BOURBONNAIS, ILLINOIS

'Bourbonnais' is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,256 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Federally-defined Combined Statistical Area of the Chicago metropolitan area.

Contents

Geography

History

Pronunciation

Demographics

Education

Shopping

See also

References

External links

Geography

Bourbonnais is located at (41.165040, -87.878486).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 12.0 km² (4.6 mi²).

History

The village is named after Francois Bourbonnais, Sr., a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the American Fur Company, who arrived in the area in 1830. It was known as Bourbonnais Grove until 1876, when it became the Village of Bourbonnais^[1].
The town was the site of a major train wreck in 1999, the Bourbonnais train accident.

Pronunciation

The original French pronunciation of ''Bourbonnais'' came to be Anglicized over time to ''burr-BO-nus'' (approximately [bɝ 'bo nɪs] in IPA). In 1974 a state representative from Bourbonnais introduced a resolution "correcting" the pronunciation of the town's name to be closer to the original French, ''burr-buh-NAY'' (approximately [bɝ bə 'neɪ] in IPA).^[2]

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,256 people, 5,341 households, and 3,818 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,275.0/km² (3,302.1/mi²). There were 5,505 housing units at an average density of 460.1/km² (1,191.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 90.21% White, 4.59% African American, 0.10% Native American, 2.39% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.69% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.26% of the population.
There were 5,341 households out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.1% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.5% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the village the population was spread out with 25.5% under the age of 18, 15.5% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $49,329, and the median income for a family was $57,086. Males had a median income of $42,216 versus $26,796 for females. The per capita income for the village was $22,476. About 5.2% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Bourbonnais shares a high school with Bradley, IL, called Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School. The village is also home to Olivet Nazarene University, the host of the annual summer training camp of the Chicago Bears.

Shopping

There has been some recent shopping changes and announcements in Bourbonnais, including a new Jewel-Osco, a new Kroger which will be opening soon and a proposed Office Depot.^[3]
Bourbonnais Crossing, a $140 million, 124-acre mixed-use development will offer retail, restaurants, residential and hotel space was announced on May 21st, 2007 and is scheduled to be open mid-2008.^[4]

See also

★ Bourbonnais train accident

★ Olivet Nazarene University

References

1. http://viatorians.com/2006/who/chi_his.htm
2. [1]
3. http://www.edgemarkllc.com/flyers2007/Bourbannais%20Towne%20Center.pdf
4. http://www.bourbonnaiscrossing.com/about.html

External links

★ Village website