Lombard, Illinois
Encyclopedia
Lombard, "The Lilac Village", is a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in DuPage County
DuPage County, Illinois
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 916,924, White Americans made up 77.9% of Dupage County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 70.5% of the population. Black Americans made up 4.6% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.3% of Dupage County's population...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. The population was 42,322 at the 2000 census. The United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 estimated the population in 2004 to be 42,975.

History

Originally part of Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...

 Indian lands, the Lombard area was first settled by Americans of European descent in the 1830s. Lombard shares its early history with Glen Ellyn
Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Glen Ellyn is an affluent village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the village population was 26,999.-Geography:...

. Brothers Ralph and Morgan Babcock settled in a grove of trees along the DuPage River
DuPage River
The DuPage River is a tributary of the Des Plaines River in the U.S. state of Illinois.-Course:The river begins as two individual streams. The West Branch of the DuPage River, long, starts in Schaumburg at Campanelli Park in Cook County and continues southward through the entire county of DuPage,...

. In what was known as Babcock's Grove, Lombard developed to the east and Glen Ellyn to west. In 1837, Babcock's Grove was connected to Chicago by a stagecoach line which stopped at Stacy's Tavern at Geneva and St. Charles Roads. Fertile land, the DuPage River
DuPage River
The DuPage River is a tributary of the Des Plaines River in the U.S. state of Illinois.-Course:The river begins as two individual streams. The West Branch of the DuPage River, long, starts in Schaumburg at Campanelli Park in Cook County and continues southward through the entire county of DuPage,...

, and plentiful timber drew farmers to the area.

Sheldon and Harriet Peck moved from Onondaga, New York
Onondaga, New York
Onondaga is a town located in Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 21,063. The town is named after the native Onondaga tribe, part of the Iroquois Confederacy....

, to this area in 1837 to farm 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) of land. In addition, Peck was an artist and primitive portrait painter who traveled to clients across northeastern Illinois. The Peck house also served as the area's first school and has been restored by the Lombard Historical Society.
The Peck House is also reported to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad. http://www.lombardhistory.org/peck.htm

The 1848 arrival of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad
Galena and Chicago Union Railroad
The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was a railroad running west from Chicago to Clinton, Iowa and Freeport, Illinois, never reaching Galena, Illinois...

 provided local farmers and merchants rail access to Chicago, and commercial buildings soon sprang up around the train station. Lombard was officially incorporated in 1869, named after Chicago banker and real estate developer Josiah Lombard.

On April 6, 1891, Ellen Martin led a group of women to the voting place at the general store. She demanded that the three male election judges allow the women to vote. The judges were so surprised that one of them had a "spasm," one leaned against the wall for support, and the other fell backwards into a barrel of flour!
They did not want to let the women vote, so a county judge was asked to decide. He agreed that the women were right. Ellen Martin then became the first woman in Illinois to vote. In 1916 Illinois women could vote in national elections, but the 19th Amendment (the Women's Suffrage Amendment) was not passed until 1920. http://www.lombardhistory.org/lombard_history.htm

Little Orphan Annie House

Dr. William LeRoy built a home in the Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

 style on Lombard's Main Street in 1881. Dr. LeRoy specialized in making artificial limbs for civil war veterans and lived in this house until 1900. The house would eventually become the home of Harold Gray's parents and the studio of Harold Gray, the originator of Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...

 cartoon strip. Harold Gray used the home's study to work on the Annie cartoons, and some features of the house are drawn into some of his cartoons, such as the grand staircase and the outer deck. Later, he remarried and moved to the east coast. Harold Gray was a charter member of Lombard Masonic Lodge #1098, A.F. & A.M. in 1923.

The Lilac Village

In 1927 the estate of Colonel William Plum, a local resident, was bequeathed to the village. The Plum property included his home, which became the village library, and a large garden containing 200 varieties of lilac bushes. The garden became a public park (Lilacia Park
Lilacia Park
Lilacia Park, an garden, is located at 150 South Park Avenue, Lombard, Illinois. It specializes in lilacs and tulips. It is open to the public daily....

).

Lilac Festival

Since 1930, Lombard has hosted an annual Lilac Festival and parade in May. "Lilac Time in Lombard," is a 16-day festival ending in mid-May. It starts with the Lilac Queen coronation and her court. The grand finale is Lombard's Lilac Festival Parade.

Lilac Time events

  • Tours of Lilacia Park
  • Concerts in the Park
  • Lilac Queen Coronation
  • Lilac Ball
  • Lilac Pancake Breakfast
  • Lilac 5K
  • Arts & Crafts Fair
  • Kids' Day
  • Lilac Parade
  • Lilac Sale
  • Wine & Beer Tasting

Public schools

Lombard's high schools (9-12) belong to Glenbard Township High School District 87
Glenbard Township High School District 87
Glenbard Township High School District 87 is based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and consists of Glenbard South, Glenbard North, Glenbard East, and Glenbard West. It is the third largest school district in Illinois...

