In the middle of the discussion Friedrich Heinrich Nerge, a prominent German landowner, put his fist down on the table and called out "Schaumburg schall et heiten!" (It will be called Schaumburg!) With this statement, a consensus was reached on the Township's official name.

The name was taken from Grafschaft Schaumburg (Schaumburg County) in Germany, a part of Hesse-Kassel. Most of the township's German settlers were from Schaumburg; many were born in the parish of Apelern. Some came from Hannover, but the Schaumbergers had more influence.

Schaumburg Township prospered during its early days. The area's main occupation was farming, with potato growing, dairy products and raising cattle as main sources of income. The land was a very large meadow surrounded by extensive wilderness. Wildlife such as geese, ducks, quail, prairie chickens, rabbits, pheasant and deer were very abundant.

In 1858, a small market area emerged at what is now the intersection of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads. Schaumburg Center was the market center for the surrounding agricultural producers. It included two general stores, four cheese factories, a cobbler, a tailor, a wagon maker, and a blacksmith.

Most of the early growth in the Northeast region of Illinois occurred along the Fox River Valley and the major rail lines. Since neither of these transportation networks served Schaumburg Township at the time, the Township remained rather isolated. Few roads existed, and several were often impassable. To reach a large market, Schaumburg farmers had to travel 27 mi in ox-drawn or horse-drawn wagons to Chicago, which only had about 35,000 inhabitants at that time.

20th century
In 1900, a 50 year anniversary brochure reported the following account: "Schaumburg has the reputation of being the model community of Cook County. Also, the town of Schaumburg is an example of a community for all other towns in Cook County and probably in other counties, too. Schaumburg is prompt in the payment of its taxes; it supports churches and schools; it has also the best roads in the land and - Schaumburg has never had a jail. Finally, it is not just for the settlers only, but also for foreigners."

In 1925, O. D. Jennings, the founder of what was once one of the largest manufacturers of slot machines in the United States, purchased a house in the village. It would be his and his wife's home until his death in 1953. On the death of his widow, the house and its surrounding park lands were donated to the village, and used as the Village Hall until 1971.

Schaumburg's relative isolation was broken, however, as the automobile became the primary mode of travel in 1st-world countries. The construction of O'Hare International Airport (which is actually located near Rosemont about 11 mi away) in 1955 in what was previously O'Hare field, the construction of the Northwest Tollway through the farmlands in 1956 and the presence of a technical and business workforce at the Pure Oil Company in Schaumburg now put Schaumburg in a location rampant with suburban growth. In response to development pressures, the area encompassing what was known as Schaumburg Centre was incorporated in 1956. At the time of incorporation, the Village consisted of two square miles and a population of 130 residents.

Incorporation enabled the village to control its growth and development. Early village leaders are credited with the foresight and planning that has made later economic growth possible. The original comprehensive plan adopted by the Village Board in 1961, reserved large tracts of land for industrial, commercial, and office development; mostly the Woodfield area surrounding what is now Woodfield Mall. Growth in these sectors has made the village a major employer in the area and the home of Illinois's second-largest retail center.

Schaumburg's expansion during the 1960s changed the character of the community dramatically. Schaumburg was no longer a quiet rural community. In 1959, Alfred Campanelli began construction of the first large residential subdivision in the Village, known as Weathersfield, this area contains several thousand single-family homes built in 22 stages over two decades. In total, Campanelli constructed over 6,800 housing units or approximately 20% of the Village's housing stock. Schaumburg's YMCA is named after him.

In 1967, an apartment complex called International Village (located at the intersection of Meacham and Algonquin Roads) was built as Schaumburg's first residential area not entirely occupied by single-family homes. The following year, Motorola began to construct its corporate headquarters across the street.

During this time, country singer Bob Atcher ("You Are My Sunshine"), who had become known on WLS' National Barn Dance radio program, became the Schaumburg village president. He held that position until 1975.

The 1970s saw a continuation of the tremendous growth that took place in the previous decade. By 1970, the village population had grown to 18,730. That same year, a second expressway, Interstate 290, opened on the eastern boundary of the village. This provided another link to Chicago and further enhanced its stature in the eyes of the region's many developers. The following year, Woodfield Mall shopping center opened in Schaumburg. During the remainder of the decade, Schaumburg experienced phenomenal commercial, industrial and residential development.

In 1978, the Village Board formally established the Olde Schaumburg Centre Overlay District to preserve the character of the area located at the intersection of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads. The Olde Schaumburg Centre Commission, also established in 1978, reviews new development and restoration projects in the District to ensure the continued historic appeal of the area.

