Bourbonnais, Illinois
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Bourbonnais ( ) is a village in
Kankakee County, Illinois 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 ...
,
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 ...
. The population was 18,164 at the 2020 census.


History

The village is named for François Bourbonnais Sr., a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the
American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was founded in 1808, by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant to the United States. During the 18th century, furs had become a major commodity in Europe, and North America became a major supplier. Several British co ...
, who had married a Native American woman and arrived in the area near the fork of two major Indian trails and the
Kankakee River The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in the Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest wetlands in N ...
circa 1830.
John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...
had founded the company in 1808, and when the United States banned foreign (i.e. British and Canadian) companies (such as the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
) from competing in the country after the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, it flourished. By 1830 it had a near monopoly of fur trading in the midwest, but the number of local trappable wild animals had declined. In 1832,
Noel Le Vasseur Noel Le Vasseur (December 25, 1798 – December 12, 1879) was a fur trader and merchant born in St. Michel d`Yamaska, Canada and died in Bourbonnais Grove, Illinois. In 1816, he became a voyageur. "John Jacob Astor furnished Mr. Le Vasseur ...
arrived as the Astor firm local fur trading agent, establishing a trading post in the area, and becoming the first permanent non- Native American settler. He married
Watseka Watseka or Watchekee (c. 1810–1878) was a Potawatomi Native American woman, born in Illinois, and named for the heroine of a Potawatomi legend. Her uncle was Tamin, the chief of the Kankakee Potawatomi Indians. She was also known by the ...
, niece of a
Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
chieftain, and after the Potawatomi were relocated to Iowa, recruited French-Canadiens to settle around his store. The Potawatomi were forced to move westward by a series of treaties culminating in the
Treaty of Tippecanoe The Treaty of Tippecanoe was an agreement between the United States government and Native American Potawatomi tribes in Indiana on October 26, 1832. Treaty On October 26, 1832, the United States government entered negotiations with the Native ...
, which Congress ratified in 1833. The treaty reserved two sections for Potawanomi chief Me-she-ke-te-no, and one section each for Catish (Mrs. Bourbonnais Sr.) and
Manteno Manteno is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,204 at the 2010 census, up from 6,414 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Origins ...
(daughter of Francois Bourbonnais Jr.). LeVasseur received considerable land through a series of shrewd trades, and eventually divorced Watseka and married a Canadian woman named Ruth.Noel LeVasseur in Bourbonnais Illinois.wmv
- via ''YouTube''
After establishment of the new Catholic diocese of Chicago, missionary Fr.
Stephen Badin Reverend Fr. Stephen Theodore Badin (born Étienne Théodore Badin on July 17, 1768 – April 21, 1853) was the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He spent most of his long career ministering to widely dispersed Catholics in Cana ...
briefly settled in Bourbonnais Grove in 1846, before retiring further south. In 1853, the Illinois legislature split Iroquois County, and Bourbonnais Grove became part of new
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 ...
. Because the
Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...
ran through Kankakee, founded in 1854, it became the county seat, with Bourbonnais Grove as one of several townships. In 1858 residents built the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, and soon nuns of the
Congregation of Notre Dame The Congrégation de Notre Dame (CND) is a religious community for women founded in 1658 in Ville Marie (Montreal), in the colony of New France, now part of Canada. It was established by Marguerite Bourgeoys, who was recruited in France to creat ...
arrived from Canada to teach and provide nursing care. Two years later they founded Notre Dame Academy. In 1865 clerics of St. Viator founded
St. Viator College St. Viator College was a Catholic liberal arts college in Bourbonnais, Illinois. It is no longer in operation. Today, the site is home to Olivet Nazarene University. History St. Viator's grew out of the original Bourbonnais, Illinois, Bourbonna ...
for boys. After a referendum in 1875, the settlement incorporated as the Village of Bourbonnais, with George R. LeTourneau as its first mayor, and trustees Francois Sequin, Joseph Legris, Alexis Gosselin, P.L. Monast, Alex LaMontagne, Joseph Goulet, Jacob Thyfault and Len Bessette. LeVasseur died, aged 80, four years later. LeTourneau also became mayor and sheriff of Kankakee as well as state senator; his home (begun in 1837 and with renovations completed in 1866) eventually became headquarters of the local historical society, which is also restoring the garden and nearby arboretum. After enrollment declines in the early 20th century, in 1940, the Catholic institutions were bought out by what became
Olivet Nazarene University Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a private Nazarene university in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Named for its founding location, Olivet, Illinois, ONU was originally established as a grammar school in east-central Illinois in 1907. In the late 1930 ...
, since the Protestant school in nearby Vermillion County had burned down the previous year. In 1999, the town was the site of a major train wreck, the
Bourbonnais train accident On March 15, 1999, Amtrak's southbound ''City of New Orleans'' passenger train collided with a semi-trailer truck in the village of Bourbonnais, Illinois, United States. Most of the train derailed, killing eleven people. A National Transport ...
. Bourbonnais was home of the summertime training camp of the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
professional football team from 2002 to 2019. In 2020, the team relocated training camp to their headquarters at
Halas Hall Halas Hall (officially the PNC Center at Halas Hall) is a building complex in Lake Forest, Illinois, that serves as the headquarters of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). Named after founder George Halas and designed by Pe ...
in
Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...
after major renovations of the building complex.


