DuPage County ( ) is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the U.S. state of

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 ...

, and one of the collar counties of the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it Illinois' second-most populous county. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Wheaton. Known for its vast tallgrass prairies, DuPage County has become mostly developed and suburbanized, although some pockets of farmland remain in the county's western and northern parts. Located in the

Rust Belt The Rust Belt is a region of the United States that experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s. The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been in decline since, impacting certain regions and ...

, the area is one of few in the region whose economy quickly became dependent on the headquarters of several large corporations due to its close proximity to Chicago. As steel mills closed in the 1970s and 1980s, several acres that were formerly industrialized areas were converted into business parks to meet the growing tax base. The county has a mixed socioeconomic profile and residents of Hinsdale,

Naperville Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage and 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 established by the banks of the DuPage river, ...

and Oak Brook include some of the wealthiest people 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 ...

. However, other cities in the county such as Aurora and

Downers Grove Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. It is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The village is located between I-88 and I-55. ...

have faced issues regarding local small business growth and affordable housing. On the whole, the county enjoys above average median household income levels and low overall poverty levels when compared to the national average. In 2018,

Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

ranked two DuPage municipalities (

Clarendon Hills Clarendon Hills is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,427 at the 2010 census. It is a south-western suburb of Chicago. History In 1961, TWA Flight 529 crashed in Clarendon Hills, killing all 73 passengers o ...

at #3 and Naperville at #16) amongst the top 20 best places to live in America.

History

DuPage County was formed on February 9, 1839, out of Cook County. The county took its name from the DuPage River, which was, in turn, named after a French fur trapper, DuPage. The first written history to address the name, the ''1882 History of DuPage County, Illinois'', by Rufus Blanchard, relates:

The DuPage River had, from time immemorial, been a stream well known. It took its name from a French trader who settled on this stream below the fork previous to 1800. Hon. H. W. Blodgett, of Waukegan, informs the writer that J. B. Beaubien had often spoken to him of the old Frenchman, Du Page, whose station was on the bank of the river, down toward its mouth, and stated that the river took its name from him. The county name must have the same origin. Col Gurden S. Hubbard, who came into the country in 1818, informs the writer that the name DuPage, as applied to the river then, was universally known, but the trader for whom it was named lived there before his time. Mr. Beaubien says it is pronounced Du Pazhe (a having the sound of ah, and that the P should be a capital). This was in reply to Mr. Blodgett’s inquiry of him concerning the matter.

The first white settler in DuPage County was Bailey Hobson, who, with Lewis Stewart, built a house in 1831 for the Hobson family at a site about 2 miles south of present-day downtown Naperville. Hobson later built a mill to serve surrounding farmers. Today, the Hobson house still stands on Hobson Road in Naperville, and the location of the mill is commemorated with a millstone and monument in today's Pioneer Park.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.6%) is water. The DuPage River and the Salt Creek flow through DuPage County. According to the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, the highest point in the county is located at the Mallard Lake Landfill, which at its highest point is above mean sea level.

Climate

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Wheaton have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of was recorded in July 1995. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in August.

Adjacent counties

Counties that are adjacent to DuPage include: * Cook County (east and north) * Will County (south) * Kendall County (southwest; counties meet at a corner) * Kane County (west)

Demographics

DuPage County's population's distribution by

race and ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

in the 2020 census was as follows: DuPage County has become more diverse. The population of foreign-born residents increased from about 71,300 in 1990 to 171,000 by 2009 estimates. There were 325,601 households, out of which 37.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.90% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 7.90% had a female householder with no husband present and 28.00% were non-families. 22.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.27. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.70% under the age of 18, 8.20% from 18 to 24, 32.40% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64 and 9.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.20 males. For every 100 females, age 18 and over, there were 94.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $98,441 and the median income for a family was $113,086. Males had a median income of $60,909 versus $41,346 for females. The mean or average income for a family in DuPage County is $121,009, according to the 2005 census. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $38,458. About 2.40% of families and 3.60% 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 3.90% of those under age 18 and 4.30% of those age 65 or over.