By 1980, Schaumburg had expanded to 18.3 sqmi of land area, and its population had swelled to 53,305 residents. During the early- and mid-1980s, development focused on large corporate office buildings in the emerging "Woodfield Center" along Golf Road. The late 1980s were characterized by the vast expansion of small manufacturing and warehouse uses in the industrial and business parks in the city's northeast and southwest quadrants. Other development such as large manufacturing facilities, commercial retail centers, and large suite hotels boomed in the 1980s. Schaumburg was profiled in Joel Garreau's 1991 book Edge City as "a suburb conforming to a new form of urban development in which large concentrations of jobs exist, though outside the traditional downtown city centers."

By 1990, Schaumburg's population was increasing at a slower rate as the land available for residential development was rapidly disappearing. The population in 1990 had risen to 68,586, an increase of 15,281 since 1980. Although this was still an impressive growth rate, it was apparent that Schaumburg was nearing its residential capacity within the terms of current land management.

Office development in the 1990s had also slowed. The once booming office market slumped due to the large supply of office space in the northwest suburbs and the limited demand by typical users in the financial, insurance, and real estate sectors. However, the Schaumburg commercial market enjoyed substantial expansion during this period. Since 1990, Schaumburg has witnessed the development of 2 million square feet (180,000 m²) of commercial space including a variety of retail uses. Another mall named One Schaumburg Place and a retail area called Village Green were also built in the early 1990s. One Schaumburg Place quickly lost most of its stores, eventually left only a theater and, a few years later, was completely reconstructed into a walkthrough shopping area with an AMC Theater and GameWorks as its major businesses. Around the same time, Woodfield Mall underwent a major redesign, adding retail space and removing previous attractions. A Nordstroms was added to one branch of the mall as well increasing the number of anchor stores to five. Woodfield Mall is now an international tourist attraction, harboring visitors every day from locations as far away as Japan. IKEA, an internationally known home furnishings store, opened its 458000 sqft Schaumburg location near Woodfield in the late 1990s.

The mid-90s also saw the addition of many restaurants to the village of Schaumburg; Pizzeria Uno (tourism version), Outback Steakhouse, Chevy's, Champps, Chandlers, P.F. Chang's, Hooters, Rainforest Café, Red Lobster, Joe's Crab Shack, Benihana, and Maggiano's all opened in the area during this time.

In 1994, the city bought the Schaumburg Regional Airport from its formerly-private owners and refurbished it with 90% of the funds for the sale and refurbishment coming through a federal grant, 5% from the State of Illinois, 2.5% Cook County and the Village putting up the remaining 2.5% with the village gaining 100% control of the property. This has been the subject of much controversy from Schaumburg's Citizens and has been believed to be part of the high tax problem. Schaumburg Airport is mainly a business airport for private use, as the earlier-mentioned O'Hare is used for all commercial purposes and individual travel, and citizens believe that the Schaumburg Airport is losing money for the Village. As of March 2010, the Village has not announced any intention to sell the airport; if sold the grant money would have to be returned under federal law.

The village finalized the purchase of the Town Square shopping center (also previously known as Olde Town Centre) in 1995, and began a slow, but now complete, redevelopment. The 27 acre site at the southwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads has been transformed into a diverse development offering several stores including a Dominicks, the Schaumburg Township District Library, an Applebee's, and a few other varied and diverse retail stores, offices, and services such as temp agencys, and a little-used public amphitheater set in a walkthrough area which was designed to be available as a gathering point for citizens, but is generally disused. The area also still includes the Trickster Gallery, a museum celebrating the heritage of the Native Americans indigenous to the area. The new development was designed to be "the new downtown", but this idea largely did not catch on and is primarily used by Schaumburg's government.

Minor league baseball came to the village in the spring of 1999. Alexian Field (named for Alexian Brothers Hospital in the adjacent town of Elk Grove Village), a 7,000 seat baseball stadium, was built in partnership with the Schaumburg Park District. Alexian Field was home to the Schaumburg Flyers, a member of the independent Northern League. The Northern League split after the 2010 season with several teams joined 3 other independent professional leagues. Alexian Field is without a professional team for the 2011 season but is expected to have a team in the American Association (an independent professional league) for the 2012 season.

21st century
In 2000, the village purchased 45 acre next to a short independent stretch of Meacham Road. This was developed into the Schaumburg Convention Center, which is actually a Renaissance Hotel.

Schaumburg's population as of the year 2000 was 75,386 according to U.S. Census. The most notable change around the time of the 2000s was the addition and subsequent build-up of Streets of Woodfield, GameWorks, and the Convention Center, all already mentioned.

