Communities

Here is a partial list of communities that I do inspections in. These are not all of the communities that I inspect in.
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Cook County

Cook County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 5,376,741, making it the second largest county by population in the United States (after Los Angeles County, California). The county seat is Chicago, the principal city of its metropolitan area, Chicagoland; Chicago makes up about 54% of the population of the county, the rest being provided by various suburbs, and Cook county itself makes up 43.3% of the state population as of 2000. Cook County is the 19th largest government in the United States. Cook County has by far more Democratic Party members than any other Illinois county and is one of the most Democratic counties in the United States. It has only voted once for a Republican candidate in a Presidential Election in the last forty years, in 1972, when Cook county voters preferred Nixon to McGovern by 53.4% to 46%.

Cook County Website | Location of Cook County in Illinois

Arlington Heights

Arlington Heights is an affluent village in Cook County, Illinois and a northwestern suburb of Chicago. As of the 2000 census, the village has a total population of 76,031. A 2003 recount gave the village a population of 76,422, the largest for a village in Illinois.

Arlington Heights is known for Arlington Park Race Track, home of the Arlington Million, a Breeders' Cup qualifying event; also hosted the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2002. It is also home to the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, which has one of the largest collections in the state, as well as the Metropolis Performing Arts Theatre and John Hersey High School.

A decision of the Arlington Heights Village Board to reject a rezoning request in 1971 was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, in Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252 (1977). A religious order, the Clerics of St. Viator, had sought to rezone their land that was classified for single-family housing so that low and moderate income multi-family developments could be built. After the request was denied, the developer and three black individuals filed suit in federal court, claiming that the decision was racially motivated in violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court rejected the challenge, because although racial minorities were disproportionately harmed by the decision, the record did not show any discriminatory intent on the part of the village.

Arlington Heights has experienced a recent boom in development of condominiums, restaurants and other businesses in the Central Business District or downtown area of Arlington Heights. Arlington Heights restaurants in downtown Arlington Heights have experienced the greatest success as a category of new businesses in the CBD, such as the Village Grill of Arlington. Although land and space is now limited in Arlington Heights; business development, community development and community design are key concerns of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce with over 800 individual members and about 500 business members. The Village of Arlington Heights is also instrumental in business development, residential development and community development.

New construction of residential and commercial developments are hot topics in the local news. In the residential category, issues of noise, neighborhood style and character, drainage, and crowding of lots are issues that face residents, developers and village planners. Many houses are torn down or almost completely torn down to make way for new construction. In the commercial category, issues of noise, traffic, parking, retail and residential mix and financing are major issues. In February 2006, Arlington Heights Public School District 25 voted against extension of a tax increment financing (TIF) district, believing that the school district would not recoup funds lost from frozen property taxes. The failure of the TIF district to extend its deadline at the end of 2006, means a possible slowdown in commercial development in of the area within boundaries of the railroad tracks along Northwest Highway, Arlington Heights Road, Sigwalt Street and Chestnut Avenue in downtown Arlington Heights. A TIF district formed around the International Plaza mall on the northeast corner of Arlington Heights Road and Golf Road is the subject of protests and a lawsuit.

Arlington Heights is notable for being the location of the first Theology on Tap lecture, which was given in 1981. The program has since expanded to more than 180 other United States locales and at least five countries.


Education


Public elementary schools and middle schools in Arlington Heights are operated by Arlington Heights School District 25. Public high schools are operated by Township High School District 214. During peak enrollment from the 1960's to the 1980's, there were three public high schools in Arlington Heights: Arlington High School, Forest View High School and John Hersey High School. Arlington High School was the original high school founded in 1922, but was closed in 1984. Forest View High School was closed in 1986 but serves administrative purposes for the district. Today high school students attend Buffalo Grove High School, John Hersey High School, Prospect High School, Wheeling High School, and Rolling Meadows High School. There are also several private schools in Arlington Heights, such as St. Viator High School, St. James School, Our Lady of Wayside, St. Peters School and Christian Liberty Academy.

