Mount Prospect, Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mount Prospect | |
| Village | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Illinois |
| County | Cook |
| Coordinates | |
| Area | 10.2 sq mi (26 km²) |
| - land | 10.2 sq mi (26 km²) |
| Density | 5,513.1 /sq mi (2,129 /km²) |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 60056 |
| Area code | 847 |
   Location of Mount Prospect within Illinois
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| Wikimedia Commons: Mount Prospect, Illinois | |
Mount Prospect, part of Elk Grove Township and Wheeling Township, is a village in Cook County, Illinois about 22 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. Mount Prospect was incorporated as a village in 1917. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 56,265.
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[edit] Geography
Mount Prospect is located at (42.065427, -87.936217)[1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 10.2 square miles (26.5 km²), of which, 10.2 square miles (26.4 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.39%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 56,265 people, 21,585 households, and 15,152 families residing in the village. The population density was 5,513.1 people per square mile (2,127.7/km²). There were 21,952 housing units at an average density of 2,151.0/sq mi (830.1/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 90.13% White, 1.82% African American, 0.20% Native American, 11.18% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 4.14% from other races, and 2.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.77% of the population.
There were 21,585 households out of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.7% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.8% were non-families. 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the village the population was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $57,165, and the median income for a family was $67,262. Males had a median income of $44,585 versus $32,218 for females. The per capita income for the village was $26,464. About 3.1% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.2% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] History
Cook County, 20 miles NW of the Loop. Yankee farmers established homesteads in what became the heart of downtown Mount Prospect after signing a Potawatomi treaty in 1833. New Englanders cleared and farmed the land until 1843. Many of these settlers, however, moved west for larger claims, and were replaced by German immigrants, who planted the roots of a small rural community.
By 1854, the Illinois & Wisconsin Railroad (later renamed the Chicago & North Western) ran through Mount Prospect, but it did not stop there until 1886. As a result, the remaining Yankee families who wanted access to broader markets moved to the neighboring railroad towns of Arlington Heights and Des Plaines. Meanwhile more German and Irish immigrant families bought up the available homesteads.
In 1871, real-estate agent Ezra Carpenter Eggleston built a four-block residential subdivision on farmland south of the railroad. Eggleston named the area Mount Prospect because the village sat on the highest point in Cook County. Eggleston went bankrupt, since the area failed to prosper until a railroad station was established.
In 1900, the community still fell short of the three hundred people required for incorporation. A group of small businessmen known as the Mount Prospect Improvement Association pushed for official empowerment to solicit funds through taxation. In May 1917, the village immediately incorporated when a newborn infant became Mount Prospect's three-hundredth resident.
William Busse, a local storeowner, served as the first president from 1917 to 1929. During this period, Mount Prospect experienced business expansion and population growth that increased the number of residents to 1,225 by 1930. Although the area remained predominately farmland, a small industrial district appeared north of the railroad, which included a creamery, farm machinery retailers, a hardware store, a coal yard, and a general store.
The village's post–World War II population growth was similar to neighboring communities with an influx of white, middle-class Chicagoans. During the 1950s, the population increased 370 percent to 18,906, prompting village officials to adopt a council-manager form of government. In this period of growth, the Randhurst Corporation opened an enclosed and air-conditioned mall, Randhurst Shopping Center (1962). The village also attracted new industry and light manufacturing with the addition of the Kensington Center (1974).
During the late 1970s, village president Carolyn Krause contested the Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation's efforts to rezone for the building of multifamily housing for minorities and the elderly. A federal agreement, however, allowed the construction of low-income housing on unincorporated land between Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect. Although village leaders continued to promote some light industry, they maintained Mount Prospect as a residential community made up primarily of middle-class white families. Most white-collar residents worked for large companies in the area, such as Centel, Mitsubishi Electronics, and Eastman Kodak, or commuted to Chicago. By 1992, the village's chamber of commerce began a controversial downtown revitalization campaign that sought to “keep the small in small town.” Today Mount Prospect maintains a semi-suburban feel, aesthetically equidistant from its neighbors, Des Plaines and Arlington Heights.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The "Bluesmobile" in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers was made up to be an old Mount Prospect police car. Dan Aykroyd later said that he used the village's police department because he heard that in the early days, "they were a tough group that did not take any attitude from folks from the big city."[3].
- In 1962, Randhurst Mall was built, which was the largest enclosed air conditioned space in America at the time. It included a bomb shelter which was designed to hold the entire population of Mount Prospect.
- Mount Prospect is the central location of the Left Behind series.
[edit] References
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Written in a letter by Dan Aykroyd to a Mt. Prospect police officer[1]
[edit] External links
[edit] Maps
- Mount Prospect, Illinois is at coordinates Coordinates:
[edit] Government
[edit] See also
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