Buffalo Grove, Illinois

This article is about the Chicago suburb. For the unincorporated Ogle County community of the same name, see Buffalo Grove, Ogle County, Illinois .
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Village
Buffalo Grove
Coordinates: 42°9′59″N 87°57′48″W / 42.16639°N 87.96333°WCoordinates: 42°9′59″N 87°57′48″W / 42.16639°N 87.96333°W
Country  United States
State Illinois
County Cook and Lake
Townships Wheeling and Vernon
Incorporated 1958
Government
 • Type Council-manager
 • President Jeff Braiman
Area
 • Total 9.53 sq mi (24.7 km2)
 • Land 9.50 sq mi (24.6 km2)
 • Water 0.03 sq mi (0.08 km2)  0.31%
Population (2010)
 • Total 41,496
 • Density 4,368.0/sq mi (1,686.5/km2)
Standard of living (2009-11)
 • Per capita income $44,067
 • Median home value $313,400
ZIP code(s) 60089
Area code(s) 847 and 224
Geocode 17-09447
Website www.vbg.org
Demographics (2010)[1]
White Black Asian
79.8% 1.0% 16.0%
Islander Native Other Hispanic
(any race)
0.04% 0.2% 3.0% 4.9%

Buffalo Grove is a village located in the northern suburbs of Chicago, and in Cook and Lake counties in Illinois, United States. Buffalo Creek was named when bison were seen drinking from the creek by the Potawatomi, French & English, and when bison bones were found in the area.[2] Bison also grazed and rested in the grove thus lending itself to the name of the village.[2]

As of the 2010 census, the village population was 41,496.[3] In July 2009, Buffalo Grove was listed at No. 65 on Money magazine's "best places to live" list.[4] The village is home to two annual festivals, the Buffalo Grove Days held in September and an Arts Festival held in mid-July. Throughout the village, there are a number of various business parks. The village president is currently Jeffrey Braiman. Most of the village is located within the 10th Congressional District of Illinois, but the southern portion is represented in the 8th Congressional District.

Geography

Buffalo Grove is located at 42°9′59″N 87°57′48″W / 42.16639°N 87.96333°W (42.166332, −87.963391),[5] among the northern suburbs of Chicago. Illinois Route 83 leads north towards central Lake County and south towards O'Hare International Airport. East-west streets take residents 20 minutes east to Lake Michigan and other North Shore suburbs such as Lake Forest, Highland Park, and Glencoe.

Buffalo Grove is about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of the Chicago Loop.[6]

Buffalo Grove is split along Lake Cook Road into two parts, the Lake County Vernon Township portion and the Cook County Wheeling Township portion. Around three-quarters of the village is in Vernon Township. Both portions differ in their demographics and similarities with neighboring communities. Buffalo Grove shares a border with Wheeling to its southeast, Arlington Heights to its southwest and south, Riverwoods and Deerfield directly east, Lincolnshire to its northeast, Vernon Hills directly north, and Long Grove to its west and northwest. Unincorporated Prairie View is located in two different parts around the village. First, there is the larger and historic portion which is towards the north and includes Didier Farms. Then, there is the second, much smaller portion which is centered around the Horatio Gardens subdivision just northeast of the intersection of Weiland Road and Pauline Avenue. Today, Buffalo Grove and Lincolnshire continue to annex certain portions of Prairie View.

According to the 2010 census, the village has a total area of 9.53 square miles (24.7 km2), of which 9.50 square miles (24.6 km2) (or 99.69%) is land and 0.03 square miles (0.078 km2) (or 0.31%) is water.[7] According to the village's land use data, single-family homes make up 43.9% of village land, 9.2% for single-family attached homes, 4.2% for multi family homes, 4.8% for commercial purposes, 2.4% for office, 10.8% for industrial, 3.5% is public property, 6.1% is right-of-way/utility, and only 1.4% remains vacant. A modest 13.8% is for parks and open space; there are 50 parks throughout the village and 45 miles (72 km) of bike paths/sidewalks. The Mike Rylko Community Park, located northwest of the intersection of McHenry Road (IL Route 83) and Buffalo Grove Road, is the largest park in the village with an estimated 76.5 acres (310,000 m2). The village also manages a small portion of the Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve which primarily is located in Long Grove. The forest preserve has a total of 408 acres (1.65 km2) and located north of the intersection of Lake-Cook Road and Arlington Heights Road.