Chicago

Chicago is a major city in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is the largest in the Midwest and the third-most populous city in the United States, with approximately 2.9 million people. The Chicago Metropolitan area, informally known as Chicagoland, has a population of 9.4 million in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana making it the third largest in the United States. Chicago is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is a major center of transportation, industry, politics, culture, finance, medicine and higher education. Chicago is informally called the "Second City," the "Windy City," the "City of Big Shoulders" (from Carl Sandburg's poem Chicago), and "Chi-town."

Today, Chicago is the financial, business, and cultural capital of the midwest, and is recognized worldwide as an Alpha Global City. Chicago was founded 1833 as a town to link the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River system. It soon became a transportation hub of the Old Northwest, with major connections by steamboats, canals and (by 1855), railroads. By 1890, it was one of the ten most influential world cities.


Education


Public Education
The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the school district that controls over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago. The school district, with more 400,000 students enrolled,[42] is led by CEO Arne Duncan. The CPS also includes several selective-admission magnet schools, such as Whitney Young Magnet High School, Jones College Prep High School, Walter Payton College Prep, Lane Tech College Prep, and Northside College Preparatory High School.

Like many urban U.S. school districts, CPS suffered many problems throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including overcrowding, underfunding, mismanagement and a high dropout rate. In 1987, then U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett named the Chicago Public Schools as the "worst in the nation."[43] Several school reform initiatives have since been undertaken to improve the system's performance. Reforms have included a system of Local School Councils, Charter Schools, and efforts to end social promotion. The most notable and public of these reforms has been a concerted effort at aggressively closing down underperforming schools while at the same time renovating and improving successful ones or building new ones.


Higher Education
Since the 1890s Chicago has been a world center in higher education and research. Two of America's top research universities are the University of Chicago in Hyde Park on the south side and Northwestern University in the northern suburb of Evanston. Catholic universities are located in Chicago, such as DePaul University (the largest Catholic university in the U.S.), St. Xavier University, and Loyola University, which also maintains a campus on Michigan Avenue.

The University of Illinois at Chicago is the city's largest university and features the nation's largest medical school. The Illinois Institute of Technology in Bronzeville has renowned engineering and architecture programs, and was host to world-famous modern architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for many years. Dominican University, outside Chicago in River Forest, teaches many library courses at the Chicago Public Library's Harold Washington Building. North Park University, a small Christian liberal arts university affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church, is located on the northwest side in the North Park neighborhood. The Chicago region has 12 accredited theological schools representing Catholic and most Protestant denominations. The United Church of Christ-related Chicago Theological Seminary is the city's oldest institution of higher education. These accredited seminaries are joined in a consortium known as the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS).[44] The Moody Bible Institute is near downtown. Chicago State University and Northeastern Illinois University are other state universities in Chicago. The city also has a large community college system known as the City Colleges of Chicago. Additionally, there are several smaller colleges noted for their fine arts education programs - Roosevelt University, Columbia College Chicago, The American Academy of Art, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture is a non-profit, independent experiential educational program for college students in the United States, and is located in Chicago's Southside Hyde Park neighborhood.


Transportation


Chicago is the premier transportation hub in the United States. It is an important component in global distribution, as it is the third largest inter-modal port in the world after Hong Kong and Singapore. Additionally, it is the only city in North America in which all six Class I railroads meet.

Chicago is one of the largest hubs of passenger rail service in the nation. Many Amtrak long distance services originate from Chicago Union Station. Such services provide connections to New York, Seattle, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Amtrak also provides a number of short-haul services throughout Illinois and toward nearby Milwaukee.

Seven interstate highways run through Chicago. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, and traffic reports tend to use the names rather than interstate numbers. The Kennedy Expressway is I-90 from the Loop to O'Hare International Airport. The Dan Ryan Expressway is I-90/94 from south of the "Circle Interchange" to the I-57 Split, and from the I-57 Split south is the Bishop Ford Freeway. The rest of I-94 is called the Edens Expressway. I-90 becomes the Chicago Skyway when it breaks off from the Dan Ryan Expressway. Other named highway segments are the Stevenson Expressway (I-55), Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) and East-West Tollway (Reagan Memorial) (I-88).