Geography

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


Pronunciation

The original French pronunciation of ''Bourbonnais'' came to be
Anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
over time to . In 1974, a state
representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...
from Bourbonnais introduced a
resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
"correcting" the pronunciation of the town's name to , closer to the French. In 1976, for the U.S. Bicentennial, the Village Board passed a resolution making "ber-buh-NAY" the official pronunciation.


Demographics

As of th
2010 United States Census
there were 18,854 people, 6,387 households in the village. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 1,950.6/sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 75.3%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
alone, not Hispanic or Latino, 9.5%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.0% Native American, 2.3%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.0%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, and 5.8% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
of any race were 8.0% of the population. The village population contained 19% under the age of 18 and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. There is a slightly higher percent of female persons at 52.9%. The median income for a household in the village was $76,920. 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 village was $30,972. About 7.1% 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 ...
.


Education

Bourbonnais shares a high school, Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School (BBCHS), with
Bradley, Illinois Bradley (formerly North Kankakee) is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. 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 high school's mascot is the "Boilermaker". The Kankakee Area Career Center (KACC) serves local area high school students as a vocational and technical education institution. Bourbonnais is served by three private high schools: Bishop McNamara Catholic School (Catholic), Grace Christian Academy (non-denominational), and
Kankakee Trinity Academy Kankakee may refer to Places * Kankakee, Illinois * Kankakee, Indiana * Kankakee Community College * Kankakee County, Illinois * Kankakee River State Park * Kankakee State Hospital * Kankakee Valley High School Geology * Kankakee Arch * K ...
(inter-denominational ).The village is home to
Olivet Nazarene University Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a private Nazarene university in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Named for its founding location, Olivet, Illinois, ONU was originally established as a grammar school in east-central Illinois in 1907. In the late 1930 ...
(ONU), on the site of the old
St. Viator College St. Viator College was a Catholic liberal arts college in Bourbonnais, Illinois. It is no longer in operation. Today, the site is home to Olivet Nazarene University. History St. Viator's grew out of the original Bourbonnais, Illinois, Bourbonna ...
campus.


Chicago Bears training camp

The
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
held their annual summer training camp at
Olivet Nazarene University Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a private Nazarene university in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Named for its founding location, Olivet, Illinois, ONU was originally established as a grammar school in east-central Illinois in 1907. In the late 1930 ...
in Bourbonnais from 2002 through 2019.


Shopping

The town's main shopping mall is Northfield Square. Many new stores have been built and introduced, however, in the following years just down the road from the mall.


References


External links


Official website
{{authority control Villages in Kankakee County, Illinois Villages in Illinois Populated places established in 1830 1830 establishments in Illinois