Northern Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the university, see Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois.
Contents |
[edit] Economics
Northern Illinois is dominated by the metropolitan areas of Chicagoland, Rockford, and the Quad Cities, which contain a majority of Illinois' population (75%) and economic activity, including numerous Fortune 500 companies and a heavy manufacturing, commerical, retail, service, and office based economy. Much of the economic activity of the region is centered in the Chicago Loop, the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor, and the Golden Corridor. However, rural sections of this region are highly productive agriculturally, and are part of the Corn Belt. The headquarters for John Deere farming equipment are located in Moline. Additional smaller cities in this area include Kankakee, LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa, Freeport, Dixon, and Sterling-Rock Falls, which still have predominantly manufacturing and agricultural economies. Northern Illinois is also one of the world's busiest freight railroad and truck traffic corridors.
[edit] Interstate 80 southern boundary
Interstate 80 is sometimes referenced as the informal southern boundary of Northern Illinois, and is often used in weather reports as a reference point, as in "south of Interstate 80 will see sleet and rain, but north of Interstate 80 can expect mostly snow."
[edit] Interstate 88 cross section
Additionally, Interstate 88 (the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) seems to connect the region, east-west, stretching from the Quad Cities, eastward through Sterling-Rock Falls, Dixon, DeKalb, Aurora, Naperville, and into Chicago. Northern Illinois is also the only region of the state in which there are tollways, which are run by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, another trait separating this region from Central and Southern Illinois.
[edit] Education
Northern Illinois University, located in DeKalb is located in the heart of Northern Illinois and is the state's second largest institute of higher education in terms of enrollment, after University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
[edit] Politics
Politically, the region is quite diverse, with Cook County and Rock Island County being long-time strongholds for the Demorcrats and suburban counties such as DuPage, Kane, Kendall and McHenry Counties being reliable strongholds for the Republicans. However, several counties such as Winnebago and Lake are quite evenly divided. Famous politicians native to the area include Ulysess S. Grant, Ronald Reagan, J. Dennis Hastert, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Mayors Richard J. Daley and Richard M. Daley.
[edit] Culture
Culturally, the area is tied heavily to Chicago, and most residents of Northern Illinois tend to root for Chicago teams, lean towards the Chicago media market, and visit the Chicago Loop often. Conversely, residents of Central Illinois are often split between the Chicago and St. Louis media markets, and the fanbases for the cities' respective sports teams often overlap. In Southern Illinois, residents are tied primarily to St. Louis and Memphis culture. Additionally, regional dialects in Northern Illinois vary slightly from those in other parts of Illinois.
