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Renting an Apartment in Naperville
Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will counties in Illinois in the United
States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money
Magazine in 2006. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of
128,358; The United States Census Bureau estimated the population in 2006 at
142,901. The fourth largest city in the state, behind Chicago, neighboring
Aurora, and Rockford. Approximately 95,000 Napervillians live in DuPage County,
while about 40,000 reside in Will County.
History
In July 1831, Joseph Naper arrived at the banks of the DuPage River with his
family and friends to found what would be known as Naper's Settlement. Among
those original settlers were Naper's wife Almeda Landon, his brother John with
wife Betsy Goff, his sister Amy with husband John Murray, and his mother Sarah.
Their arrival followed a nearly two-month voyage across three Great Lakes in the
Naper brothers' schooner, the Telegraph. Also on that journey were several
families who remained in the still raw settlement that would become Chicago,
including that of Dexter Graves who is memorialized in Graceland Cemetery by a
well-known Loredo Taft statue.[4]
By 1832, over one hundred settlers had arrived at Naper's Settlement. These
settlers were temporarily displaced to Fort Dearborn for protection from an
anticipated attack by the Sauk tribe. Fort Payne was built at Naper's
Settlement, the settlers returned and the attack never materialized. The
Pre-Emption House was constructed in 1834, as the Settlement became a
stage-coach stop on the road from Chicago to Galena. Reconstructions of Fort
Payne and the Pre-Emption House stand as part of Naper Settlement, which was
first established by the Naperville Heritage Society and the Naperville Park
District in 1969 to preserve some of the community's oldest buildings.[4]
After DuPage County was split from Cook County in 1839, Naper's Settlement
became the DuPage county seat, a distinction it held until 1868. Naper's
Settlement was incorporated as the Village of Naperville in 1857, at which time
it had a population of 2,000. Reincorporation as a city occurred in 1890. A
predominantly rural community for most of its existence, Naperville experienced
a population explosion, starting in the 1960s, but largely during the 1980s and
1990s following the construction of the East-West Tollway (now known as the
Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) and North-South tollways. In the past two
decades, it has nearly quadrupled in size as Chicagoland's urban sprawl brought
corporations, jobs, and wealth to the area.[4]
On April 26, 1946, Naperville was the site of one of the worst train accidents
in Chicagoland history. Two Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad trains, the
Advance Flyer and the Exposition Flyer, collided 'head to tail' on a single
track just west of the Loomis Street grade crossing. The accident killed 45 and
injured more than 1000 residents. This event is commemorated in a metal inlay
map of Naperville on the southeast corner of Nichols Library's sidewalk area.[5]
The March 2006 issue of Chicago magazine cites a mid-1970s decision to make and
keep all parking in downtown Naperville free in order to keep downtown
Naperville "alive" in the face of competition with Fox Valley Mall in Aurora and
the subsequent sprawl of strip shopping malls. Existing parking meters were
taken down, parking in garages built in the 1980s and 1990s is free, and parking
is still available on major thoroughfares during non-peak hours.[4]
Naperville marked the 175th anniversary of its 1831 founding in 2006. The
anniversary events included a series of celebrations, concerts and a balloon
parade.[6]
Topography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 92.0
km² (35.5 mi²). 91.6 km² (35.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is
water.
Downtown Naperville is located within DuPage County, but the city has stretched
south into Will County, since at least the early 1980s.[7]
Culture
The Naperville Public Library has been ranked #1 in the United States for eight
straight years, from 1999-2006, for cities with populations between 100,000 and
249,999 by American Libraries magazine.[8]
There are three public library locations within city limits.
* The Nichols Library is located in downtown Naperville, at 200 W. Jefferson
Street. It has been in this location since 1986. It is a 63,000 square feet
(5,900 m²) structure[9] and is pictured at right. The previous library building
still stands on Washington Street, just south of the YMCA building, at
Washington and Van Buren.
* The Naper Boulevard Library was dedicated in December 1992 and underwent
internal renovations in 1996. It is located at 2035 S. Naper Boulevard and is
the smallest of the three buildings at 32,000 square feet (3,000 m²).[9]
* The 95th Street Library is located near the intersection of 95th Street and
Route 59, at 3015 Cedar Glade Drive (just west of Neuqua Valley High School). It
is the newest (opened in September 2003) and largest of the three libraries at
73,000 square feet (6,800 m²)[9] and features a modern, curving architectural
style.