Demographics

As of the census[8] of 2010, there were 41,496 people, 15,708 households, and 11,655 families residing in the village. The population density was 4,666.9 people per square mile (1,802.7/km²). There were 16,166 housing units at an average density of 1,758.2 per square mile (679.2/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 79.82% White, 1.00% African American, 0.16% Native American, 15.99% Asian, 0.0434% Pacific Islander, 1.41% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.92% of the population. Like in many of the nearby North Shore Suburbs, there is a large Jewish population in Buffalo Grove. 2.8% of the population of Buffalo Grove were born in Ukraine.[9]

There were 15,708 households out of which 42.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.0% were married couples living together, 6.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.8% were non-families. 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the village the population was spread out with 28.9% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.

According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the village is $83,545, and the median income for a family is $101,336.[10] Males have a median income of $63,107 versus $41,039 for females. The per capita income for the village is $49,794. 3.3% of the population and 1.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 2.6% are under the age of 18 and 2.2% are 65 or older.

In 2011, 16.0% of Buffalo Grove's residents were Asian, making it the Chicago suburb with the seventh highest percentage of Asians.[11]

History

Illinois became a state in 1818. The Buffalo Grove area was opened for settlement after the Treaty of Chicago (1833) where the United Nation of Ojibwe, Ottawa and Potawatomi ceded their Illinois lands to the United States.

During the 1830s, the area saw its first settlers, mostly land speculators. By the 1840s, they sold their land to German Catholic dairy farmers; it is believed that either Melchior Raupp or Jacob Weidner were the founders of the community. Eventually, other families came to the area, and they formed a close community. The settlers built the first St. Mary's Church in 1852 and St. Mary's School in 1855. Both eventually burned to the ground. By 1869, they were rebuilt, and a small downtown formed with the addition of the Weidner General Store and the Firnbach Tavern, built in 1899. The tavern building today houses a Lou Malnati's Pizzeria.[2]

The origin of the name "Buffalo Grove" is uncertain, but the traditional account is: "When the English, French, and Pottawatomi Indians were ranging through northeastern Illinois, so were the buffalo. The buffalo left the Wheeling woods in the morning and grazed their way diagonally to Long Grove. Noon found them in a grove of trees along the creek—drinking and resting. A buffalo skeleton was found beside the 'Buffalo Creek,' as it soon became called."[2]

Apart from a downtown which centered around the intersection of Buffalo Grove Road and Lake-Cook Road, Buffalo Grove served as a key farming community. The community gained a special reputation for supplying milk, cheese, and other dairy products to Chicago. The Weidner Cheese Factory was one of the key settlements. By 1926, the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois offered electric power to the area farms, and by 1930, Dundee Road, the first concrete road in northern Illinois, was built in south Buffalo Grove.

Following the end of World War II, there was a great demand for modestly sized homes for returning GIs. In the mid 1950s, Albert Frank, a developer, built hundreds of homes, some costing as little as $16,900, along Buffalo Grove Road, west along Bernard Drive as far as the current Park District headquarters, formerly Louisa May Alcott School. The subdivision was called Buffalo Grove Homes. Albert and his partners incorporated a portion (67.4 acres) of the subdivision as the Village of Buffalo Grove on March 7, 1958. It became the 11th municipality in Cook County. By 1961, new homes west of Buffalo Creek and the school were added (annexed) as far west as Greenwood Courts North and South, north through neighborhoods including Cherrywood and Cottonwood roads and south through White Pine Road. These earliest homes, in the Cook County section of the village, are sometimes referred to as "Old Buffalo Grove." Older housing stock is often surrounded by larger, newer houses, apartments and condominiums due to pockets of formerly undeveloped farmland being surrounded by housing. Over time, the holdout parcels were sold and developed.

