DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS

'Des Plaines' (pronounced IPA ) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It has adopted the official nickname of "City of Destiny." As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,720. It is a suburb of Chicago, and is adjacent to O'Hare International Airport. The Des Plaines River runs through the city, just east of its downtown area. Des Plaines is a very economically diverse city, with home values ranging from $30,000 to more than $1,000,000.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

Education

Landmarks / History

Mayors

Pop Culture

External links

Geography

Des Plaines is located at (42.033848, -87.899786).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 37.6 km² (14.5 mi²). Of this, 37.3 km² (14.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.76%) is water. Des Plaines is traversed by two interstate highways - I-90 Northwest Tollway and I-294 Tri-State Tollway.
Des Plaines is named for the Des Plaines River, which flows through it. The name is French, "of the plains".
Portions of Des Plaines are underlain by the "Des Plaines Disturbance", an area in which the layers of sedimentary rock are highly abnormal. This probably represents an ancient meteor crater. The bedrock was highly fractured by the impact, with large blocks of sediment upended. The crater was eventually filled by glacial activity, so that no trace now remains on the surface.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 58,720 people, 22,362 households, and 15,071 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,572.3/km² (4,071.2/mi²). There were 22,851 housing units at an average density of 611.8/km² (1,584.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.44% White, 1.01% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 7.65% Asian / Asian American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 4.64% from other races, and 1.97% from two or more races. 14.01% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Biggest ancestries: German (21.5%), Polish (18.2%), Irish (13.8%), Italian (10.6%), English (5.2%), Swedish (3.3%).
There are 22,362 households, out of which 29.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.6% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% 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 3.21.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $53,638, and the median income for a family was $65,806. Males had a median income of $42,241 versus $30,885 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,146. About 3.0% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Des Plaines is served by elementary and middle school Districts 59 and 62 as well as high school District 207 Maine West High School and District 214 Elk Grove High School. Both high schools have received national recognition. Private schools include the Science and Arts Academy, St. Zachary School, and Our Lady of Destiny, created after the merging of St. Stephen's and St. Mary's Catholic schools.

Landmarks / History

An item of note about Des Plaines is that it is the home of the first McDonald's restaurant to be franchised by Ray Kroc, which is now closed and converted to a museum.

★ Methodist Camp Ground, a National Historic site , predates the Village and is still active

★ Des Plaines Public Library

★ Oakton Community College

★ Des Plaines Theater

★ Lake Opeka

★ McDonald's Museum

★ Des Plaines History Center
A large ancient meteor impact crater lies 75 to 200 feet below the town.

Mayors

★ 1957-1976 - Herbert Behrel

★ 1977-1981 - Herbert Volberding

★ 1981-1989 - John Seitz

★ 1989-1993 - Michael Albrecht

★ 1993-1997 - Ted Sherwood

★ 1997-1999 - Paul Jung ''(died October 24, 1999)''

★ 1999 - Tom Christiansen ''(mayor pro tem)''

★ 1999-present - Tony Arredia

Pop Culture

★ Serial killer John Wayne Gacy lived on Summerdale Avenue in an unincorporated area surrounded by Northwest Chicago. It was the abduction and murder of 15-year-old Rob Piest of Des Plaines that finally led to Gacy's capture. Des Plaines City detectives tracked Gacy down, as the 30-40 previous victims were investigated by Chicago and other detectives that mainly wrote off the disappearances as "runaways" and closed the files.

★ Des Plaines is featured in the Left Behind series of novels as well as a recently released American Girl book.

★ The majority of the hit 1985 film The Breakfast Club was filmed at the now-defunct Maine North High School located in unincorporated Des Plaines. The final scene was not filmed at the nearby Maine West High School football field which is what many people believe. The final scene was actually filmed and nearby Glenbrook North High School. This is one if the most common mistakes made about the end of The Breakfast Club.

★ Des Plaines, during the 1940s and 50's,was home to many huge greenhouse complexes and was the world's largest producer of hothouse roses. The city's vehicle stickers sported a large "American Beauty" rose, and the city's logo was "City of Roses" (replaced in the 1960s by "City of Destiny").

★ Des Plaines is featured in an episode called L.D.S.K from the TV series Criminal Minds. A sniper (or as called on the show a Long Distance Serial Killer) starts shooting people in Franklin Park. The main characters on the show think the killer is a Des Plaines cop, which is eventually found out to be not true.

★ "Des Plaines" is the name of a Venetian Snares track from the 2005 album Meathole. The track refers to the town where the American serial killer John Wayne Gacy murdered and raped his victims.

★ Des Plaines is the home of the first McDonald's opened by Ray Kroc, which is preserved as a "museum" on Lee Street, north of downtown.

External links

★ The Official City Government Website of Des Plaines, Illinois