In May 2005, a local technology company was contracted to install fingerprint
scanners as a more convenient access method to the libraries internet
computers,[10] provoking some controversy. After further testing, the technology
was not implemented.[10]
The three libraries are used heavily by the public including around one and a
half million visitors and a circulation of about four million items yearly.[9]
Tourism
Moser Tower and Millennium Carillon
In 1999, Naperville was designated a White House Millennium Community, due to
the construction of the Moser Tower and Millennium Carillon. The tower is
located just north of Aurora Avenue and at the base of Rotary Hill within the
Riverwalk Park complex. The Millennium Carillon is specially designated as a
Grand Carillon, with 72 bells, and is one of only four worldwide that span six
octaves. The Millennium Carillon was dedicated in an Independence Day event on
June 29, 2000, with a reception attended by over 15,000, and a performance by
the Naperville Municipal Band and the Naperville Men's Glee Club and Festival
Chorus. The Carillon is both manually and also computer-playable, with most
performances being done by hand, but with half the bells played by a
computer-controlled system at set times during the day. At present, the Carillon
is operational but Moser Tower itself is incomplete and is not open to the
public. Disputes over funding the completion of the tower were debated before
the Naperville City Council during the fall of 2005 (and are still not
resolved). The design of the tower won an award for "Best Custom Solution" from
the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI).[11]
Economy
Naperville is located in the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor.
Employers contributing to the population explosion of the 1980s and 1990s
include Bell Labs, Western Electric, BP Amoco Labs, Nalco Chemical Nicor,
Porsche Finance and Edward Hospital. Tellabs and Laidlaw have corporate
headquarters in Naperville, and ConAgra's Grocery division offices are also in
Naperville.[12] OfficeMax moved corporate headquarters to Naperville in
2006.[13] Also, Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory are nearby. Naperville
was one of the ten fastest growing communities in the United States during the
1990s.[14]
Naperville is also home to one of the largest congregations of automobile
retailers in the state, as part of the "Ogden Avenue Strip," which extends from
Hinsdale to Aurora and includes every mainstream make of automobile available.
AutoNation and Bill Jacobs are two of the largest groups within the city
itself.[15]
Naperville is also home to a plant and the headquarters of Dukane Precast, one
of the area's major precast concrete manufacturers.
Demographics
According to the 2005 American Community Survey, there were 147,779 people,
48,655 households, and 37,143 families residing in the city; as of 2006-07-01,
Naperville is the 164th most populous city in the United States.[16] The
population density was 1,606.3/km² (4,162.8/mi²).[17] There were 51,636 housing
units at an average density of 561.3/km² (1454.5/mi²).[17] The racial makeup of
the city was 82.00% White, 2.54% African American, 0.07% Native American, 12.65%
Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.26% from other races, and 1.48% from two or
more races.[18] Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.23% of the population.[18]
There were 48,655 households out of which 45.3% had children under the age of 18
living with them, 70.0% were married couples living together, 6.2% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families.[18] 17.8% of
all households were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone who
was 65 years of age or older.[18] The average household size was 3.04 and the
average family size was 3.55.[17]
In the city, the population was spread out with 30.2% under the age of 18, 7.6%
from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65
years of age or older.[18] The median age was 35.9 years.[18] For every 100
females there were 95.9 males.[18] For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
were 95.2 males.[18]
The median income for a household in the city was $93,338, and the median income
for a family was $117,110. Males had a median income of $82,515 versus $46,533
for females.[19] The per capita income for the city was $44,235.[17] About 2.5%
of the population was below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age
18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.
Illinois uses an form of government that dates back to mainly rural
unincorporated areas (not part of any city), and a group of nine townships make
up DuPage County. The city of Naperville extends over much of the area today
with only small areas not included in the city. The township provides road
services in unincorporated areas and also social services that include some
sections of the city.
Education
Colleges and universities
* North Central College is located on a 59 acre campus in Downtown Naperville on
Chicago Avenue. It was founded by a predecessor church to the United Methodist
Church in 1861 and has been located in Naperville since 1870. The college
remains affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
* Northern Illinois University maintains a satellite campus on Diehl Road
offering several degrees at its 113,000-square-foot (10,500 m²) facility.
* DePaul University maintains a satellite campus on Warrenville Road. It has
been in Naperville since 1997.
* The College of DuPage Naperville Center is located on Rickert Drive.
* DeVry University maintains a satellite campus on Westings Avenue in
Naperville.
* Governors State University recently opened a satellite campus on West 95th
Street in Naperville.
* Northwestern Business College has a Naperville campus on North Mill Street.
* The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign opened a Business & Industry
Services campus in Naperville in 2007.
Primary and secondary schools
Two K-12 public school districts serve the city of Naperville (along with a
number of private, parochial schools, including private schools in neighboring
Aurora and Lisle). Within the state of Illinois, school districts are numbered
by their county.
Naperville Community Unit School District 203, established in 1972 through the
merger of elementary and high school districts, serves central Naperville (as
well as portions of neighboring Lisle and Bolingbrook). The current District 203
school buildings were constructed between 1928 (Ellsworth) and 1990 (Kingsley).
The district has two high schools: Naperville Central High School and Naperville
North High School, five junior high schools, and thirteen elementary schools
within Naperville city limits.
Indian Prairie School District 204 was also formed through merged districts in
1972. Waubonsie Valley High School, Neuqua Valley High School, Metea Valley High
School (Opening Fall 2009), along with five middle schools and 14 elementary
schools from this district, are within Naperville city limits. The district also
serves western and southwestern Naperville, along with eastern Aurora and parts
of Bolingbrook.