Naperville

Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, 28 miles (45 km) west of the city. As of the 2020 census, its population was 149,540, making it the state's fourth-most populous city. Naperville is home to Moser Tower and Millennium Carillon, one of the four largest carillons in the world. The city was established by the banks of the DuPage river, and was originally known as Naper's Settlement. In 1839, after DuPage County was split from Cook County, Naperville became the county seat, which it remained until 1868. Beginning in the 1960s,Naperville experienced a significant population increase as a result of Chicago's urban sprawl. The first Caucasian contact with Native Americans in Illinois was made with members of the Iliniwek tribe in 1641. The Potawatomi inhabited Naperville when the first settlers arrived. There was a major Potaw atomi village at the present site of downtown Naperville, reached from Chicago by a trail that became Ogden Avenue. In January 1910, Peter Edward Kroehler led a campaign to build a YMCA building, but was forced to resign as mayor due to rumors of a relationship between him and one of Naperville's richest residents. In 1890, a re-incorporation as occurred, and Peter Edward donated $10,000, Nichols Library was dedicated in January 1898.

History

Naperville is the primary city name, but also Warrenville are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is City of Naperville. Naperville was home to Native American tribes. In 1641, the first Caucasian contact with Native Americans in Illinois was made with members of the Iliniwek tribe. In 1831, Joseph Naper arrived at the west bank of the DuPage River with his family and friends to found what would be known as Naper's Settlement. Naperville was incorporated as the Village of Naperville in 1857, with a population of 2,000. In 1950, the city limits were about six square miles, but by 1960, the geographical expansion in Naperville's history saw over 1,500 acres annexed. In 1996, Naperville received 14 inches of rain in less than 24 hours, and DuPage County was declared a disaster zone. The city's population tripled in the 1990s and '80s, and in the 2000s, the population tripled again. In the 2010s, about 6,000 people live in the city, and the population is expected to reach 10,000 by the end of the year. In 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded Naperville as having the highest rate of obesity in the state of Illinois, with 4.7 per cent of the population aged 18-64. In 2013, the number of people living in the town was 6,816. In 2014, it was estimated that the city had the highest population growth rate in the United States, followed by Chicago in the same period. In 2015, the town had a record-high population of 6,715.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Naperville has an area of 39.323 square miles (101.85 km²) Naperville was primarily flat prairie before its settlement. Its main geographic anomalies are manmade hills, such as the Greene Valley Hill, a former garbage dump. The largest number of Naperville residents live in Lisle Township, followed by Naperville Township.Naperville has a typical Midwestern humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa) There are four distinct seasons: winters are cold and snowy, springs are humid, summers are hot, and falls are cool. The highest recorded temperature was 105 °F, the coldest was -6 °F. The city has had two major floods, one in 1996 and one in 2013. Naperville is in six townships and two counties. In DuPage County, the northwest portion is in Winfield Township, the northeast portion in Milton Township, and the west-central portion in Naperville township. In Will County, the southwest portion is. in Wheatland Township and the southeast portion in DuPage Township. In the north, McDowell Grove Forest Preserve and various office complexes around Diehl Road form a major enclave into the. boundary. The town's municipal boundaries are cut in noticeably by many places, including Springbrook Prairie, a forest preserve run by The Forest. Preserve District of Du Page County, and Tamarack neighborhood, a major unincorporated enclave. In Naperville, there are no incorporated areas.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census said that there were 149,540 people, 52,238 households, and 38,347 families residing in the city. As of April 2020, Naperville was the 181st most populous city in the United States. The racial makeup of the city was 68.1% White, 5.4% African American, 23.9% Asian and 6.9%. The city's median income for a household was $140,061, and $153,250 for a family. The per capita income for the city is $59,115. About 3.7% of the population was below the poverty line, including 4.5% of those under age 18 and 2.0% ofThose age 65 or over. The city is located in the Illinois River Valley, which runs through the town of Naperville. Naperville is located on the banks of the Chicago River, which flows into the Illinois and Illinois Rivers. The river runs through Naperville, which is a suburb of Chicago. It is also the site of the U.S. Open golf tournament, which takes place in Naperville every year. The tournament is run by the University of Illinois at Naperville and features a team of professional golfers. The event is free and open to the public, and is open to all ages and skill levels.

Economy

Naperville was one of the nation's ten fastest-growing communities during the 1990s. It was home to the Office Max headquarters until the 2013 merger between Office Max and Office Depot. Kraft Foods (now Mondelez International) opened their Naperville site in 1968, and employs over 200 individuals at the plant. Naperville has over 11 automobile dealerships, and in October 2006, the city opened the country's first publicprivate partnership automobile test track, situated on a 9-acre (3.6 ha) course. According to the 2019 American Community Survey, 77% of commuters drove, 11% took public transportation, and 8.6% worked from home. 22.1% of workers were employed in educational services, and health care and social assistance, and 20.4% in professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services. The city's top ten employers are: Bell Labs, Western Electric, Amoco (now BP and Ineos), Nalco, Calamos, Nicor, and Edward Hospital. and ConAgra's Grocery division branch office employs approximately 400 workers. The former OfficeMax headquarters in Naperville was sold, as the merged company moved to Boca Raton. In the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top 10 employers were: Kraft Foods, Dukane Precast, and Con Agra. The top 10 retail trade employers in the city are: McDonald's, Kmart, and Sears.

