Elmhurst is a city in DuPage and

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

counties in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It is a western suburb of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The population was 45,786 at the 2020 census.

History

Members of the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

Native American people, who settled along Salt Creek just south of where the city would develop, are the earliest known settlers of the Elmhurst area. Around 1836, European-American

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

settled on tracts of land along the same

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: * Creek people, a former name of Muscogee, Native Americans * C ...

. At what would become Elmhurst City Centre, a native of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

named Gerry Bates established a community on a tract of "treeless land" in 1842. The following year, Hill Cottage Tavern opened where St. Charles Road and Cottage Hill Avenue presently intersect. In 1845, the community was officially named Cottage Hill when a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established. Four years later, the

Galena and Chicago Union Railroad The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU) was the first railroad constructed out of Chicago, intended to provide a shipping route between Chicago and the lead mines near Galena, Illinois. The railroad company was chartered on January 16, 183 ...

was given right-of-way through the community, giving farmers easier access to Chicago. The first Elmhurst railroad station was built in 1894. The community changed its name to Elmhurst in 1869, and in 1871

Elmhurst University Elmhurst University is a private university in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. 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 ...

was organized. The land for Elmhurst University was gifted by prominent resident

Thomas Barbour Bryan Thomas Barbour Bryan (December 22, 1828 – January 26, 1906) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. Born in Virginia, a member of the prestigious Barbour family on his mother's side, Bryan largely made a name for himself in Chic ...

. Bryan (often referred to as the "Father of Elmhurst") played an important role in the development of the town, and has been as the one responsible for renaming the town. Elmhurst was incorporated as a village in 1882, with a population between 723 and 1,050, and legal boundaries of St. Charles Road to North Avenue, and one half mile west and one quarter mile east of York Street. Elmhurst Memorial Hospital was founded in 1926 as the first hospital in DuPage County. The Memorial Parade has run every

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

since 1918. The annual Elmhurst

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

Parade continues to be the third largest parade of that sort in the Chicago area, following the more famous parades downtown and on the city's South Side. Since 1964, it has been home to Elmhurst CRC, one of the largest congregations of the

Christian Reformed Church in North America The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA or CRC) is a Protestant Calvinist Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. Having roots in the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church was found ...

. The

Keebler Company The Keebler Company is an American cookie and former cracker manufacturer. Founded in 1853, it has produced numerous baked snacks, advertised with the Keebler Elves. Keebler had marketed its brands such as Cheez-It (which bear the Sunshine Biscu ...

's corporate headquarters was in Elmhurst until 2001, when the

Kellogg Company Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets convenience foods and snack f ...

purchased the company. The city is home to the headquarters of

Sunshine Biscuits Sunshine Biscuits, formerly known as The Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, was an independent American baker of cookies, crackers, and cereals. The company, which became a brand on a few products such as Cheez-It, was purchased by Keebler Company ...

and

McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Supply Company is a private American supplier of hardware, tools, raw materials, industrial materials, and maintenance equipment. They function as a business-to-business company. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Elmh ...

Supply Co. In 2014, ''

Family Circle ''Family Circle'' was an American women's magazine that covered topics such as homemaking, recipes and health. It was published from 1932 until the end of 2019. Originally distributed at supermarkets, it was one of the " Seven Sisters," a grou ...

'' magazine ranked Elmhurst as one of the "Ten Best U.S. Towns for Families".

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Elmhurst has a total area of , of which (or 99.42%) is land and (or 0.58%) is water. Due to local topography, the town has had a tendency to flood in the past after large rainfalls; the city is currently undertaking a large effort to mitigate future flooding.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 45,786 people, 16,808 households, and 12,110 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 17,260 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 80.47%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 6.51% Asian, 2.14%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.26% Native American, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, 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 th ...

, 2.92% from other races, and 7.67% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 9.32% of the population. There were 16,808 households, out of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.37% were married couples living together, 6.49% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.95% were non-families. 24.44% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.61% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.26 and the average family size was 2.70. The city's age distribution consisted of 25.1% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 28.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $123,869, and the median income for a family was $148,663. Males had a median income of $83,584 versus $46,935 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $59,911. About 2.1% of families and 3.4% 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 ...

, including 3.0% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Top employers

According to Elmhurst's 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Arts and culture

* The

Theatre Historical Society of America The Theatre Historical Society of America (THS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1969 to promote the legacy of America's historic theatres and insure the documentation of the architectural, cultural and social history of those theatres. Through ...

is focused on the preservation of dance, opera, and movie theaters and includes a collection of objects from many theaters that are no longer in existence. Among the items on display is a scale model of the 1927 Avalon Theater (now known as the

New Regal Theater The Avalon Regal Theater (originally the Avalon Theater, and later the New Regal Theater) is a music hall located at 1641 East 79th Street, bordered by the Avalon Park and South Shore neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, Unite ...

). * Wilder Park Conservatory * A

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

covering about is located half a mile west of downtown along West Avenue and 1st Street. A tunnel from Salt Creek diverts water into the quarry in case of a flood. The Salt Creek Trail is also accessible from the area. The quarry is an important piece of DuPage County's stormwater management system, and can hold up to of stormwater. * Each spring, the company RGL Marketing for the Arts runs the event, Art in Wilder Park. The event takes place in centrally located Wilder Park, which is also home to the Wilder Mansion, the Elmhurst Public Library, the Wilder Park Conservatory and the

Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art The Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art is a museum dedicated to the lapidary arts with displays of gemstones, jewelry and bejeweled objects, and exhibits on earth science. The museum was founded in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States, in 1962, and m ...