The fledgling village grew rapidly in the 1960s with the development of Ranch Mart Shopping Center (also built by Albert Frank) and a Mobil Oil gas station, near the corner of Buffalo Grove Road and Dundee Road (State Route 68). In the late 1960s, the center contained a grocery store (Jewel Foods), a dime store (Hornsby's), a dry cleaner, a shoe store, a bakery, and a Walgreens Agency drug store/pharmacy (Mark Drugs). Nearby, on Dundee Road, stood a bowling alley (originally "Rick Casares' Pro Bowl, named for the former Chicago Bears player who had an interest in the alley, which was later sold and renamed "Striker Lanes"). In 1970, the enclosed Buffalo Grove Mall, which included a grocery store (Elm Farms, a subsidiary of National Tea), a dime store (Scott's of the TG&Y chain), an ice cream shop (Baskin Robbins), and a Radio Shack, opened. Both of these complexes have undergone significant physical renovations and tenant changes in the intervening years. During this time, numerous other shopping centers were developed, but primarily in Cook County. With rising taxes, along with rapidly increasing land values, farm families were encouraged to sell farms for residential and commercial development. By the early 1970s Buffalo Grove had approximately 15,000 residents.

It was during the 1980s and 1990s that the village saw its largest population boom. As early as the 1970s, the village had begun annexing unincorporated regions of Lake County, and were now beginning to develop the land into residential developments. Helping encourage further growth into Lake County was the extension of Buffalo Grove Road past McHenry Road (Illinois Route 83). Today, Buffalo Grove Road ends at U.S. Route 45 in Vernon Hills. In the late 1980s, Buffalo Grove created the Town Center retail development along McHenry Road north of Lake-Cook Road. However, the development has faced numerous challenges over the years, and there had been talk of either redevelopment of the property or building another similar development elsewhere in the village.

In 1992, because of the rise in the population, the United States Postal Service established a free-standing post office in the village. Towards the late 1990s, the village made a major road improvement at the heavy intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Lake-Cook Road, by having Lake-Cook serve as an overpass over Milwaukee. In addition, the village extended Deerfield Road west to Busch Parkway. A short time later, Busch Parkway was rerouted to allow for the new Deerfield Road addition to serve what remained of Busch Parkway (to Checker Road). With the improvements to Deerfield Road and the population boom, Chicago's train service, Metra, opened the North Central Service which stopped at a new station in Buffalo Grove on Deerfield Parkway. In 2010, the village had upwards of 41,000 people living in it.

Today, most of the village is developed. There are no working farms left in the village. There are farms in the area, though, such as Didier Farms in unincorporated Prairie View and Horcher's Farm in Wheeling. The village continues trying to annex land of unincorporated Prairie View (Vernon Township), which is surrounded by Buffalo Grove. Buffalo Grove has often sparred with neighboring Wheeling over the Chevy Chase County Club, located north of the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Lake-Cook Road, along with the Arlington Club development, which is an apartment and condominium development located north of the intersection of Buffalo Grove Road and Dundee Road. Buffalo Grove has attempted to annex both properties multiple times, but it continues to fail. The village's primary annexation interests are of Prairie View to the north and unincorporated Deerfield property to the east.

During the 2010 elections, Buffalo Grove made history by recalling the first public official in Illinois history, with nearly 70% of the voters agreeing to the recall. After only a year and a half as a trustee on the Buffalo Grove Village Board, Lisa Stone was recalled for being disruptive during board meetings in which she accused fellow board members of taking part in illegal political activities. Stone was also accused of bypassing the board on certain issues, and instead going directly to private agencies.

Education

Earl Pritchett Elementary School

Four school districts and three high schools from two districts serve Buffalo Grove, which are Township High School District 214 and Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125. The majority of public high school students in Buffalo Grove that live in the Cook County portion of Buffalo Grove attend Buffalo Grove High School, which is the only public high school located within Buffalo Grove itself. A smaller population of students residing in the Cook County portion of Buffalo Grove attend Wheeling High School, in nearby Wheeling. Those living in the Lake County portion of Buffalo Grove attend Adlai E. Stevenson High School in nearby Lincolnshire.

Grade school districts and schools serving Buffalo Grove are:

Cook County:

Buffalo Grove-Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21:

Lake County:

Aptakisic-Tripp C C School District 102:/Aptakisic-Tripp Community Consolidated School District 102

Kildeer Countryside C C School District 96:/Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96

Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103:

Private school:

Libraries

The Vernon Area Library, which is located just east of the border in neighboring Lincolnshire

Wheeling Township Buffalo Grove as well as a small portion of Lake County Buffalo Grove is served by the Indian Trails Public Library District located in Wheeling south of the intersection of Dundee Road and Schoenbeck Road. Vernon Township Buffalo Grove is served by the Vernon Area Public Library District located in Lincolnshire just north of the intersection of Half Day Road and Olde Half Day Road.

