ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS

'Arlington Heights' (Action Heights) is an affluent village in Cook County, Illinois and a northwestern suburb of Chicago. It is located about 25 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. A 2003 Census recount gave the village a population of 76,422, the largest for a village in the United States (although Schaumburg, Illinois was not far behind in second place).
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.

Contents

Geography

Business

Sports

Media and the arts

Demographics

Local media

Arlington Heights media with websites

Education

Interesting Facts

News & current issues

External links

Geography

Arlington Heights is located at (42.094976, -87.980873).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 42.6 km² (16.4 mi²). 42.5 km² (16.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.18%) is water.

Business

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, with restaurants experiencing the greatest overall success. 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.
=Notable people from Arlington Heights=

Sports

★ Brian McBride, professional soccer (football) player for the US Men's National Team and Fulham F.C. in the English Premier League (attended Buffalo Grove High School)

★ Tom Zbikowski (football and boxing), Notre Dame strong safety, punt and kick returner, professional boxer, from Buffalo Grove High School

★ Walter Payton, running back for the Chicago Bears lived in Arlington Heights during his early years with the team

★ Walter's son, Jarrett Payton, U of Miami running back 2001-2004, Tennessee Titans RB, 2005

★ Ray Meyer, long-time head coach of DePaul University's men's basketball program, lived in Arlington Heights

★ Mike Myers (baseball), New York Yankees pitcher

★ Brett Basanez (football), Northwestern University quarterback, 2002-2005, Carolina Panthers QB, 2006 Saint Viator High school

★ Tom Preissing (hockey), Ottawa Senators defensemen

★ Jonathan Spector, professional soccer (football) player for the US Men's National Team and West Ham United F.C. in the English Premier Leaugue (attended Saint Viator High School)

★ Chris Nowinski, WWE wrestler

★ Dave Corzine, NBA player

Media and the arts

★ Davis Daniel, country music artist;

★ Ted Nugent, musician; attended St. Viator High School;^[1]

★ Tim McIlrath, lead singer of the band Rise Against;

★ Jennifer Morrison, actress on ''House''; attended Prospect High School''.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 76,031 people, 30,763 households, and 20,518 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,788.9/km² (4,633.3/mi²). There were 31,725 housing units at an average density of 746.4/km² (1,933.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 90.56% White, 0.96% African American, 0.08% Native American, 5.98% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.19% from other races, and 1.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.46% of the population.
There were 30,763 households out of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.4% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the village the population was spread out with 23.1% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $67,807, and the median income for a family was $84,488. Males had a median income of $59,162 versus $39,555 for females. The per capita income for the village was $33,544. About 1.6% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.0% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over.

Local media

Arlington Heights media with websites

Backfence.com Arlington Heights, local citizen media website with neighborhood news.
arlingtonheights.net Arlington Heights community website
''Journal & Topics'', covering Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, and Wheeling. Arlington Heights Post, the local website of the weekly Sun-Times Newspaper Group publication. The Daily Herald, the major locally owned and operated newspaper for Arlington Heights and many other Chicago suburbs.

★ backfence.com Arlington Heights

★ ''Arlington Heights Post'' SunTimes News Group

★ The ''Daily Herald''

★ ''Journal-Topics'' Arlington Heights

★ arlingtonheights.org -- Arlington Heights business listing directory Arlington-News.com

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. Peter Lutheran School and Christian Liberty Academy.

Interesting Facts

The slogan of Arlington Heights is “The City of Good Neighbors”.
The village is also 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.

News & current issues

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.
A decision of the Arlington Heights Village Board to reject a rezoning request in 1971 was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, in ''Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing 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.

External links

★ Village of Arlington Heights

★ 'Community Information Directory' (maintained by the Arlington Heights Memorial Library)--community organizations, social services, government and municipal agencies, restaurants, shopping, events, demographics, etc.

★ Ask A Question About Arlington Heights (via the Arlington Heights Memorial Library)

★ Arlington Heights Memorial Library

★ Arlington Heights Historical Documents--From DigitalPast

★ Arlington Heights Historical Museum

★ Arlington Heights Park District

★ Arlington Heights Economic Description

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