. They are shared with the neighboring town of Glen Ellyn, thus the creation of the portmanteau word "Glenbard". Lombard's elementary and middle schools (K-8) belong to Lombard School District 44 or DuPage School District 45.
  • High Schools
    • Glenbard East High School
      Glenbard East High School
      Glenbard East High School, or GEHS, is a public four-year high school located in Lombard, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Glenbard Township High School District 87.-History:...

    • Glenbard South High School
      Glenbard South High School
      Glenbard South High School, or GSHS or GBS is a public four-year high school located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. It is part of Glenbard Township High School District 87, and is the smallest of the four Glenbard Township High Schools.-History:...

       (located in Glen Ellyn
      Glen Ellyn, Illinois
      Glen Ellyn is an affluent village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the village population was 26,999.-Geography:...

      )
      • Serves the far southwest part of Lombard.
    • Glenbard West High School
      Glenbard West High School
      Glenbard West High School, or GWHS , and locally referred to as "West," is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Ellyn Avenue and Crescent Boulevard in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Glenbard Township High School...

       (located in Glen Ellyn
      Glen Ellyn, Illinois
      Glen Ellyn is an affluent village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the village population was 26,999.-Geography:...

      )
      • Serves the far northwest part of Lombard.
    • Willowbrook High School
      Willowbrook High School
      Willowbrook High School is a public four-year high school located approximately half a mile North of Illinois Route 38 on Ardmore Ave in Villa Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. It is part of School District 88, which also includes Addison Trail High School...

       (located in Villa Park
      Villa Park, Illinois
      Villa Park is a suburb of Chicago in DuPage County, Illinois. The population was 22,075 at the 2000 census. A special census in 2003 set the population at 22,517...

      )
      • Serves the southeast and far northeast part of Lombard.
    • Addison Trail High School
      Addison Trail High School
      Addison Trail High School, or ATHS, is a public four-year high school in DuPage County, located approximately half a mile east of Interstate 355 at the intersection of Army Trail Road and Lombard Road in Addison, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of...

       (located in Addison
      Addison, Illinois
      Addison is a village located west of the Chicago Metropolitan Area, in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 35,914 at the 2000 census. The estimated population was 36,378 as of 2002.The Village of Addison lies on Salt Creek...

      )
      • Serves parts of unincorporated Lombard.

  • Middle Schools
    • Glen Crest Junior High (located in Glen Ellyn)
    • Glenn Westlake Middle School
    • Jefferson Middle School (located in Villa Park)
    • Jackson Middle School (located in Villa Park)

  • Elementary Schools
    • Butterfield School
    • William Hammerschmidt School
    • Manor Hill School
    • Park View School School
    • Pleasant Lane School
    • Madison Elementary School
    • Schafer School
    • Westmore School
    • Westfield School

  • Historical Lombard Schools
  1. The Peck house 1860s
  2. Lombard Public School 1927–1947
  3. Lincoln School 1927–1981
  4. Hammerschmidt School 1929 (still used as an elementary school)
  5. Green Valley School 1928–1992
  6. Pleasant Lane School 1950 (still used as an elementary school)
  7. Lombard Junior High School 1952–1992 (renamed Madison Elementary School and still used as such)
  8. Park View School 1957 (still used as an elementary school)
  9. Fairwood School 1957–1977
  10. Peter Hoy School 1959–1992
  11. Highland Hill School 1959 (still used as an elementary school)
  12. Butterfield School 1961 (still used as an elementary school)
  13. Glenn Westlake Junior High School 1966–1981; reopened in 1992 (still used as a middle school)
  14. Glen Park School 1967–1978
  15. Highland Hills School 1971–1977 (original Highland Hills School renamed Manor Hill School)

Private schools

  • St. Pius X School
  • Chicagoland Academy
  • Christ the King School
  • College Preparatory School of America
  • Montini Catholic High School
    Montini Catholic High School (Lombard, Illinois)
    Montini Catholic High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, high school, run by the Christian Brothers in Lombard, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Illinois. The school was planned by the Christian Brothers in 1963...

  • St. John's Lutheran School
  • http://www.shslombard.org Sacred Heart School
  • St. Timothy Ev. Lutheran School
  • Trinity Lutheran School
  • Islamic Foundation School

Village Government

  • Village President: William J. Mueller
  • Village Clerk: Brigitte O'Brien
  • Trustee, District 1: Greg Gron
  • Trustee, District 2: Keith Giagnorio
  • Trustee, District 3: Zachary Wilson
  • Trustee, District 4: Dana Moreau
  • Trustee, District 5: Laura Fitzpatrick
  • Trustee, District 6: William Ware


2011 Village Board elections take place April 5. Trustee seats in Districts 2, 4 and 5 are all up for re-election. Candidates for District 4 include Jeff Shuert, Peter Breen and David Brown. Candidates for District 5 include Laura Fitzpatrick and James Hogan. Keith Giagnorio in District 2 is running unopposed.

