Minooka is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Grundy, Kendall, and

Will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

counties,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 12,758 at the 2020 census, up from 10,924 at the 2010 census. The village is part of the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

History

Minooka was established as a place in 1852 when the railroad was built through this area. It was incorporated as a village in 1869. The name "Minooka" is derived from a Native American word meaning "maple forest" or "good earth". The

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At ...

served the town at Minooka Station.

Geography

The center of the village is in the northeast corner of Grundy County. The village limits extend north into the southeast corner of Kendall County and east into Will County. The village is bordered to the east and south by the village of Channahon.

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

passes through the north side of the village, with access from Exit 122. I-80 leads northeast to Joliet and west to LaSalle.

Downtown Chicago ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district (CB ...

is northeast of Minooka via Interstates 80 and 55.

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6) or U.S. Highway 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbered Highway System. While it ...

runs along part of the southern border of Minooka; the highway leads east into the center of Channahon and southwest to

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia * St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Man ...

. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Minooka has a total area of , of which (or 99.22%) is land and (or 0.78%) is water. The

DuPage River The DuPage River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Des Plaines River in the U.S. state of Illinois. Course The river begins as two in ...

, a south-flowing tributary of the

Des Plaines River The Des Plaines River ( ) is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American H ...

, forms part of the eastern boundary of the village.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 12,758 people, 3,685 households, and 2,913 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 4,110 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 80.64%

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 ...

, 3.26%

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 ...

, 0.57% Native American, 1.05% Asian, 0.04%

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 ...

, 4.13% from other races, and 10.31% 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 14.65% of the population. There were 3,685 households, out of which 50.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.02% were married couples living together, 9.66% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.95% were non-families. 16.47% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.45% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.38 and the average family size was 3.00. The village's age distribution consisted of 28.9% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 26% from 45 to 64, and 6.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.6 males. The median income for a household in the village was $97,097, and the median income for a family was $100,097. Males had a median income of $62,403 versus $31,581 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 village was $34,655. About 5.2% of families and 5.3% 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 5.7% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201 (elementary district) has a total of seven schools and serves nearly 4,000 students. Minooka Community High School District 111 has a campus for juniors and seniors and a newer campus for freshmen and sophomores.

Notable people

Carlos Avery Carlos Avery (1868–1930) was an American newspaper publisher and politician in the state of Minnesota. Avery is best remembered as a longtime chief of the Minnesota Game and Fish Commission and was named the first Commissioner of the Game and Fi ...

, Minnesota newspaper publisher, politician, and conservationist *

Dale Coyne Dale Coyne (born July 8, 1954 in Minooka, Illinois) is an IndyCar Series team owner and former Champ Car auto racing team owner and driver. Driving career Coyne made his CART debut in 1984 at Portland and failed to qualify. He attempted to make ...

Indy Car IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...

team owner *

Sal Fasano Salvatore Frank Fasano (; born August 10, 1971) is an American former professional baseball catcher, who played for nine different Major League Baseball (MLB) teams over his 11–year big league career. Upon retiring as a player, he became a coa ...

, former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player * Mike Foltynewicz,

player * Tanner Laczynski,

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player *

Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor. He became widely known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015), for which he received the Television Critics Association Award fo ...

, actor (

Ron Swanson Ronald Ulysses Swanson is a fictional character portrayed by Nick Offerman in the political satire sitcom '' Parks and Recreation''. The character was created by Michael Schur and Greg Daniels with inspiration from a real-life Libertarian ele ...

on '' Parks and Recreation'')

References

External links

Official websiteMinooka School District
{{authority control Villages in Grundy County, Illinois Villages in Kendall County, Illinois Villages in Will County, Illinois Populated places established in 1869 1869 establishments in Illinois Villages in Illinois