Half Day is a former unincorporated town in Lake County,

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 ...

, in the state's northeastern region. It is about north of downtown Chicago via Milwaukee Avenue. The town was forcibly annexed by the village of Vernon Hills in 1993. The following month, the village of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

also attempted to annex a portion of Half Day. The two villages entered a legal battle, filing lawsuits against each other. Eventually, this resulted in the Vernon Hills annexation being approved and Lincolnshire's being denied. Parts of area infrastructure are still named for the original unincorporated community. The portion of Illinois Route 22 that passes through is named Half Day Road. Half Day School, originally established in 1839 and temporarily closed in the early 1980s after declining enrollment, was modernized and reopened in 1992; it currently serves third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students and is part of Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103. Half Day appeared in a news article in 1952 when then Illinois Governor

Adlai Stevenson Adlai Stevenson may refer to: * Adlai Stevenson I Adlai Ewing Stevenson (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 23rd vice president of the United States from 1893 to 1897 under President Gr ...

flew there to vote in the presidential election (Stevenson was a candidate the same year).

Nomenclature

Half Day was named for Aptakisic, a local

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, ...

chief who allied himself with White settlers during the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans led by Black Hawk (Sauk leader), Black Hawk, a Sauk people, Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of ...

. The chief's name meant "sun at the meridian" or "half day". After his removal to the vicinity of Elmont, Kansas after the

1833 Treaty of Chicago The 1833 Treaty of Chicago was an agreement between the United States government and the Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes. It required them to cede to the United States government their of land (including reservations) in Illinois, ...

, settlers applied his name first to an inn, then to the unincorporated town. While Aptakisic was the source of Half Day's name, local legends arose offering folk etymologies for the town. One still repeated today is that when the settlement was named, it was a half-day's distance from

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 ...

by horse and carriage. Another, which circulated in the early twentieth century, stated that a chief named "Hefda," transcribed by a

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

as "Half Day", was the source. Neither story is true.

References

Vernon Hills, Illinois Populated places in Lake County, Illinois Neighborhoods in Illinois Populated places established in 1839 {{LakeCountyIL-geo-stub