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) handles public transportation in Chicago and a few adjacent suburbs. The CTA operates an extensive network of buses and a rapid transit system known locally as the 'L' (for "elevated"), which among other things provides rail service from downtown to Midway and O'Hare airports. Pace provides bus and paratransit service in over 200 surrounding suburbs with some extensions into the city. Bicycles are permitted on all CTA trains during non-rush hours and on all buses 24 hours.

Metra operates commuter rail service in Chicago and its suburbs. The Metra Electric Line shares the railway with the South Shore Line's NICTD Northwest Indiana Commuter Rail Service, which accesses Gary/Chicago Airport. The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) coordinates the operation of the three service boards: CTA, Metra, and Pace.

Chicago is unique among large American cities for offering a wide array of bicycle transportation facilities, such as miles of on-street bike lanes, 10,000 bike racks and a state-of-the-art central bicyle commuter station in Millennium Park. The city has a 150-mile on-street bicycle lane network that is maintained by the Chicago Department of Transportation Bike Program and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.

Chicago is served by Midway Airport on the south side and O'Hare International Airport, one of the world's busiest airports, on the far northwest. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second busiest by total passenger traffic (due to government enforced flight caps). Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago. Gary/Chicago International Airport, located in nearby Gary, Indiana, serves as the third Chicagoland airport, although SkyValue offers the only scheduled passenger service. The State of Illinois has debated opening a new airport near Peotone.

Schaumburg

Schaumburg is a village in Cook County and DuPage County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 75,386. As of 2005, the population slightly dropped to 73,345.

The village has the headquarters of Motorola. One of only two IKEA stores in Illinois is in Schaumburg. It contains the Woodfield Mall, which is the fifth largest mall in America in terms of shopping area. The village is also the home of the Schaumburg Flyers, a Northern League baseball team whose ballpark, Alexian Field, is located near the Elgin O'Hare Expressway. Schaumburg's transition from a rural community to that of a suburban metropolis began with Alfred Campanelli's first large scale suburban-style development in 1959 and Woodfield Mall's opening on September 9, 1971.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 49.5 km2 (19.1 mi2). 49.2 km2 (19.0 mi2) of it is land and 0.3 km2 (0.1 mi2) of it (0.63%) is water.


Education


Public elementary schools and junior high schools in Schaumburg are operated by Community Consolidated School District 54. The schools are funded through the income from the sales tax from the many businesses in Schaumburg. Schaumburg itself does not impose a property tax on its residents, although Cook County does.

Schaumburg falls within Township High School District 211. There are three High Schools where Schaumburg students are sent: Schaumburg High School, Hoffman Estates High School and James B. Conant High School (both in Hoffman Estates).

DuPage County

DuPage County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. Its county seat is Wheaton. According to the 2000 census, the population is 904,161, making it the second most populous county in Illinois after Cook County. As of 2005, the estimated population is around 930,000. This county is part of Chicagoland. The county is divided into nine different townships: Downers Grove, Lisle, Naperville, York, Milton, Winfield, Addison, Bloomingdale & Wayne. DuPage is in the 630 area code with exception to the areas in the city of Chicago which are area code 773. The municipality that has the largest population enclosed within DuPage County is Naperville. Wheaton and Downers Grove are the next largest communities, respectively. A small portion of the City of Chicago is located within county limits but the area is primarily commercial and as of recent census estimates has only 230 residents.

DuPage County Website | Location of DuPage County in Illinois

Carol Stream

Carol Stream is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Incorporated on January 5, 1959, Carol Stream population was 40,438 as of the 2000 census.


Education


Part of the village is served by a Unit School District, the Elgin Area School District U46. It serves an area of some 90 square miles in Cook, DuPage and Kane Counties. Almost 40,000 children of school age are in its area. U-46 is second largest in Illinois.

It is also served by another Consolidated School District 93, a K-8 district, as well as the Glenbard Township High School District 87 (the third largest school district in Illinois), which includes Glenbard North, located in Carol Stream.


Transportation


Carol Stream has, by and large, six major roads running through the village. The most important of these is North Avenue, which runs relatively close to the center of Carol Stream and serves the majority of its industrial areas. Army Trail Road and Geneva Road are the other major east-west roads.