Religion

First Church of Lombard (Lombard, Illinois) 05

DuPage County has several hundred Christian churches, and especially around Wheaton is a Bible Belt, with Wheaton College and various other evangelical Christian colleges, and publishing houses including InterVarsity Press, Crossway,

Tyndale House Tyndale House is a Christian publisher in Carol Stream, Illinois. History Tyndale was founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor in order to publish his paraphrase of the Epistles, which he had composed while commuting to work at Moody Press in C ...

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evange ...

and other smaller ones in the area. Well-known churches include the Community Christian Church of Naperville,

College Church College Church is an evangelical non-denominational church in Wheaton, Illinois founded in 1861 by the abolitionist and first president of Wheaton College Jonathan Blanchard. College Church is located across two city blocks facing the Wheaton Co ...

of Wheaton,

Wheaton Bible Church Wheaton Bible Church is a non-denominational evangelical Christian megachurch located in West Chicago, Illinois, United States. History The church was founded in the 1929. Rob Bugh was called to the church in 1994. Until 2008, the church was l ...

, and

First Baptist Church of Wheaton First Baptist Wheaton is an evangelical Christian church located in Wheaton, Illinois, situated in southern DuPage County, and is not formally related to any denomination or baptist association. The church was founded in 1864 by 20 pioneers aroun ...

. There is also a large

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

population, the county being part of the Diocese of Joliet and the

National Shrine of St Therese The National Shrine & Museum of St. Therese in Darien, Illinois is a Roman Catholic shrine dedicated to St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. The Shrine is a part of the Aylesford Carmelite campus, run by the Carmelite Order, Pr ...

in Darien. There is also the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church The history of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the history of Christianity, to the Apostolic Age, with mission trips along the Black Sea and a legend of Saint Andrew even ascending the hills of Kyiv. The first Ch ...

in Glendale Heights. The

Theosophical Society in America The Theosophical Society in America (TSA) is a member-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the teaching of Theosophy and affiliated with the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India. The name "Theosophical Society in ...

in Wheaton, the North American headquarters of the Theosophical Society Adyar, provides lectures and classes on

theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

, Eastern and

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s are located in

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

, Naperville (two mosques), Glendale Heights, Willowbrook, Westmont, Lombard, Bolingbrook, Addison, Woodale, West Chicago, and unincorporated Glen Ellyn. There are

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

temples in Bartlett, Bensenville, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Itasca and Medinah, and an

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...

center in West Chicago. There is a Nichiren Shōshū

Zen Buddhist Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

temple in

West Chicago West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,086 at the 2010 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner, after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad ...

and a

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

Buddhist Temple, called the Buddha-Dharma Meditation Center, in Willowbrook. There is also a Reform synagogue, Congregation Etz Chaim, in Lombard and an unaffiliated one in Naperville, called Congregation Beth Shalom.

Economy

DuPage County is the primary location of the

Illinois Technology and Research Corridor Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfor ...

. It is home to many large corporations, including: *

Ace Hardware Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the world's largest hardware retail cooperative, and the largest non-grocery American retail cooperative. Founded in 1924 ...

( Oak Brook) * Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. ( Itasca) (

Fortune 1000 The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine ''Fortune''. It only includes companies which are incorporated or authorized to do business in the United States, and for ...

) * BP (formerly British Petroleum) ( Warrenville) * DeVry Inc. (

Oakbrook Terrace Oakbrook Terrace is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, and is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 2,751. It is the smallest town in DuPage County, in terms of area and population. History Oakbrook Terrace was original ...

) (

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the List of stock exchanges, world's largest s ...

) * Dover Corporation (

) (

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

) *

Eby-Brown Eby-Brown is the largest privately owned tobacco, candy and convenience distributor in the United States. Founded in 1887, Eby-Brown has been led by members of the Wake family for over 50 years. On March 19, 2019, Eby-Brown announced that it ha ...