Local media

Buffalo Grove news is reported by the Buffalo Grove Patch, an online community newspaper that launched in 2010. In addition, the village has been covered by the Pioneer Press with its Buffalo Grove Countryside.

Attractions

The Raupp Museum, operated by the Buffalo Grove Park District, is the town's museum of local history. Saint Mary's Church, completed 1899, is the oldest building in the village.[12] Lou Malnatis Pizzaria is housed in the second oldest building in the village (also completed 1899).[12] Located around the same downtown area, there is the Buffalo Grove Town Center, which is a major shopping and retail destination within the village, at the Buffalo Grove Road and McHenry Road intersections with Lake-Cook Road, being anchored by the Buffalo Grove Theaters and by Escape, a bowling/arcade/baseball batting cages/laser-tag venue that hosts birthday parties.

During the summer, Buffalo Grove hosts two festivals. The Buffalo Grove Invitational Fine Arts Festival is held in Buffalo Grove Town Center in mid-July, with over 30,000 visitors attending on average. In September, Buffalo Grove hosts the multi-day Buffalo Grove Days festival around the intersection of Lake-Cook Road and Raupp Boulevard. The festival is mostly home to carnival games, roller coaster rides, arts and craft booths, food vendors, and live music. There is a parade held at the beginning of the festival and fireworks on the Saturday night. The festival usually attracts not just Buffalo Grove residents, but also residents from the neighboring communities. Throughout the summer Buffalo Grove hosts a Farmer's Market at the Spray and Play Pool on McHenry Road west of the intersection of Buffalo Grove Road.

In 2014, the Buffalo Grove Park District opened the Community Arts Center, which houses a theatre space and classrooms. The theatre is used by the Park District's local theatre company, Big Deal Productions.

Transportation

Buffalo Grove relies on multiple arterial roads. Going north-south, the village uses Milwaukee Avenue (Illinois Route 21) on the east, Buffalo Grove Road and Weiland Road down the center, and Arlington Heights Road on the west. Going east-west, the village uses Dundee Road (Illinois Route 68) to its south, Lake-Cook Road and Deerfield Parkway towards the center, and both Aptakisic and Half Day Road (Illinois Route 22) to its north. McHenry Road (Illinois Route 83) acts as a diagonal road in the village, going north-south in some portions, but east-west in others.

Since 1996, Buffalo Grove has had a station on Metra's North Central Service, which provides daily rail service between Antioch and Chicago (at Union Station). The train station is located just east of the intersection of Weiland Road and Deerfield Parkway. North of the intersection of Half Day Road (IL Route 22) and Prairie Road is the station for Prairie View, also used by many residents. The North Central Service runs primarily during rush hour and does not run on the weekends, so many Buffalo Grove residents use the Arlington Heights Metra Station, the Deerfield Metra Station, or the Lake Cook Road Metra Station also in Deerfield.

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Buffalo Grove village, Illinois". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved February 19, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "The History of Buffalo Grove", The Village of Buffalo Grove 50th Anniversary Committee, 2008.
  3. ↑ "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Buffalo Grove village, Illinois". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ Guy, Sandra. "4 Chicago suburbs top 'best places to live'". Chicago Sun-Times, July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009.
  5. ↑ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  6. ↑ Cutler, Irving. "The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb" (Chapter 5). In: Holli, Melvin G. and Peter d'Alroy Jones. Ethnic Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995. Start page 122. ISBN 0802870538, 9780802870537. - Cited: p. 168
  7. ↑ "Places: Illinois". 2010 Census Gazetteer Files. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  8. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  9. ↑ [http://www.city- data.com/top2/h65.html "Top 101 cities with the most residents born in Ukraine (population 500+)"]. city- data.com. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
  10. ↑ Buffalo Grove village, Illinois Fact Sheet, American FactFinder.
  11. ↑ Selvam, Ashok. "Asian population booming in suburbs." Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois). March 6, 2011. Retrieved on June 19, 2013.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 http://www.vbg.org/index.aspx?NID=191
  13. ↑ "People Magazine:Vince Vaughn". People Magazine at people.com. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
  14. ↑ http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?GA=98&MemberID=1966

External links

 Long Grove Vernon Hills / Prairie View Lincolnshire
Long Grove Riverwoods / Deerfield
   Buffalo Grove, Illinois  
Arlington Heights Wheeling / Arlington Heights Wheeling