Gary Avenue is a major north-south road to the commercial center of Bloomingdale and the Stratford Square Mall. County Farm Road also serves as a major commercial route for residents. Schmale Road serves a small commercial area on the southeastern side of Carol Stream.

A feeder line from the nearby Illinois Central railroad serves the main industrial complex for Carol Stream.

Naperville

Naperville is a city in DuPage County, Illinois and Will County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,358; The United States Census Bureau estimated the population in 2004 at 140,106.[1] It is the fourth largest city in the state, behind Chicago, neighboring Aurora, and Rockford. Approximately 95,000 Napervillians live in DuPage County, while about 40,000 reside in Will County.


Education


Higher Education
North Central College is located on a 59-acre campus in Downtown Naperville on Chicago Avenue. It was founded by a predecessor church to the United Methodist Church in 1861 and has been located in Naperville since 1870. The college remains affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Northern Illinois University maintains a satellite campus on Diehl Road offering several degrees at its 113,000-square-foot facility. Robert Morris College maintains a satellite campus in Naperville. DePaul University maintains a satellite campus on Warrenville Road. It has been in Naperville since 1997. The College of DuPage Naperville Center is located on Rickert Drive.

Naperville Public Schools
Two K-12 public school districts serve the city of Naperville (along with a number of private, parochial schools, including private schools in neighboring Aurora and Lisle). Within the state of Illinois, school districts are numbered by their county.

District 203 is the Naperville Community Unit School District, serving central Naperville. The current District 203 school buildings were constructed between 1928 (Ellsworth) and 1990 (Kingsley).



Indian Prairie School District 204 also serves western and southwestern Naperville, along with eastern Aurora and parts of Bolingbrook, Illinois.


Transportation



Roads
As a typical American suburb, the main mode of transportation is via automobile. The Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway runs near the north edge of Naperville, and Interstate 55 runs south of the city, through Bolingbrook and Romeoville. Limited bus service to and from the main Naperville train station, as well as destinations such as Aurora's Fox Valley Mall, are also available through the Pace system. A brief explanation of street names: From 75th Street south (including 83rd Street, 87th Street, etc.) Naperville east-west streets and their names roughly follow the same grid layout as the City of Chicago. In other words, if 75th street continued east past its terminus at Illinois Route 83, in Willowbrook, it would eventually be the same 75th Street as found in Chicago city limits. However, the older part of Naperville has a second numerical grid, starting downtown at Main and Benton, with 4th and 5th Avenues just north of the BNSF tracks, and continuing through 15th Avenue. The difference is that the numbers in the older system go up from downtown, traveling south to north, and the other grid's numbers go up as you travel north to south. See the Chicago Streets & Highways article for more information. There is also a geographical based naming system, with West Street and North Street defining the older boundaries of the city. Along with these are streets named after the city they lead to, i.e, Naper/Plainfield Road heads towards Plainfield, while Aurora Avenue leads to Aurora and Chicago Avenue to Chicago (it becomes Maple Ave. in neighboring Lisle before becoming 55th Street). Oswego Road, while having once led to Oswego via U.S. Route 34, no longer connects to that highway, and thus no longer leads directly to Oswego, Illinois.

Airport
There is also one private airport, the Naper Aero Club field, designation LL-10, on the western edge of town. The field is notable for being the home of the Lima Lima Flight Team.

Train Service
The first rail link to Chicago dates to 1864. Naperville currently has three tracks belonging to the BNSF Railway that run through the north end of town, with passenger rail service provided by Metra and Amtrak. Amtrak's three routes through Naperville are the Illinois Zephyr, the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief.

Wheaton

Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, is approximately 25 miles west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of Dupage County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 55,416. It is a part of Chicagoland and the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor.


Education


Higher Education
Wheaton College is located in Downtown Wheaton. Its campus features the Billy Graham Center, named for the college's most famous alumnus, which contains a museum dedicated to both the history of American evangelism and the international ministry of Billy Graham. It features conceptual exhibits intended to convey Christian ideas. Wheaton College is also home to the Marion E. Wade Center, which is a major research collection of materials by and about several of the British authors known as the Inklings: Owen Barfield, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. Overall, the Wade Center has more than 11,000 volumes including first editions, critical works, personal letters, manuscripts, audio and video tapes, artwork, dissertations, periodicals, photographs, and related materials.

