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Arlington Heights

Bartlett

Batavia

Bloomingdale

Carol Stream

A common misconception is that the municipality of Carol Stream was named for a local minor waterway. In fact, Carol Stream is one of the few communities in America that took its name from the first and last names of a living person: Carol Stream, the daughter of its founder Jay Stream.On August 26, 1957, Carol and three friends were returning from Racine, Wisconsin in a 1949 Studebaker. While attempting to cross U.S. Route 45 in central Kenosha County, the car was struck in the right rear corner, killing 15-year-old Richard Christie of Chicago, the passenger seated there. Carol was ejected through the windshield and into a utility pole. Neurosurgeons at Kenosha Memorial Hospital said the comatose girl might never awaken or, if she did, would likely be severely handicapped. On advice of the doctors that her recovery might improve with good news, Jay decided to name the new community in her honor. After four months in a coma, Carol regained consciousness. Learning the new village bore her full name, Carol said she thought it "odd and silly".Jay W. Stream (April 17, 1921 – January 22, 2006), a military veteran who had previously sold insurance and ready-mix concrete, was in the mid-1950s heading Durable Construction Company. He became frustrated with red tape while negotiating a planned 350–400 home subdivision in nearby Naperville, Illinois. A Naperville clerk reportedly advised Stream to "build your own town", and in 1957, Stream began buying unincorporated farmland outside Wheaton. He hoped to allow people to work in the town they lived in, rather than have to commute to Chicago. Source:Wikipedia

Downers Grove

Elmhurst

Members of the Potawatomi Native American people, who settled along Salt Creek just south of where the city would develop, are the earliest known settlers of the Elmhurst area. Around 1836, European-American immigrants settled on tracts of land along the same creek. At what would become Elmhurst City Centre, a native of Ohio named Gerry Bates established a community on a tract of "treeless land" in 1842.The following year, Hill Cottage Tavern opened where St. Charles Road and Cottage Hill Avenue presently intersect. In 1845, the community was officially named Cottage Hill when a post office was established. Four years later the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was given right-of-way through Cottage Hill giving farmers easier access to Chicago. The community changed its name to Elmhurst in 1869. In 1871, Elmhurst College was organized and currently has 3,500 undergraduates and about 300 graduate students. Elmhurst was incorporated as a village in 1882, with a population between 723 and 1,050, and legal boundaries of St. Charles Road to North Avenue, and one half mile west and one quarter mile east of York Street. Elmhurst Memorial Hospital was founded in 1926 as the first hospital in DuPage County.The Memorial Parade has run every Memorial Day since 1918. The annual Elmhurst St. Patrick's Day Parade continues to be the third largest parade of that sort in the Chicago area, following the more famous parades downtown and on the city's South Side.Since 1964, it has been home to Elmhurst CRC, one of the largest congregations of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.The Keebler Company's corporate headquarters was in Elmhurst until 2001, when the Kellogg Company purchased the company. The city is home to the headquarters of Sunshine Biscuits and McMaster-Carr Supply Co. Famous Amos cookies are also distributed from Elmhurst.

Geneva

Glen Ellyn

It took eight name changes for the name Glen Ellyn to take hold. Babcock's Grove, DuPage Center, Stacy's Corners, Newton's Station, Danby, and Prospect Park were the first names that never took hold.Glen Ellyn was adopted in 1889 when village president and local businessman lead a project to create to Lake Glen Ellyn by having a dam built in a nearby stream.The first homeowner in Glen Ellyn was Deacon Winslow Churchill. He and his family relocated to Glen Ellyn from New York in 1834. Many newcomers would follow the Churchills to build shops, stores, banks, and schools.Moses Stacy, a soldier in the War of 1812, arrived here in 1835. His inn, Stacy's Tavern, built in 1846, Stacy's Tavern at the corner of Geneva Road and Main Street.Glen Ellyn was without a train depot until Lewey Q. Newtown built a stop with a water tank for steamers to re-fuel. The depot would come to be known as Newtown Station.The first church was a Congregational church erected in 1862. Many Protestant churches would follow, but it took 60 years for completion of the first Catholic church.In 1890, residents discovered mineral springs near the village. Glen Ellyn began advertising itself as Chicago's newest suburb and health resort. The grand Lake Glen Ellyn Hotel opened in 1892, the same year most of the business district was destroyed by fire.The village established an all-volunteer fire department in 1907. It was the last all-volunteer fire department in DuPage County.Source: Wikipedia

Lombard

Naperville

Roselle

Schaumburg

St. Charles

In 1837, the town registered Charleston as their official name with the state but two years later the name was changed. A new lawyer in town, Stevens Sanborn Jones, alerted the town officials that there was already a Charleston registered in Illinois; it seems the other town was registered first and as a result a name change was needed. There was much debate as to what the new name of the town should be. By some accounts Ithaca was a suggestion but was quickly shot down by a group of residents from Germany who had difficulty with the pronunciation. It was finally Mr. S.S. Jones who came up with the suggestion of St. Charles. It was, he reasoned, similar enough to the original name of Charleston, and as there were no other towns with the name and, since no one had any difficulty with the pronunciation, St. Charles was adopted as the new name of the town. So there you have it, the town was not named after a person, or a Saint, and while there is a Saint Charles, he is not the patron Saint of the town, and the correct spelling is St. not Saint. If you would like more information on St. Charles History or any of the people mentioned in this post stop by the St. Charles History Museum at 215 E. Main Street!Source: by Natalie Gacek, Neighbor News

Wheaton

A glimpse into Wheaton’s history begins with its founders: Erastus Gary, Jesse Wheaton, and Warren Wheaton. The trio traveled west from New England and claimed hundreds of acres of land in northeastern Illinois in 1837 and 1838. There, they began to lay important cornerstones for what would become the City of Wheaton.In a strategic move, they offered the budding railroad several miles of free right-of-way through the growing area. Rail workers posted a sign, “Wheaton Depot,” giving the community its name. The founders gave away land surrounding the station to those who were willing to build immediately.The region began to prosper, and Wheaton incorporated as a village in 1859 with Warren Wheaton serving as its first president. He donated a parcel of land to the Illinois Institute, which was renamed Wheaton College in his honor. The historic campus of this nationally accredited college remains an important community fixture nearly 150 years later.In 1867, the Wheaton brothers led a successful campaign to move the DuPage County government seat from Naperville to Wheaton. A referendum vote approved the move by a narrow margin of 1,686 to 1,635. In present-day Wheaton, the complex on the west side of town acts as the central hub for DuPage County government.Many landmarks from Wheaton’s past still exist today as reminders of its distinctive history and culture. Wheaton’s roots can be seen in the presence of the railroad, former county courthouse and Wheaton College, which remain integral parts of the community.source: Wheaton Illinois Website

Winfield

The name given to the station on tickets from Chicago was initially “Warren,” after neighboring landowner Colonel Julius Warren. The name of Winfield came into early use, however. The post office was established on July 12, 1852, with Hedges its first postmaster. In 1854 Winfield was the name which appeared on the railroad’s maps.Today the station building used by Hedges is referred to locally as the “Besch House” because the Besch family was the last resident prior to the sale of the house to the Village of Winfield in 1977. The Winfield Historical Society is restoring the structure under the name of Hedges Station, in honor of its first stationmaster.