Naperville, Illinois

Naperville is a 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 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It 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 45,000 reside in Will County. Once a quaint farming town, Naperville has evolved into an affluent city with numerous corporate headquarters located in the city. In a 2010 study, Naperville was named as the wealthiest city in the Midwest and eleventh in the nation with a population over 75,000.

History


In July 1831, Joseph Naper arrived at the west bank 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. Following the news of the Indian Creek Massacre, during the Black Hawk War, 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 outdoor museum village, 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.

On April 26, 1946, Naperville was the site of one of the worst train disasters in Chicagoland history. 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 45 and injured more than 1000 residents. This event is commemorated in a metal inlay map of Naperville on the southeast corner of Nichols Library's sidewalk area.

The March 2006 issue of Chicago magazine cites a mid-1970s decision to make and keep all parking in downtown Naperville free in order to keep downtown Naperville "alive" in the face of competition with Fox Valley Mall in Aurora and the subsequent sprawl of strip shopping malls. Existing parking meters were taken down, parking in garages built in the 1980s and 1990s is free, and parking is still available on major thoroughfares during non-peak hours.

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

Geography
Naperville is located at 41.74806°N, -88.16556°W (41.7481889, −88.1656320).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 35.5 square miles (92.0 km²). 35.4 square miles (91.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.4 km²) of it is water. Portions of the city of Naperville drain to the West Branch of the DuPage River within DuPage County. Specifically, in the flood of 1996, downtown businesses in the City of Naperville incurred a significant amount of damage. Overall, however, Forest Preserve District ownership of a large amount of property along the West Branch has minimized development in flood plains and has helped reduce the amount of damages resulting from overbank flooding that have occurred in more developed watersheds in the County.

Demographics
According to the 2005–2009 American Community Survey, there were 141,644 people, 47,463 households, and 36,289 families residing in the city. As of July 1, 2009, Naperville was the 169th most populous city in the United States.

According to the 2005 American Community Survery, the population density was 4,162.8 inhabitants per square mile (1,606.3/km²). There were 51,636 housing units at an average density of 561.3/km² (1454.5/mi²). 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 $101,894, and the median income for a family was $130,164. Males had a median income of $82,515 versus $46,533 for females. The per capita income for the city was $48,239. 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.

Economy
Naperville is located within the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. Employers contributing to the population explosion of the 1980s and 1990s included: Bell Labs and Western Electric (now Alcatel-Lucent), Amoco Research Laboratories, Nalco, Nicor, and Edward Hospital. Tellabs has its corporate headquarters in Naperville, and ConAgra's Grocery division branch office employs approximately 400 workers. OfficeMax moved its corporate headquarters there in 2006. Kraft Foods opened their Naperville site in 1968, and employs over 200 individuals at the plant, which supplies all Triscuit products for North America. Naperville is also home to the headquarters of Dukane Precast, and their double-wall precast concrete manufacturing plant. Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory are also located nearby. Naperville was one of the ten fastest growing communities in the United States during the 1990s.

The Naperville area is home to many popular retailers, restaurants and shopping centers, such as 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 course, at a cost of $1.5 million.

Top employers
According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top ten employers in the city are:

Culture
The Naperville Public Library has been ranked number one in the United States each year from 1999 through 2010, for cities with populations between 100,000 and 249,999 by Hennen's American Public Library Ratings.

There are three public library locations within the city limits:
 * The Nichols Library is located in downtown Naperville, at 200 W. Jefferson Street. It opened at this location in March 1986. It is a 63300 sqft structure and is pictured at right. 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 32000 sqft
 * 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). Having opened in September 2003, it is the newest and largest of the three facilities at 73000 sqft and features a modern, curving architectural style.

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 five million items yearly.

Naperville is home of the Naperville Independent Film Festival, an annual film festival which features the work of independent filmmakers.



Tourism
The Naperville Historic District is a set of 613 buildings, located in the older eastern section of Naperville and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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. At present, the Carillon is operational and tours are available after concerts. Disputes over funding the completion of the tower were debated before the Naperville City Council during the fall of 2005 (and are still not resolved). The design of the tower won an award for "Best Custom Solution" from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI).