Well-known graduates of Wheaton include Wes Craven, Dennis Hastert, John Wesley Powell and Todd Beamer. Wheaton's science building exhibits the remains of a mastodon, which were discovered in nearby Glen Ellyn.

The Rice Campus of the nationally recognized research institution, Illinois Institute of Technology, is located in Southern Wheaton, just east of the Danada Rice Square shopping complex. It is a part of the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. Although the main campus in the city of Chicago, a sizable student body attends the Rice facility, which specializes in computer and information technology, engineering, business, and technical education.

Public Schools
The City of Wheaton lies in highly rated Community Unit School District 200, which consists of thirteen elementary schools, four middle schools, and two high schools which continually rate among the top in the Chicagoland area. Wheaton North was named by Newsweek as one of the top 1,000 schools in the Nation in 2006.



Private Schools
Most private schools in Wheaton are located in downtown Wheaton, with the exception of Wheaton Academy, which moved to West Chicago. St. John's is located about three blocks from Wheaton College and Wheaton Christian Grammar School adjacent to Wheaton College. A significant portion of students from these primary schools move on to Wheaton Academy and Wheaton College.

St John Lutheran School serves 256 students in preschool through eighth grade. St Michael Elementary School serves 580 students in preschool through eight grade. Wheaton Christian Grammar School serves 563 students in kindergarten through eight grade. St. Francis College Prep, serves 726 students in ninth through twelfth grade. Wheaton Academy in West Chicago serves 525 students in ninth through twelfth grade.


Transportation


The Union Pacific/West Line runs through Downtown Wheaton and has been a staple of Wheaton since its founding. Metra has two stops along the line in Wheaton, one at College Avenue serving Wheaton College, and another at West Street in the heart of Downtown Wheaton. It passes under a bridge just west of Downtown, and over County Farm Road, just north of the DuPage County Government Complex.

Two Illinois State Routes run east/west through Wheaton:

Illinois Route 38, also known as Roosevelt Road, runs through the center of Wheaton. On its route are many car dealerships, restaurants, Hubble Middle School, St. Francis High School, and Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital. Downtown Wheaton is about half a mile north. Illinois Route 56, also known as Butterfield Road, runs through southern Wheaton. On its route is the Danada Shopping complex (among other shopping complexes), DuPage County Forest Preserves including the Danada House and equestrian area, Arrowhead Golf Course, subdivisions, including Stonehedge and Arrowhead, and Wheaton Warrenville South High School.

Other roads include:

Blanchard Street, a north-south road runs from just south of the Union Pacific/West Line to its intersection with Naperville Road at the north end of the Danada complex. County Farm Road, a north/south road runs from Roosevelt Road at St. Francis High School through Geneva Road, passing by the DuPage County Government Complex. Gary Avenue, a north/south road runs from downtown Wheaton at Front Street through Geneva Road. On its route are Cosley Zoo, the Lincoln Marsh, and Wheaton North High School. It serves, along with Main Street, as a primary route to Carol Stream and Bloomingdale. Geneva Road, an east/west road at the northern border of Wheaton, which includes Wheaton Bowl, Wheaton North High School, and the national headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America on its route. It serves as a route to Winfield, West Chicago and further to the west, Glen Ellyn to the east. Main Street, a north/south road that runs from southernmost Wheaton through Geneva Road where it continues as Schmale Road, which serves, along with Gary Avenue, as a primary route to Carol Stream and Bloomingdale to the north. Naperville Road, a north/south road runs from Butterfield Road in the south to just past Roosevelt Road in central Wheaton. It primarily runs through the Danada Shopping complex and the Farnham subdivision and serves as a primary route to Warrenville and Naperville to the south. President Street, a north/south road runs from its intersection with Blanchard Street north of the Danada complex through Geneva Road, passing through the Union Pacific/West Line Roosevelt Road. Its route runs near Wheaton College.

Kenosha County

Kenosha County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 149,577. Its county seat is Kenosha. This county is part of Chicagoland and an outlying part of the Milwaukee Area.