(

) *

Hub Group Hub Group is a transportation management company in North America, providing intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services. A publicly traded company with over $3.5 billion in revenue, the company also owns Mode Transportation (formerly Exe ...

( Oak Brook) (

) *

Molex Molex LLC is a manufacturer of electronic, electrical, and fiber optic connectivity systems. Molex offers over 100,000 products across a variety of industries, including data communications, medical, industrial, automotive and consumer electroni ...

( Lisle) (

) *

Nalco Water Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company, is an American Naperville, Illinois-based supplier of water, energy and air improvement solutions and services for industrial and institutional markets, owned by Ecolab. The company sells various products and servic ...

(

) (

) * Namco Cybertainment (

Bensenville Bensenville is a village located near O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County, Illinois, with a portion of the town in Cook County. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 18,813. First known as Tioga, it was formally established ...

) *

Navistar International Navistar, Inc is an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International-branded trucks and diesel engines. The company also produces buses under the IC Bus br ...

( Lisle) ( Fortune Global 500) *

Nicor Gas Nicor Gas is an energy company headquartered in Naperville, Illinois. Its largest subsidiary, Nicor Gas, is a natural gas distribution company. Founded in 1954, the company serves more than two million customers in a service territory that en ...

(

) (

) * OfficeMax (

) (

) * Sara Lee Corporation (

) (

) *

Tellabs Tellabs, Inc. is a global network technology provider that providing services to both private and governmental agencies. History Tellabs traces its roots to a meeting in 1974 over a kitchen table in suburban Chicago. According to company founder ...

(

) (

) * Ty Warner (Beanie Babies) ( Westmont) Shopping malls in DuPage County include

Oakbrook Center Oakbrook Center is a shopping center located near Interstate 88 and Route 83 in Oak Brook, Illinois. It was originally opened in 1962. It is the second largest shopping center in the Chicago metropolitan area by gross leasable area, only surpa ...

, which is the largest open-air mall in the nation,

Fox Valley Mall Fox Valley Mall, formerly Westfield Fox Valley, is a shopping mall in Aurora, Illinois. The mall's anchor stores are JCPenney, Macy's. Some larger non anchor stores include H&M and Forever 21. A Round One Entertainment is located in the former S ...

, Yorktown Center, Town Square Wheaton, and

Stratford Square Mall Stratford Square Mall is a shopping mall that opened on March 9, 1981, in Bloomingdale, Illinois, a northwestern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The There are 6 vacant anchor stores that were last occupied by JCPenney, Carson Pirie Sc ...

. In addition, many of DuPage County's towns have prosperous and quaint downtown areas, especially in

Glen Ellyn Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census. History Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lomba ...

, Elmhurst, Wheaton,

and Hinsdale, which are mixed with boutiques, upscale chain stores and restaurants.

National Laboratories

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been operat ...

, which has the world's second-highest-energy particle accelerator, is in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, where it straddles the border between Kane and DuPage counties.

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory operated by University of Chicago, UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy. The facil ...

, one of the United States government's oldest and largest science and engineering research laboratories, is in unincorporated, southeast DuPage County. Both laboratories conduct tours of their facilities.

Arts and culture

Architecture

The 31-story Oakbrook Terrace Tower in

, designed by Helmut Jahn, is the tallest building in Illinois outside of Chicago. The Elmhurst Art Museum is housed in a

Mies Van Der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

building. There is a

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

house in Elmhurst.

Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS; ) is a Hindu denomination within the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. It was formed in 1905 by Yagnapurushdas (Shastriji Maharaj) following his conviction that Swaminarayan remained present ...

, a conservative

sect, has built

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Chicago The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir of Chicago, Illinois is a traditional Hindu place of worship built by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, which is headed by Mahant Swami Maharaj, is a denomination of the Swaminarayan ...

, a large, intricately carved, marble temple in

Bartlett Bartlett may refer to: Places *Bartlett Bay, Canada, Arctic waterway * Wharerata, New Zealand, also known as Bartletts United States * Bartlett, Illinois ** Bartlett station, a commuter railroad station * Bartlett, Iowa Bartlett is an uninc ...

