Bradley (formerly North Kankakee) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Kankakee County Kankakee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 113,449. Its county seat is Kankakee. Kankakee County comprises the Kankakee, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History St ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a suburb of the city of Kankakee. The population was 15,895 at the 2010 census, up from 12,784 at the 2000 census. Bradley is a principal city of the Kankakee–Bradley

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

, which includes all of Kankakee County. The county is also part of the larger

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

–

Naperville Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...

– Michigan City, IL- IN- WI

Combined Statistical Area Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...

Geography

Bradley is located in north-central Kankakee County at (41.146332, -87.859123). It is bordered to the south by the city of Kankakee and to the west by the village of

Bourbonnais Bourbonnais () was a historic province in the centre of France that corresponds to the modern ''département'' of Allier, along with part of the ''département'' of Cher. Its capital was Moulins. History The title of the ruler of Bourbonnais ...

Interstate 57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route. It runs from Sikeston, Missouri, at I-55 to Chicago, Illinois, at I-94. I-57 essen ...

passes through the village, with access from Exit 315 (

Illinois Route 50 Illinois Route 50 (IL 50) is a north–south state road in northeastern Illinois. It runs from the junction with U.S. Route 45 (US 45) and U.S. Route 52 (US 52) in West Kankakee north to US 41 in Skokie. In Chicago and the sub ...

). I-57 leads north to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and south to

Champaign Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

. According to the 2010 census, Bradley has a total area of , all land.

History

In 1891, North Kankakee was established when the David Bradley Plow Works established a factory, and in recognition of this, in 1895, the town changed its name to "Bradley City" (later Bradley). Bradley was mostly a

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

town, with the Kroehler Furniture factory and the Roper Corporation factory (maker of kitchen ranges and ovens; part of their operations were in the building that David Bradley once occupied) being the major employers. In the 1980s, as elsewhere in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

, these factories closed, and after their closures, parts of those factories burned to the ground. However, by the end of the decade, things changed. In 1989, a new shopping center called Bradley Square was built with

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

as the first tenant, and more shops followed. Northfield Square Mall opened in 1990. Since that time, the village has been growing.

Demographics

At the 2000 census there were 12,784 people, 5,041 households, and 3,382 families living in the village. The population density was . There were 5,272 housing units at an average density of . The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the village was 95.62% White, 1.23% African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.68% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.20% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 3.61%. Of the 5,041 households 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.3% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.9% were non-families. 26.8% of households were one person and 11.0% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.03. The age distribution was 26.0% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% 65 or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.7 males. The median household income was $41,757 and the median family income was $47,984. Males had a median income of $38,224 versus $24,493 for females. The per capita income for the village was $19,035. About 3.6% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of that age 65 or over.

Places of local interest

* Northfield Square Mall

Industry

CSL Behring CSL Behring is a biopharmaceutical company, manufacturing plasma-derived, and recombination therapeutic products. Its line of therapies includes products for the treatment of bleeding disorders such as hemophilia and von Willebrand Disease; prima ...

operates a large, state of the art manufacturing plant near the southern portions of the village. The facility produces plasma derived medications and equipment. In 2018 it was announced that the existing plant was to undergo a massive expansion that could possibly take up to twelve years to complete. The company bought up land to the south of the existing facility that previously housed a cooking oils plant operated by

Bunge Limited Bunge Limited is an American agribusiness and food company, incorporated in Bermuda, and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. As well as being an international soybean exporter, it is also involved in food processing, grain trad ...

, and plans to build upon that open space as a part of the large upgrade. The old cooking oils plant had ceased operations in 2015. Once complete, the plant will be split into two portions- the north campus, which includes the now upgraded existing plant, and the south campus- the new property that is currently being constructed. The project is expected to create over 200 jobs and is accruing about 450 million dollars in construction expenses.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control 1891 establishments in Illinois Populated places established in 1891 Villages in Kankakee County, Illinois Villages in Illinois