Geography

Lombard is located at 41°52′34"N 88°0′54"W (41.875979, -88.015060).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the village has a total area of 9.7 square miles (25.1 km²), of which, 9.7 square miles (25.1 km²) of it is land and 0.10% is water.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 42,322 people, 16,487 households, and 10,716 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 4,369.8 people per square mile (1,686.3/km²). There were 17,019 housing units at an average density of 1,757.2 per square mile (678.1/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 81.02% White, 8.70% African American, 0.15% Native American, 7.05% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.43% from other races, and 1.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.75% of the population.

There were 16,487 households out of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.0% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the village the population was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $60,015, and the median income for a family was $69,686 (these figures had risen to $69,752 and $86,603 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $50,044 versus $35,391 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the village was $27,667. About 2.0% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6% of those under age 18 and 4.0% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Lombard is served by Metra
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail division of the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority. The system serves Chicago and its metropolitan area through 240 stations on 11 different rail lines. Throughout the 21st century, Metra has been the second busiest commuter rail system in the United States by...

's Union Pacific/West Line
Union Pacific/West Line
The Union Pacific/West is a commuter rail line provided by Metra and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago, Illinois, and its surrounding suburbs...

, which runs from the Olgivie Transportation Center out to Elburn, Illinois
Elburn, Illinois
Elburn is a village in Kane County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,751 as of 2006. It is located at the intersection of Illinois Route 38 and Route 47...

 over the old Chicago and Northwestern Railway trackage. Lombard is also served by I-355
Interstate 355
Interstate 355 , also known as the Veterans Memorial Tollway, is an Interstate Highway and tollway in the western and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Like most other toll roads in the northeastern portion of the state, I-355 is maintained by a State Highway Authority...

 and Illinois Routes 38
Illinois Route 38
Illinois Route 38 is an east–west state road that runs across northern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 52 in downtown Dixon to U.S. Highways 12, 20, and 45 in Westchester. This is a distance of . As Roosevelt Road it continues through Forest Park and into Cicero and Chicago before...

, 53
Illinois Route 53
Illinois Route 53 is an arterial north–south state highway in northeast Illinois. Route 53 runs south from Long Grove at Illinois Route 83 to Gardner at Interstate 55 west of old U.S. Highway 66, a distance of...

, 56
Illinois Route 56
Illinois Route 56 is an east–west state road in northern and northeastern Illinois. It runs from the interchange of Illinois Route 47 at U.S. Route 30 in Sugar Grove east to US 12/US 20/US 45 by Bellwood...

, and 64
Illinois Route 64
Illinois Route 64 is an east–west road in north-central Illinois. Its western terminus is at the Iowa state line, connecting with U.S. Route 52 and Iowa Highway 64 via the Savanna-Sabula Bridge at the Mississippi River west of Savanna...

.

Formerly, it was also served by trains of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad
Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad
The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad , known colloquially as the "Roarin' Elgin" or the "Great Third Rail", was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service on its line between Chicago, Illinois and Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, and Elgin. The railroad also operated...

.

Notable residents

  • Winifred Bonfils
    Winifred Bonfils
    Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils was an American reporter and columnist for William Randolph Hearst's news syndicate writing as Winifred Black, and for the San Francisco Examiner as Annie Laurie...

     – Newspaper journalist
    Journalist
    A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

  • Bobby Breen
    Bobby Breen
    Bobby Breen is a Canadian-born actor and singer of the 1930s. He made his professional debut at age four in a night club in Toronto and was an immediate sensation. He made his radio debut soon after. He played in vaudeville and his sister paid for his musical education. Breen went to Hollywood in...

     – child actor
    Child actor
    The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...

  • Tony Fitzpatrick – Contemporary Artist
  • James Marcello
    James Marcello
    James J. “Little Jimmy, Jimmy Light” Marcello , also known as Jimmy "the Man" Marcello, is an imprisoned crime boss who was a front boss for the Chicago Outfit criminal organization in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s...

     – Reputed Mafia
    Mafia
    The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

     leader
  • Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
    Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
    Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is an American actress and singer known for her role as Carmen in The Color of Money, as well as for her roles as Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss, Gina Montana in Scarface, and Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.-Personal life:Mastrantonio was born in Lombard,...

     – Actor
    Actor
    An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

  • Daniel M. Tani
    Daniel M. Tani
    Daniel Tani is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. Although born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, he considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown...

     – Astronaut
    Astronaut
    An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

  • Charles Tilly
    Charles Tilly
    Charles Tilly was an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian who wrote on the relationship between politics and society. He was the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University....

     – scholar
  • Elaine Quijano
    Elaine Quijano
    Elaine Quijano is an American journalist. She is of Filipina ethnicity. She is a reporter for the American television network, CBS.-Early life:She has a B.S. degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign...

     – journalist for CBS News
  • Hometown of the band Plain White T's
    Plain White T's
    Plain White T's is an American Pop rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1997 by high school friends Tom Higgenson and Ken Fletcher, the group had a mostly underground following in Chicago basements, clubs, and bars in its early years, and underwent numerous personnel changes.The band is best...


External links

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