Kenosha County Website | Location of Kenosha County in Wisconsin

Kenosha

Kenosha is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. As of a 2002 census estimate, Kenosha's population is 92,808. It is estimated that Kenosha's population as of 2006 is approximately 96,845. Kenosha is the county seat of Kenosha County, the southeasternmost county in Wisconsin.

On the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, Kenosha is the fourth largest city in Wisconsin behind Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay. Kenosha is considered to be greater Chicagoland's northernmost suburb at 60 miles distance from the Chicago epicenter; Kenosha is also 35 miles south of Milwaukee.


Education


Kenosha is home to Carthage College with over 2,000 fulltime students, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with 5,000 students, mostly commuters, and Gateway Technical College. (The three colleges operate their own on-campus radio stations.) Concordia University Wisconsin, Cardinal Stritch College and Marquette University all maintain Kenosha branch campuses.

Kenosha is served by the Kenosha Unified School District. The district has twenty-six public elementary schools, six middle schools and five major high schools: Mary D. Bradford High School, George Nelson Tremper High School, Indian Trail Academy, Lakeview Tech Academy and Reuther Central High School. Eighty percent of Kenosha's fourth-graders score 'proficient' and 'advanced' on reading tests, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress tests. Kenosha also has a number of faith-based schools and independent academies, including St. Joseph's High School, Armitage Academy, Kenosha Montessori School, Shoreland Lutheran High School, the Brompton Academy, the Dimensions of Learning Academy, the Christian Life School, and the LakeView Advanced Technology Center. A number of professional schools are located in the city.

The Kenosha Public Library is part of the Kenosha County Library System, and operates four locations throughout the city. Daniel H. Burnham designed the 1900 Beaux-Arts architectured Gilbert M. Simmons Library, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Transportation


Kenosha has been served by rail service to and from Chicago since 10:30 am on Saturday, May 19, 1855, when the predecessors to the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Milwaukee and Chicago Railway Company (originally the Illinois Parallel Railroad) and the original Lake Shore Railroad (later the Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago Railway) were officially joined with great ceremony just south of today's 52nd Street. Passenger service began on May 28, 1866 and continues to the present day.

Kenosha has the only Metra station in Wisconsin, with nine inbound and nine outbound trains each weekday, although not all Metra Union Pacific North Line trains terminate and originate in Kenosha; most terminate at Waukegan, Illinois to the south. Plans are underway to extend Regional Transportation Authority passenger service northwards from the Kenosha Metra Station through Racine County and into Milwaukee via the proposed KRM Line.

Kenosha was the first city to color-code transit routes (with the Blue, Green, Red and Orange Lines) and the first city to utilize electric trolley buses in full transit service, both occurring on February 14, 1932 {Canfield, Joseph M. TM: The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company, CERA Bulletin 112. Chicago: Central Electric Railfans' Assoc., 1972.}.

Kenosha is served by the major expressway Interstate 94 between Chicago and Milwaukee, and also by Amtrak's Hiawatha Line service (via the Sturtevant station in Racine County) between Chicago and Milwaukee, which runs several times daily.

The street system in Kenosha is somewhat unusual; while numbered streets run east-west and numbered avenues run north-south as in many American cities, street numbering commences at Kenosha County's northern border (County Trunk Highway KR) rather than at the city's center. ('Roads' are diagonal thoroughfares, 'courts' are short north-south avenues, and 'places' are short east-west streets.) As such, the downtown area is in the area between 50th and 60th streets. Avenue numbers increase as one heads west from the lakefront. This numbering system continues through all of Kenosha County west ending with 408th Ave, while north-south roads end at the Illinois state line with 128th St. (Edmonton, Alberta has a similar numbering system.)

Pleasant Prairie

Pleasant Prairie is a village in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 16,136 at the 2000 census.

It is a fast-growing village on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee. As of 2004, it did not have sidewalks.

Salem

Salem is an unincorporated post office 'village' or hamlet in the town(ship) of Salem in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,871 at the 2000 census.

Lake County

Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 644,356. Its county seat is Waukegan, Illinois. According to the 2000 United States Census, Lake County is the 31st richest county by per-capita income. The county is part of Chicagoland.