. There are some

Sears Catalog Home Sears Modern Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American retailer. From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in North America, by the company's count. Sears Mo ...

s in

and

. The Byzantine-style clubhouse of the

Medinah Country Club Medinah Country Club is a private country club in Medinah, Illinois, with nearly 600 members and containing three golf courses, Lake Kadijah, swimming facilities, a golf learning center, golf shop, gun club, racket center and a mosque-evoking B ...

is also an architectural highlight of the county. Lombard is home to over thirty Lustron prefabricated steel homes.

Museums and historical sites

Historical museums in DuPage County include: *

Cantigny Park Cantigny is a park in Wheaton, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago. It is the former estate of Joseph Medill and his grandson Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publishers of the ''Chicago Tribune'', and is open to the public. Cantigny includes large ...

and First Division Museum, on the former estate of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' magnate Robert R. McCormick ( Wheaton) * Downers Grove Museum (

) * DuPage County Historical Museum, formerly the Adams Memorial Library ( Wheaton) *

Graue Mill The Graue Mill is a water-powered grist mill that was originally erected in 1852. Now a museum, it is one of two operating water-powered gristmills in Illinois (the other is the Franklin Creek Grist Mill). It is located on Salt Creek in Oak Bro ...

( Oak Brook) * Gregg House Museum ( Westmont) * Itasca Historical Depot Museum ( Itasca) * Kline Creek Farm (West Chicago) *

Mayslake Peabody Estate The Mayslake Peabody Estate is an estate constructed as a country home for Francis Stuyvesant Peabody between 1919 and 1922. The estate is located in the western Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, and is now part of the Ma ...

( Oak Brook) * The Museums at Lisle Station Park ( Lisle) * Naper Settlement (

) * Villa Park Historical Society Museum (

) *

's City Museum (

) Specialty museums in DuPage County include: * DuPage Children's Museum (

) * Elmhurst Art Museum, which includes Mies Van Der Rohe's McCormick House ( Elmhurst) * Wheaton College ( Wheaton) ** Billy Graham Center ** Marion E. Wade Center Naper's General Store, 216-218 Main Street, Naperville, IL

Naper's General Store, 216-218 Main Street, Naperville, IL

Historical sites include: *

Downtown Hinsdale Historic District The Downtown Hinsdale Historic District is a set of seventy-three buildings and one park in Hinsdale, Illinois, Hinsdale, Illinois. History The region was platted by William Robbins, the founder of Hinsdale, in 1865. The Chicago, Burlington an ...

* DuPage County Courthouse ( Wheaton) *

Glen Ellyn Main Street Historic District The Glen Ellyn Main Street Historic District is a set of eleven buildings in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The houses were built between 1874 and 1890 when the village was known as Prospect Park. The swampy setting of the village began to gain a repu ...

* Joe Naper's General Store (

) *

Naperville Historic District The Naperville Historic District is a set of 613 buildings in Naperville, Illinois. Of these 613 buildings, 544 contribute to the historical integrity of the area. The district represents the town as it was originally platted and a few early add ...

Old Nichols Library The Old Nichols Library is a historic building on Washington Street in Naperville, Illinois. The building was designed by Mifflin E. Bell in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The building served as the original public library for Naperville from ...

(

) * Pioneer Park, monument to white settlers of DuPage County and site of Bailey Hobson's mill (

) * Stacy's Tavern (

) *

Wayne Village Historic District The Wayne Village Historic District is a set of fifty-three buildings in Wayne, Illinois. History The earliest settler to Wayne was Solomon Dunham, who arrived in 1835. In 1850, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad connected to the village, a ...

Music and theater

DuPage also plays host to a rich local music scene. Some of the better-known bands to come out of the area include

The Hush Sound The Hush Sound is an American indie pop band from Chicago, Illinois, United States. Initially named "The Hush," the band later changed its name to "The Hush Sound" due to the discovery of a rapper with the same name. The band consists of Bob M ...