Townships
Naperville is located in six townships in two counties. In Dupage county, the Northwest portion is in Winfield township, the Northeast portion is in Milton township, the West central portion is in Naperville township, and the East central portion is in Lisle township. In Will county, the Southwest portion is in Wheatland township, and the Southeast portion is in DuPage township. The largest number of Naperville residents live in Lisle Township, followed by Naperville Township.

Colleges and universities

 * North Central College is located on a 59 acre campus in Downtown Naperville on Chicago Avenue. 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 113000 sqft facility.
 * DePaul University maintains a satellite campus on Warrenville Road. It has been in Naperville since 1997.
 * The College of DuPage Naperville Regional Center 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 at Urbana–Champaign opened a Business & Industry 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, parochial schools, including private schools in neighboring Aurora and Lisle). Within the state of Illinois, school districts are numbered by their county.

Naperville Community Unit School District 203, established in 1972 through the merger of 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 2010 (Ann Reid Early Childhood Center).

The district has two high schools: Naperville Central High School and Naperville North High School, five junior high schools: Jefferson Junior High School, Kennedy Junior High School, Lincoln Junior High School, Madison Junior High School and Washington Junior High School; it has thirteen elementary schools within Naperville city limits. Additionally the school district has one junior high and one elementary school located in Lisle.

Indian Prairie School District 204 was also formed through merged districts in 1972. Neuqua Valley High School, along with five middle schools and 14 elementary schools from this district, are within Naperville city limits. In total, IPSD, as the school district is sometimes abbreviated, runs and maintains 3 high schools, 7 junior high schools, 21 elementary schools, 1 preschool, and 1 alternative high school. The district serves western and southwestern Naperville, along with eastern Aurora and parts of Bolingbrook and Plainfield.

Private schools located in the city limits include St. Raphael Catholic School, SS. Peter and Paul Catholic School, All Saints Catholic Academy, Naperville Christian Classical Academy, Calvary Christian School, and Chesterbrook Academy.

Media
Naperville is the setting for a Biography Channel reality television show called Female Forces which follows female officers from the Naperville Police Department.

Naperville is also the focal city of the novel The Naperville White House: How One Man's Fantasy Changed Government's Reality (Bancroft Press, 2010). In the novel, a "fantasy government" from Naperville, Illinois becomes involved in a real-life terrorist crisis.

Newspapers

 * Daily Herald
 * Naperville Reporter (GateHouse Media)
 * Naperville Sun

Radio

 * 1610-AM WPFP 929 – emergency, city and road information
 * Stop and Go Radio – Internet community radio station
 * WONC (89.1 FM) – album oriented rock format, owned by North Central College

Health systems
Edward Hospital serves Naperville while Good Samaritan in Downers Grove, Central DuPage in Winfield and two other hospitals in nearby Aurora also serve the city. For many years, Edward Hospital and others have tried to introduce a new hospital into Naperville only to have their request turned down. Thus, Naperville remains the only large Illinois city with only one hospital. Edward Hospital currently is trying to open a hospital in nearby Plainfield to help Naperville citizens with travel times to Edward Hospital.

Parks
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 2400 acre of open space, including over 130 parks and four sports complexes. The Park District also manages two golf courses, Springbrook and Naperbrook. In addition, the Park District is responsible for the Naperville Riverwalk, construction of which began in 1981, marking the 150th anniversary of the first Joseph Naper's settlement. 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 small mountain biking trail and nine-hole frisbee golf course, located off of 95th Street
 * Naperville Sportsman's Club – Public trap shooting range

Roads
As a typical American suburb, the main mode of transportation is via automobile. 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.

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. In other words, 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 you travel north to south. 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).

Train service
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. Amtrak's three routes through Naperville are the Illinois Zephyr, the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief. A third Metra station is planned on the STAR Line at Wolf's Crossing.

Bus service
Pace provides feeder bus service to the Metra stations and local midday service, both operated under contract. It 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.

Sister cities
Nitra, Slovakia and Pátzcuaro, Mexico have been Naperville's official sister cities 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 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.

City-related sites

 * City of Naperville, Illinois official website
 * Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce
 * Naperville Park District
 * Naperville Public Library
 * Visit Naperville – Naperville Convention and Visitors Bureau

Public schools

 * Indian Prairie School District 204
 * Naperville Community Unit School District 203