Geography
Schaumburg is located at 42.03028°N, -88.08389°W (42.0302057, -88.0838750). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 19.12 sqmi, of which, 19.0 sqmi of it is land and 0.12 sqmi of it (0.63%) is water.

Demographics
In the 2010 US Census, there were 74.227 people. The racial makeup of the village was 70.4% White, 4.2% African American, 0.20% Native American, 19.8% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 2.8% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.8% of the population.

As of the census of 2000, there were 75,386 people, 31,799 households, and 19,301 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,967.1 people per square mile (1,531.9/km²). There were 33,093 housing units at an average density of 1,741.5 per square mile (672.5/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 78.78% White, 3.35% African American, 0.10% Native American, 14.19% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.73% from other races, and 1.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.29% of the population.

There were 31,799 households out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families. 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the village the population was spread out with 21.9% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 36.3% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.9 males.

According to a 2008 estimate, the median income for a household in the village was $70,454, and the median income for a family was $85,068. Males had a median income of $60,704 versus $46,518 for females. The per capita income for the village was $36,871. About 4.1% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over. However, it should be kept in mind that an "average" income is not a good representation of the city of Schaumburg. Most of its citizens are probably on par with these amounts, however, the section of Schaumburg in Palatine Township contains mostly apartment complexes. Consequently, the median income of the non-Palatine-Township Schaumburg Citizens will be slightly higher than those reflected here. The Palatine Township area of Schaumburg, however, looks the same in terms of businesses, cleanliness, and personality, class and diversity of its citizens, and one who is traveling through Schaumburg would not be able to tell of any differences in "average citizen" between the areas.

Top employers
According to the Village's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the village are:

Transportation
Schaumburg has a station on Metra's Milwaukee District/West Line, which goes between Elgin, Illinois and Chicago's Union Station. The STAR Line may in the future have two stations at the IKEA department store and on Roselle Road near the North of the Village. The only current station is near Alexian Field.

Education
Public schools in Schaumburg are funded by property taxes, not sales tax. Schaumburg itself does collect property tax, however a tax is still collected by Cook County.

The main public school district Schaumburg Township District 54. Some of the elementary schools in District 54, some of which are located in Schaumburg, have received some awards such as the Blue Ribbon Awards and Teachers Who Excel award. The schools in this area also have Special Education, Bilingual classes and education programs for the gifted as expected. District 54 also teaches children about technology and fine arts.

Schaumburg is part of Township High School District 211. There are five high schools within District 211: Schaumburg High School, Hoffman Estates High School, Conant High School, Fremd High School and Palatine High School. Citizens of Schaumburg attend any of these except Fremd and Palatine. Schaumburg High School recently finished a major construction project for the purpose of remodeling the outside of the building and adding extra classrooms, science labs and faculty offices. A similar yet more extensive construction project was completed at Conant High School by District 211.

There are several small colleges in the Woodfield area in Schaumburg, including a branch of Roosevelt University, the Illinois Institute of Art's Schaumburg campus, Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's Schaumburg campus, an arm of Argosy University (formerly the Illinois Institute of Psychology), and a Comcast University.

Public library
The Schaumburg Township District Library has one main branch and two smaller branches in Hanover Park and Hoffman Estates. The complete collection of books totals more than 630,000 as of FY2009. Although not everyone is eligible for a Schaumburg Township District Library card, visitors to the library can register their card and utilize many of the services the Schaumburg library has to offer.

The library is a member of the "North Suburban Library System", which allows people with a card from any library to be allowed to use the same card at any other library in the area who is a member. STDL has received many awards for being spacious, modern, large, and the availability of modern technology. The library also has a drive-up window at the Central Library located in Town Square.

The library has an extensive audio and video area containing a 25-seat theater in which free movies are shown twice a week, a large children's area with an activity room, a family bathroom, a "storytime forest," and extensive meeting and conference room space. The meeting and conference rooms hold approximately 10 events daily, most of which are independently scheduled and open to the public. There is a separate computer room which is rarely open to the public, but which schedules basic computer classes on most days. There are teen events involving video games, pizza and sleepovers. The library does not have a points-based book club but replaces it with more fun events for teens. It is also host to a weekly Scrabble club, an art gallery which changes the organization its artworks come from every few weeks (always local). The preceding are also additional reasons why the library has won so many awards. Other programs (hosted in the meeting rooms as part of the "10 per day") include events such as cooking classes with samplings or demonstrations of environmentally-friendly cars coupled with documentaries about the subject.