, Lucky Boys Confusion, and

Plain White T's Plain White T's are an American Rock music, rock band from Lombard, Illinois, formed in 1997 by high school friends Tom Higgenson, Dave Tirio, and Ken Fletcher, and joined a short time later by Steve Mast. The group had a mostly underground music, ...

. Oakbrook Terrace's

Drury Lane Theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...

is an important live

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

in DuPage County. The Tivoli Theatre, one of the first theaters in the United States to be equipped with sound, is still in use in Downers Grove. In addition to showing movies, the Tivoli is home to several local performing arts groups.

Parks and recreation

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County owns and manages of prairies,

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

s and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s. More than 4 million visitors each year enjoy 60 forest preserves, 145 miles of trails, and five education centers. Local

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

s include Lombard's

Lilacia Park Lilacia Park, an garden, is located at 150 South Park Avenue, Lombard, Illinois, behind the Helen M. Plum Memorial Library. It specializes in lilacs and tulips. It is open to the public daily. The garden was established by Colonel William Plum and ...

Centennial Beach Centennial Beach is a public aquatic park located at 500 W. Jackson Avenue in Naperville, Illinois. The Beach is within an abandoned, double quarry alongside the DuPage River. The facility covers almost 6 acres (24,000 m²) of land with a full tw ...

, Woodridge's Cypress Cove Family Aquatic Park and Wheaton's

Cosley Zoo Cosley Zoo is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums, AZA-accredited zoo located in Wheaton, Illinois. It is a facility of the Wheaton Park District and open year-round. The zoo, which is situated on of land, is built on the site of a historic train ...

. Privately funded attractions include Lisle's Morton Arboretum. In the 1980s, DuPage County also had another major attraction, Ebenezer Floppen Slopper's Wonderful Water slides in

, which today, stands abandoned and neglected. The Illinois Prairie Path, a

rail-to-trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on rail transport, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rai ...

multi-use path, runs through Cook, DuPage and Kane Counties. It intersects with the

Great Western Trail The Great Western Trail is a north-south long distance multiple use route that runs from Canada to Mexico through five western states in the United States. The trail has access for both motorized and non-motorized users and traverses through Ar ...

at several points, as well as the Fox River Trail at a few points. DuPage

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

s include: Wheaton's

Chicago Golf Club Chicago Golf Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago. The oldest 18-hole course in North America, it was one of the five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association ...

, Arrowhead Golf Club and Cantigny Golf courses; the

; the Village Links and Glen Oak Country Club of

; Addison's Oak Meadows; Oak Brook's Oak Brook Golf Club,

Butler National Golf Club Butler National Golf Club is a private golf club located in Oak Brook, Illinois. History Butler National was the creation of Paul Butler, an affluent entrepreneur, philanthropist, and sportsman who was also the founder of the village of Oak Broo ...

, and Butterfield Country Club; Wood Dale's Maple Meadows; Westmont's Green Meadows; Lisle's River Bend (9 holes); West Chicago's St. Andrews Golf & Country Club and Winfield's Klein Creek Golf Club, among others.

Government and politics

Government

The powers of the County Board include managing county funds and business, levying taxes, and appropriating funds. The County Board exercises powers not assigned to other elected officials or other boards. The county is divided into six districts. Each district elects three members to the County Board in staggered two-year and four-year terms. The Chairman of the County Board is the chief executive officer of DuPage County, and is elected countywide every four years. DuPage County is part of Regional Office of Education #19 which is coterminous with the county's corporate boundaries. The County Board is controlled by the Democratic Party by an 11 to 7 margin.

Politics

DuPage County was historically a stronghold of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

, and a classic bastion of suburban conservatism. In recent years, DuPage County has joined other suburban counties outside large U.S. cities trending Democratic in presidential election years since the 1990s. The county continues to lean Republican in state and local politics, however in the

2018 Illinois gubernatorial election The 2018 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the Governor of Illinois, concurrently with the 2018 Illinois general election and other midterm elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Bruce Rauner ran for ...