Lake County Website | Location of Lake County in Illinois

Gurnee

Gurnee is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 28,834 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 30,772 in 2005.

Lake Villa

Lake Villa is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,864 at the 2000 census.

Wauconda

Wauconda is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,448 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 10,903 in 2005.

On January 28, 2005, over 3,000 people participated in a snowball fight for ten minutes, setting a new world record for most participants in such an event.

McHenry County

McHenry County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 260,077. As of 2005, the population is estimated to be 303,990. Its county seat is Woodstock, Illinois. This county is part of Chicagoland. It is the sixth largest county, in terms of population, in the state of Illinois. Long known as a center of agriculture and recreation, it has recently grappled with rapid rates of suburbanization and urbanization.

McHenry County Website | Location of McHenry County in Illinois

Crystal Lake

Crystal Lake is a city located in southeastern McHenry County in northeastern Illinois. It is named after Crystal Lake, a 230 acre (1 km2) lake 1.6 miles (2.6 km) west-southwest of downtown. The population was 38,000 at the 2000 census. Crystal Lake is the biggest city in McHenry county, and is the economic and cultural center of the far northwestern suburbs of Chicago, despite not being the county's governmental center.


Education


The city of Crystal Lake has an unusual system of educational organization, as the high schools in the city are in a different school district than the middle schools and elementary schools. High schools in the city are run by Community High School District 155, which runs four high schools, including all three in the city of Crystal Lake. District 47 runs all middle schools and elementary schools in the city of Crystal Lake. The two districts are completely independent, having different budgets and administrations, including different superintendents. This arrangement, although highly unusual in the Chicago area, is not unique.

There are three high schools which serve the city of Crystal Lake. The oldest, Crystal Lake Central High School (Central for short), graduated its first class in 1924 and was known as Crystal Lake Community High School when it opened. It is located in the downtown area of the city, and has an enrollment of approximately 1300. In response to pressures from increasing population, Crystal Lake South High School (South for short), was opened in 1978. When it was completed, the school was ridiculed for being remotely located and surrounded by corn fields. It now stands boxed in by suburban development. Prairie Ridge High School (often simply called PR) opened in the fall of 1997, again due to increasing population pressure. The school stands on a hill off to the north of the city. Students from other schools often make fun of the prep style of clothing worn by Prairie Ridge students as well as the building's resemblance to a prison, calling it the Preppy Prison, Preppy Ridge, and others although Prairie Ridge was actually designed to blend in with the hilly landscape, which lends to the unique shape and makeup of the building.

Crystal Lake is home to nine elementary schools and three middle schools. Three of the elementary schools have been constructed since 1990 due to the increasing expansion of suburban developments, and all three middle schools, while maintaining satisfactory academic performance, are severely overcrowded.

McHenry

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.


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.

Woodstock

Woodstock is a city in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 20,151 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 21,985 as of 2005. It is the county seat of McHenry County.

It is the home of the historical Woodstock Opera House.

Walworth County

Walworth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 93,759. Its county seat is Elkhorn.

Walworth County Website | Location of Walworth County in Wisconsin

Elkhorn

Elkhorn is a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,305 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Walworth County.

Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva is a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,148 at the 2000 census. A resort city located on Geneva Lake, it is southwest of Milwaukee, and popular with tourists from metropolitan Chicago and Milwaukee.

The city operates under a mayor-council form of government. The city has recently annexed a large tract that will expand it around the south shore of Geneva Lake.

The lake and town were originally named after the town of Geneva, New York, located on Seneca Lake, in which early settler John Brink saw a resemblance. Geneva, to avoid confusion with the nearby town Geneva, Illinois, was renamed Lake Geneva; later the lake was renamed Geneva Lake. In practice both forms are used for the lake, but never for the city.

Railroad access from Chicago made the area a popular summer resort, with many large summer homes such as Black Point built on the lake. The city was then known as "The Newport of the West". The city is also known today as "The Hamptons of the Midwest". In the automobile era the city's fortunes at first declined and it became a haven for Al Capone and other mobsters.

Whitewater

Whitewater is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located mostly in Walworth County and partly in Jefferson County. Whitewater is home of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.