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Mount Greenwood, Chicago

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85-508: Mount Greenwood is one of the 77 community areas in Chicago . The 74th numbered area, it is about 14 miles (23 km) southwest of the Loop . It is surrounded by the neighborhoods of Beverly and Morgan Park to the east, the suburb of Evergreen Park to the north, the suburb of Oak Lawn to the west, and the suburbs of Merrionette Park and Alsip to the south. Mount Greenwood is known as

170-511: A " dry area " like the nearby communities of Morgan Park and Beverly . To prevent this, a group of citizens successfully campaign to incorporate Mount Greenwood as a village. Twenty years later, in 1927, the community voted to be annexed into Chicago to receive better services. The promised infrastructure took longer than anticipated to be delivered due to the Great Depression. Those services finally came nine years later, in 1936, when

255-847: A National Historic Corridor. The two canals and the Great Lakes cemented trade ties between the Midwest and the Northeast, encouraging farmers to grow more than they needed to feed themselves in Illinois, with a large market for grain now open to them. Towns in Cook County along the Canal grew. From a national perspective, the trade ties made the South region of the US less important to the Northeast as

340-513: A Presidential election three times, all during national Republican landslides– Dwight Eisenhower over native son Adlai Stevenson II in 1952 and 1956, and Richard Nixon over George McGovern in 1972. Since then, the closest a Republican has come to carrying the county was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan won 48.4 percent of the county's vote. In 2020, 74 percent of the county voted for Joe Biden and 24 percent voted for Donald Trump . In 1936, with Franklin D. Roosevelt receiving 1,253,164 votes in

425-600: A citywide 1934 census to help collect data related to the Great Depression , in what was known as the Local Community Fact Book . With the exception of 1970 (whose data was published in 1980 ), it continued this publication for every subsequent census through 1990, expanding in the 1960s to also cover major suburbs of Chicago. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning continues this work by periodically publishing "Community Snapshots" of

510-537: A complaint with the Department of Justice over racial quotas at the Robert Black Mini-Magnet school that allegedly favored minorities. In 1992, The New York Times interviewed over one hundred residents of Mount Greenwood and Roseland in which Mount Greenwood residents seemingly endorsed the de facto segregation and expressed their beliefs in welfare queens and other stereotypes . Around

595-491: A record of corruption. The most successful Republican candidate for mayor since then was Bernard Epton , who in 1983 came within 3.3 percentage points of defeating Democrat Harold Washington . The county's Republican Party organization is the Cook County Republican Party . The last Republican governor to carry the county was Jim Edgar in his 1994 landslide . The last Republican senator to do so

680-447: A sewer, sending waste water through treatment plants and sending it away from Lake Michigan. It is also a waterway for movement of ships. The next major technology for transportation was railroads. Chicago and the towns along the canal and rivers understood the value of being a hub of a major network. Rail lines spurred out from Chicago by the 1850s, with major growth in the rail network for freight and passenger transportation coming after

765-631: A significant Irish heritage collection. Mount Greenwood has 2.8 acres of park land per 1,000 residents. The booming Mount Greenwood community was among the neighborhoods identified for park development in the Chicago Park District's Ten Year Plan to provide increased recreational opportunities in post-World War II Chicago. In 1946, the Mount Greenwood Civic Council urged the acquisition of vacant Board of Education land along 111th Street. The park district purchased

850-464: A single community area. The Chicago Department of Public Health wished to present local differences in birth and death rates; it worked with the committee to produce the list of 75 community areas, which were divided into 935 census tracts. After the community areas were introduced, the University of Chicago Press published data sorted by them from the 1920 and 1930 Censuses , as well as

935-596: A trade partner. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal , completed in 1900, largely replaced the functions of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This canal resulted in the reversal of the direction of flow of the main stem and the South branch of the Chicago River; they used to empty into Lake Michigan and now those river sections flow toward the Des Plaines River . The Sanitary and Ship Canal was built to serve many aims, including ending using Lake Michigan as