, J. B. Pritzker became the first Democratic candidate for the governorship to win the county in more than 100 years.

National politics

The county supported

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, a Chicago resident, in 2008 and 2012 (albeit narrowly in 2012). Obama was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the county since

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

1852 Events January–March * January 14 – President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic. * January 15 – Nine men representing various Jewish charitable organizations come tog ...

. The only time prior to 2008 that a Republican had failed to win the county was in 1912, when the GOP was mortally divided and former President and Progressive Party nominee

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

won over half the county's vote. DuPage County has historically been a fiscally and socially conservative Republican stronghold, though in recent years has become more politically liberal especially on issues of race and immigration. DuPage County has been shifting more Democratic, with Joe Biden winning 58% of the vote in 2020. DuPage County has not voted for a Republican candidate for president since 2004.

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

was the first Republican nominee for President since 1912 to get less than 40% of the DuPage County vote, both in the 2016 and 2020 general elections. Many DuPage County communities which normally vote Republican, including but not limited to

, Lisle, Wheaton,

, Carol Stream,

, and Elmhurst did not support Donald Trump in 2016. In December 2019, shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump, Carol Stream-based

published a controversial editorial calling for the removal of Trump from office, citing the need to hold him to the same standards to which they held

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

in the 1990s (who was the last Democratic nominee for President to get less than 40% of the DuPage County vote). In the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, DuPage County is in the

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

, 6th,

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

and

14th 14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 (number), 13 and preceding 15 (number), 15. In relation to the word "four" (4), 14 is spelled "fourteen". In mathematics * 14 is a composite number. * 14 is a square pyramidal number. * 14 is a s ...

districts. In the 2018 general election, despite the county's historical Republican dominance, Democrats won every congressional district within the county.

Local politics

Republicans historically controlled local politics in DuPage County from the nineteenth century until modern times. During the twentieth century, Democrats only held countywide office twice. In 1934 William Robinson was elected Circuit Clerk and Arthur Hellyer was elected Treasurer. That year also saw the first ever Democratic majority county board and only such majority that century. Robinson and Hellyer each served one term; Robinson lost his bid for a full term in 1936 and Hellyer left the Treasurer's office to make a failed bid for probate judge in 1938. In 2018, as part of a larger suburban realignment, Democratic candidate Jean Kaczmarek won the election for County Clerk and Daniel Hebreard won the President of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. During that same period Democrats were sporadically elected to the county board and township government. In 1972, Don Carroll was elected to the County Board. In the Democratic wave of 1974, Jane Spirgel, Mary Eleanor Wall, and Elaine Libovicz were elected. All four were from the northeastern portion of DuPage, which at that time was the most Democratic region of the county. Eventually, Republicans regained all seats on the board when Jane Spirgel ran for

Illinois Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 secretaries of states in the United States. The Illinois Secretary of State keeps the state records, laws, libr ...

with

Adlai Stevenson III Adlai Ewing Stevenson III (October 10, 1930 – September 6, 2021) was an American attorney and politician of the Democratic Party who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1970 until 1981. A member of the prominent Stevenson fami ...

under the Solidarity Party banner. In 2000, Linda J. Bourke Hilbert was elected. Like her 1970s counterparts, she was from the northeastern portion of the county. During the 2008 Democratic wave, three Democrats were elected to the board. After the initial Obama wave, Republicans reasserted themselves on the board and by 2017 Democrats held only one of the eighteen board seats. In the 2018 general election, Democrats won seven seats as well as the offices of County Clerk and Forest Preserve District President. In 1973, a slate of Democrats took eight of nine offices in Addison Township. This feat would not be replicated until 2017 when Democratic candidates won a majority of offices in

and Lisle townships. Between these two victories, Democrats only held two township offices. Mark Starkovich served as York Township Supervisor from 1989-1993 and Martin McManamon has served as Wayne Township Highway Commissioner since 2013. In 2020, Democrats won control of the DuPage County Board, expanding on their 2018 lead.