. The event "features of a juried show of fine arts, crafts and original creations of over 100 artists, including jewelry, glass, ceramics, painting, wood, photography, sculpture, paper and mixed media." The event also hosts live music and entertainment and over 40 food vendors. * Elmhurst is home to multiple residential homes built by significant architects, including but not limited to

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...

(McCormick House),

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

( F.B. Henderson House),

Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and Leeton, New So ...

(William H. Emery House, Sloane House), and R. Harold Zook.

Government

Timeline for Elmhurst's leadership: * 1882 - Incorporated as a village in June. * 1882 - Henry Glos elected as first village president. * 1887 - Peter Wolf elected as village president. * 1902 - Edwin Heidemann elected as village president. * 1905 - Henry C. Schumacher elected as village president. * 1908 - C. J. Albert elected as village president. * 1910 - Adopted city form of government. * 1910 - Henry C. Schumacher elected as first city mayor. * 1912 - F. W. M. Hammerschmidt elected as mayor. * 1919 - Otto Balgemann elected as mayor. * 1931 - Edward Blatter elected as mayor. * 1933 - Claude Van Auken elected as mayor. * 1945 - William S. Fellows elected as mayor. * 1951 - Ervin F. Wilson elected as mayor. * 1957 - Benjamin Allison elected as mayor. * 1961 - Charles Weigel elected as mayor. * 1973 - Ray W. Fick Jr. elected as mayor. * 1977 - Abner Ganet elected as mayor. * 1985 - Robert J. Quinn elected as mayor. * 1989 - Charles H. Garrigues elected as mayor. * 1993 - Thomas D. Marcucci elected as mayor. * 2009 - Peter P. DiCianni elected as mayor. * 2013 - Steven Morley elected as mayor. * 2021 - Scott M. Levin elected as mayor.

Education

is a local college of the area. It is a four-year private liberal arts college affiliated with the United Church of Christ. School districts serving Elmhurst include:Education
." Elmhurst, Illinois. Retrieved on March 21, 2017. * Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 serves most of the city; its high school is

York Community High School York Community High School is a public secondary school in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. It is a part of the Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205. Most of the students reside in Elmhurst; however, the district also draws a small numb ...

* Salt Creek School District 48 * DuPage High School District 88 *

Hillside School District 93 Hillside School District 93 is a school district headquartered in Hillside, Illinois in the Chicago metropolitan area. It operates one K-8 school, Hillside School. In addition to most of Hillside it also serves sections of Berkeley, Elmhurst, ...

serves the Cook County portion; in 1953 this portion had 45 houses * Students at Hillside 93 move on to

Proviso West High School Proviso West High School (PWHS) is a public high school located in Hillside, Illinois, United States. It is a part of Proviso Township High Schools District 209, and was opened in 1958. Its sister schools are Proviso East High School and Provi ...

of the

Proviso Township High Schools District 209 Proviso Township High Schools District 209, established in 1910, is located in western Cook County, Illinois, US, near Chicago. Its headquarters are in Forest Park.

Private schools: *

IC Catholic Prep IC Catholic Prep (ICCP) is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Elmhurst, Illinois, and located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Illinois. When opened in 1936, it was the only co-educational secondary institution in DuPage County. T ...

, formerly Immaculate Conception High School * Timothy Christian School * Immaculate Conception Grade School * Immanuel Lutheran Grade School * Visitation Catholic Grade School

Infrastructure

Transportation

Elmhurst is served by Pace buses, and the

Metra Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...

Union Pacific West Line The Union Pacific West Line (UP-W) is a Metra commuter rail line operated by Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago, Illinois and its western suburbs. Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, but the timetable accents for the Union Paci ...

through the Elmhurst station. The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

has freight service on the Metra line and the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

serves the former

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, the Great Lak ...

line south of the Metra line, known as the

Freeport Subdivision The Freeport Subdivision is a railroad line in Illinois which runs from 16th Street in downtown Chicago to Freeport, Illinois. It is owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway (CN). the line is almost exclusively freight-only, with only a ...

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

is roughly 18 minutes from Elmhurst, and

Chicago Midway International Airport Chicago Midway International Airport is a major commercial airport on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Loop business district, and divided between the city's Clearing and ...

is roughly 33 minutes from Elmhurst. During the summers and December, Elmhurst also has the "Elmhurst Express Trolley", a free weekend trolley that connects downtown Elmhurst to the Spring Road businesses and the Elmhurst Public Library. It runs Friday-Saturday and the $40,000 cost comes out of visiting and tourism fund.

Former services

Elmhurst was previously served by the

Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad (CA&E), known colloquially as the "Roarin' Elgin" or the "Great Third Rail", was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service on its line between Chicago and Aurora, Illinois, Aurora, B ...

, an electric interurban rail line. The station opened in 1902 as "South Elmhurst" until being renamed to "York St." The station closed in 1959 after the CA&E ceased operations. The

Illinois Prairie Path The Illinois Prairie Path (often called the Prairie Path and abbreviated IPP) is a network of of bicycle trails, mostly in DuPage County, Illinois. Portions of the trail extend west to Kane County and east to Cook County. Most of the trail i ...

now runs over the former line.

Notable people

References

External links

* {{authority control 1842 establishments in Illinois Chicago metropolitan area Cities in Cook County, Illinois Cities in DuPage County, Illinois Cities in Illinois Populated places established in 1842