McHenry, Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
McHenry is a city in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2005 census, the city population was 24,631. McHenry was at one time the county seat of McHenry County. McHenry was named for Major William McHenry, an old Indian fighter.
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[edit] Geography
McHenry is located at (42.339221, -88.281632)GR1.
McHenry is located northwest of Chicago in northern Illinois on the Fox River . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.4 km² (12.1 mi²). 30.1 km² (11.6 mi²) of it is land and 1.3 km² (0.5 mi²) of it (4.05%) is water.
McHenry is surrounded by natural lakes and streams, remnants of receding glaciers from the last ice age. There are many moraine hills, peat bogs, and shallow nutrient-rich bogs. Some of the moraine hills have recently been mined for gravel. Moraine Hills State Park and Volo Bog State Natural Area preserve some of these unique natural features.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 21,501 people, 7,872 households, and 5,557 families residing in the city. The population density was 714.4/km² (1,850.2/mi²). There were 8,127 housing units at an average density of 270.0/km² (699.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.18% White, 0.35% African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.89% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.31% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.10% of the population.
There were 7,872 households out of which 38.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.2% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.4% were non-families. 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.25.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.5% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $55,759, and the median income for a family was $66,040. Males had a median income of $46,552 versus $29,808 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,272. About 3.8% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 2.6% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Transportation
McHenry is currently the terminal of a branch line on Metra's Union Pacific/Northwest Line, with daily passenger service to Ogilvie Transportation Center (Northwestern Station) in downtown Chicago. The line that now terminates at McHenry once continued to Williams Bay, Wisconsin, but that service was discontinued in stages in the 1960s and 1970s.
[edit] Trivia
- Matt Skiba, guitarist/singer-songwriter of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio lived in McHenry during his childhood.
- McHenry, IL is featured in the beginning of Kevin Smith's film, Dogma.
- McHenry is mentioned in Tom Waits' song Johnsburg, Illinois
[edit] External links
- McHenry official website
- Moraine Hills State Park Website
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