Education

Colleges and universities

The

College of DuPage College of DuPage is a public community college with its main campus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates facilities in the Illinois communities of Addison, Carol Stream, Naperville and Westmont. With more than 20,000 s ...

, in

, is one of the largest

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

s in the United States. Wheaton College is one of the most well-known and respected evangelical Christian colleges in the country. Benedictine University,

Elmhurst University Elmhurst University is a private university in Elmhurst, Illinois. It has a tradition of service-oriented learning and an affiliation with the United Church of Christ. The university changed its name from Elmhurst College on July 1, 2020. Hist ...

and North Central College also have long and respected histories in their communities. Other prominent

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

s and

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

include:

Midwestern University Midwestern University (MWU) is a private medical and professional school with campuses in Downers Grove, Illinois and Glendale, Arizona. As of the 2020-21 academic year, a total of 2,987 students were enrolled at the Downers Grove campus and 3, ...

and the

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

;

National University of Health Sciences National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) is a private university in Lombard, Illinois that focuses on the health sciences. The university offers professional degrees in chiropractic and naturopathic medicine, master's degrees in acupuncture ...

in Lombard;

Northern Seminary Northern Seminary is a Baptist Christian seminary in Lisle, Illinois. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. Its president is William D. Shiell. History It was founded in 1913 by the Second Baptist Church of Chicago as ''Northe ...

and

National Louis University National Louis University (NLU) is a private university with its main campus in Chicago, Illinois. NLU enrolls undergraduate and graduate students in more than 60 programs across its four colleges. It has locations throughout the Chicago metropol ...

in Lisle; the

Addison Addison may refer to: Places Canada * Addison, Ontario United States *Addison, Alabama *Addison, Illinois *Addison Street in Chicago, Illinois which runs by Wrigley Field *Addison, Kentucky *Addison, Maine *Addison, Michigan *Addison, New York * ...

and

campuses of DeVry University; the Naperville campus of Northern Illinois University; and the Wheaton campus of Illinois Institute of Technology.

School districts

The DuPage County

Regional Office of Education A regional office of education (ROE), sometimes called a regional superintendent's office, is a level of educational administration in Illinois. Each one has an educational service region, or simply region, consisting of one or more counties, and ...

provides regulatory and compliance oversight, quality services and support, and a variety of other services and information to the public schools within forty-two school districts of the county that provide education to over 161,000 students in 245 schools. The following is a list of school districts that not only includes those supported by the DuPage County Regional Office of Education, but includes others which may have schools and/or administrative headquarters outside of DuPage County but which have any territory, no matter how slight, within the county: K-12: *

Chicago Public School District 299 Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, third ...

- Territory at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County boundaries * Community Unit School District 200 * Elmhurst School District 205 *

Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204 Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Lisle Community Unit School District 202 Lisle Community Unit School District 202 (Lisle CUSD 202) is a school district headquartered in Lisle, Illinois. Schools * Lisle High School Lisle High School is a public four-year high school located in Lisle, Illinois, a western suburb of ...

* Naperville Community Unit District 203 * School District U-46 *

St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 Community Unit School District 303 is a comprehensive K-12 public education system covering in the Fox Valley, west of Chicago. District 303 serves about 13,590 students from the City of St. Charles and portions of West Chicago, South Elgin, ...

* Westmont Community Unit School District 201 Secondary: *

Community High School District 94 A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

* Community High School District 99 * DuPage High School District 88 * Fenton Community High School District 100 * Glenbard Township High School District 87 *

Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Hinsdale Township High School District 86 is a high school district headquartered in Hinsdale, Illinois, serving Hinsdale and Darien. It operates Hinsdale Central High School and Hinsdale South High School. Hinsdale Township High School Distri ...

* Lake Park Community High School District 108 *

Lemont Township High School District 210 Lemont may refer to: * Lemont, Illinois * Lemont, Pennsylvania * Lemont, Tasmania * Lemont Township, Cook County, Illinois {{geodis