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1020-458: A vote. In 2004, Blue Island mayor Donald E. Peloquin organized a coalition of fifty-five south and southwest suburban municipalities to form a new county, also proposing the name Lincoln County . The county would include everything south of Burbank , stretching as far west as Orland Park , as far east as Calumet City , and as far south as Matteson , covering an expansive area with a population of over one million residents. Peloquin argued that

1105-590: Is "dictating its views" to the rest of the state and Brown added that Chicago "overshadows" the rest of Illinois. Construction of the Erie Canal in New York State made a connection from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in 1821. As the Midwest farms proved productive, with much grain to sell to other parts of the US, Chicago and Cook County saw the benefit of a canal to improve the link from

1190-666: Is along 111th Street. The corridor has seen an increase in the construction of new shopping centers since the creation of a TIF district in 2009. The nearest Metra stations to Mount Greenwood are on the Rock Island District line and include the 103rd Street and 107th Street stations in Beverly and the 111th Street and 115th Street stations in Morgan Park. Nearly 90% of commuters drive to work. In 1956, Saint Xavier University moved to Mount Greenwood from

1275-627: Is compared to a distribution of 28.8%, 22.8%, 16.1%, 10.7%, 11.3% and 10.3% for Chicago at large. Mount Greenwood's status as one of the wealthier Chicago community areas is further reflected in a home ownership rate of 87.5% compared to 44.7% rate for Chicago-at-large. Over 95% of Mount Greenwood residents have graduated from high school and over one third of residents have graduated from college. The top 5 employing industry sectors of Mount Greenwood residents are public administration (21.8%), education (16.0%), health care (11.3%), retail trade (6.9%) and accommodation and food service (6.2%). A plurality of

1360-555: Is dedicated to Frederick G. Abrams Sr. a Chicago Alderman and Treasurer of the Village of Mount Greenwood from 1918 to 1927. A baseball diamond bears the name Rooney Field, in honor of Rooney Richardson (--1982), who took an active role in community affairs. In the 2016 presidential election, Mount Greenwood was the only community area in the city of Chicago won by Donald Trump . The area cast 5,445 votes for Trump and cast 3,320 votes for Hillary Clinton . Mount Greenwood had also gone for

1445-613: Is divided into 29 townships ; these often divide or share governmental services with local municipalities. Townships within Chicago were abolished in 1902 but are retained for real estate assessment purposes. Evanston Township was formerly coterminous with the City of Evanston but was abolished in 2014. County government is overseen by the Cook County Board of Commissioners , with its president as chief executive, and Cook County Treasurer . Countywide state government offices include

1530-489: Is from Saint Ita's." Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California . More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 2020, the population was 5,275,541. The county seat is Chicago , the most populous city in Illinois and

1615-467: Is in unincorporated Cook County . The Mount Greenwood area has a reputation as a historical bastion of the South Side Irish . Mount Greenwood has the fourth highest percent of self-reported Irish Americans in the United States, at 46%. The area has historically been predominantly white and Mount Greenwood was the destination for many Chicagoans during the white flight of the latter half of

1700-1148: Is land and 690 square miles (1,800 km ) (42.2%) is water. It is the sixth largest county in Illinois by land area, and the largest in total area. Most of the water is in Lake Michigan . The highest point is more than 950 feet (290 m), and is in northwest Barrington Township, in the northwest corner of the county. The lowest point is less than 580 feet (180 m), along the Lake Michigan shoreline. In July, temperatures in Chicago, Cook County average daytime highs of 84 °F (29 °C), and nighttime lows of 68 °F (20 °C); and January daytime highs of 31 °F (−1 °C), and nighttime lows of 18 °F (−8 °C). Winter temperatures will sometimes veer above 40 °F (4 °C), and, although not common, have also risen over 50 °F (10 °C) on some winter days. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 4.30 inches (109 mm) in June to 1.77 inches (45 mm) in February. The government of Cook County

1785-704: Is of Hispanic descent. Asian Americans are a very sizeable racial group in the county, numbering about 301,000. The Asian population is ethnically diverse, and includes roughly 87,900 Indians , 61,700 Filipinos , 60,700 Chinese , 35,000 Koreans , 13,700 Vietnamese , and 11,100 Japanese . Roughly 30,800 are of other Asian ethnic groups, such as Thai , Cambodian , and Hmong . Approximately 3,000 residents are of Pacific Islander heritage. This group includes roughly Native Hawaiians , Guamanians, Samoans , and various people of other Pacific Islander groups. Hispanic and Latino Americans make up over one-fifth (22.8%) of Cook County's population. Roughly 1,204,000 Latinos live in