Arts and culture

The Naperville Public Library was founded on September 22, 1898. In 2020, there were 61,476 active cardholders, and there were 728,147 total library visits. The Naperville Historic District is a set of 573 buildings in the older eastern section of Naperville and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Millennium Carillon is the largest carillons in the world, with 72 bronze weighing from 10 pounds to the 6-ton Captain Joseph Naper Bell. The DuPage Children's Museum was founded in 1987; and moved from Wheaton to its Naperville location in 2001. The Old Nichols Library building, which served as Naperville's original public library, was designated a local landmark in 2017. Naperville is home to the Naperville Independent Film Festival, an annual film festival which features the work of independent filmmakers. It is also the home of the Riverwalk Fine Art Fair, which hosts artists who work in forms such as painting, ceramic, wood, jewelry, fiber, photography, glass, and metal. Notable statues include the 9 foot tall statue of comic book figure Dick Tracy, Laughing Lincoln, a life size statue of 30 year old Abraham Lincoln, and the Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial, which includes a steel beam from the World Trade Center and rubble from the Pentagon. The Moser Tower is a 158-foot-tall tower at the base of Aurora Avenue just west of Downtown Naperville. It was dedicated on June 29, 2000, with a reception attended by over 15,000 people.

Parks and recreation

The Naperville Park District manages and provides leisure and recreational activities for Naperville and nearby residents. The District was established by referendum in 1966, but a current park, Centennial Beach, was founded in 1932. The Park District is responsible for the Naperville Riverwalk, construction of which began in 1981, marking the 150th anniversary of the first Joseph Naper's settlement. The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County manages several forest preserves and parks that are within Naperville. The Naperville Sportsman's Club is a public trap shooting range, the fees are $15.50 for club members, $16.75 for residents, and $18.00 for nonresidents. Ron Ory Community Garden Plots offers garden plots to lease for a fee during the summer. A section of the DuPage River Trail runs through the park, and is used for walking, running, and cycling. There are two parks dedicated to skateboarding and in-line skating, Frontier Sports Complex and Centennial Park, which includes Naperville's first official cricket pitch, opened in 2006. Knoch Knolls Park includes a small mountain biking trail and eighteen-hole frisbee golf course, located south between Ring Road and 95th Street. The Riverwalk Commission has started a plan to expand the riverwalk greatly, in the "Riverwalk 2031 Master Plan" Some of the details of this plan includes extending the river walk to Edward Hospital, building a new park, creating an east bank Riverwalk path from the Highlands subdivision.

Government

The City of Naperville operates under the council-manager form of government. The City Council consists of the Mayor and eight Council Members elected for four-year terms. The mayor presides over city council meetings, they function as the local Liquor and Tobacco Control Commissioner, they can declare emergencies, and can select members for City boards and commissions. The city manager enforces all laws and ordinances of the city, they recommend courses of action to the council, and controls all departments throughout the city. In 2020, the equalized assessed value for the city was $137,000, and the city property tax was 0.6949%, this resulted in a $875.11 average property tax paid. Naperville collects a local gas tax at the price of four cents per gallon. A Retail Sales Tax is in place, with a.75% tax applying on general merchandise, and food for immediate consumption. All Real Estate Transfers are subject to a tax, but are exempt to for owners making deed changes. The total State Use Tax rate is 6.25%, and the State of Illinois collects $0.392 per gallon of gasoline sold. All funds from the Gas Tax are only meant to be used on roads and bridges, and State and Federal Representation are only for state and local use. In 2021, a $540 million budget was approved for 2022. The budget was a 7.6% increase from the previous year. Roughly $32 million of the $38 million went towards infrastructure improvements.

Education

Two K-12 public school districts serve the city of Naperville (along with a number of private, parochial schools). Naperville Community Unit School District 203 serves central and northern Naperville as well as portions of the neighboring Lisle and Bolingbrook. Indian Prairie School District 204 (IPSD) was also formed through merged districts in 1972. Naperville is home to numerous private schools, including, All Saints Catholic Academy, Bethany Lutheran School, Calvary Christian School, Covenant Classical School, Naperville Christian Academy, St. Raphael School, and Saints Peter and Paul School. North Central College is on a 59-acre (24 ha) campus in Downtown Naperville on Chicago Avenue. In fall 2020, it had 2,832 students enrolled. The College of DuPage, Dupage County's Community College, operates the Naperville Regional Center which offers several classes. DeVry University has their administrative headquarters, and classrooms on Diehl Road in Naperville. Indiana Tech maintains a satellite campus on North Aurora Road. In total, IPSD runs four high schools (Neuqua Valley High School), seven junior high schools, 21 elementary schools, and one preschool. The oldest District 203 building still in use is Ellsworth Elementary, constructed in 1928, while the newest is the Ann Reid Early Childhood Center, opened in 2010. The district serves western and southwestern Naperville, along with eastern Aurora and parts of Bolingbroke and Plainfield. It also has one junior high and one elementary school in Lisle.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois = 63.2. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 47. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 21. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Naperville = 3.4 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 149,540 individuals with a median age of 35.4 age the population grows by 12.41% in Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 3,823.57 residents per square mile of area (1,476.29/km²). There are average 2.61 people per household in the 36,589 households with an average household income of $83,684 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 8.10% of the available work force and has dropped -4.37% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 22.56%. The number of physicians in Naperville per 100,000 population = 386.3.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Naperville = 35.3 inches and the annual snowfall = 29.2 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 106. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 189. 85 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 13.4 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 44, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois which are owned by the occupant = 65.18%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 16 years with median home cost = $54,750 and home appreciation of 2.46%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $18.51 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $6,096 per student. There are 16.7 students for each teacher in the school, 630 students for each Librarian and 744 students for each Counselor. 7.28% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 36.04% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 19.18% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).