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1870-624: Is primarily composed of the Board of Commissioners headed by the President of the County Board, other elected officials such as the Sheriff , State's Attorney , Treasurer, Board of Review, Clerk, Assessor, Recorder, Circuit Court judges, and Circuit Court Clerk, as well as numerous other officers and entities. Cook County is the only home rule county in Illinois. The Cook County Code is

1955-498: Is the largest single-site jail in the nation. The Cook County Juvenile Detention Center , under the authority of the Chief Judge of the court, is the first juvenile center in the nation and one of the largest in the nation. The Cook County Law Library is the second-largest county law library in the nation. The Bureau of Health Services administers the county's public health services and is the third-largest public health system in

2040-918: Is traditionally divided into the three "sides" of the North Side, West Side , and South Side by the Chicago River. These three sides are represented by the white stripes on the Flag of Chicago . The city is also divided into 50 wards for the purpose of electing one alderman each to the Chicago City Council . These wards have at times generated identities similar to neighborhoods. Unlike community areas, wards are adjusted decennially to account for population shifts. Another method of neighborhood nomenclature in heavily Catholic neighborhoods of Chicago has been to refer to communities in terms of parishes . For example, one might say, "I live in St. Gertrude's, but he

2125-502: The 2000 Census , there were 5,376,741 people, 1,974,181 households, and 1,269,398 families residing in the county. The population density was 5,686 inhabitants per square mile (2,195/km ). There were 2,096,121 housing units at an average density of 2,216 per square mile (856/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 56.27% white, 26.14% Black or African American, 0.29% Native American, 4.84% Asian , 0.05% Pacific Islanders, 9.88% from other races, and 2.53% from two or more races. 19.93% of

2210-548: The Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences on Peter Ouwenga's land, an experimental magnet high school devoted to teaching agricultural science to urban students. It was the second school of its kind after W.B. Saul High School in Philadelphia . Mount Greenwood's history has been characterized by racial tension. In the 1970s, a Mount Greenwood civic group, joined two other community groups to file

2295-540: The Chicago River to form distinctive and consistent areas within the city, which he deemed "natural" areas that would eventually merge into a distinctive identity. Ernest Burgess , a colleague of Park's who shared his thinking, was crucial in creating and naming the community areas. Initially able to identify 400 neighborhoods of the city, he considered that number excessive and trimmed it down to 80 and thereafter 75 by grouping related neighborhoods into

2380-554: The Chicago metropolitan area , which has a population of approximately 10 million people. Cook County was created on January 15, 1831, out of Putnam County by an act of the Illinois General Assembly . It was the 54th county established in Illinois and was named after Daniel Pope Cook , one of the earliest and youngest statesmen in Illinois history. He served as the second U.S. representative from Illinois and

2465-670: The Circuit Court of Cook County , the Cook County State's Attorney , the Cook County Sheriff , and the Cook County Assessor . Geographically, the county is the sixth-largest in Illinois by land area and the largest by total area. It shares the state's Lake Michigan shoreline with Lake County . Including its lake area, Cook County has a total area of 1,635 square miles (4,234.6 km ),

2550-495: The Douglas area . By the 1980s, Mount Greenwood was home two of the last surviving farms in the city, one of which was developed as the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences at the southeast corner of 111th and Pulaski. Mount Greenwood is home to one Catholic elementary school, three Catholic high schools ( Brother Rice High School , Marist High School , and Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School ). Public grade schools in

2635-436: The Great Depression . During the first half of the 20th century it had the absolute majority of Illinois's population. There are more than 800 local governmental units and nearly 130 municipalities located wholly or partially within Cook County, the largest of which is Chicago. The city is home to approximately 54 percent of the entire county's population. The part of the county outside of the Chicago and Evanston city limits

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2720-477: The Lake Michigan shoreline. The areas are used for statistical and planning purposes by such professions as assessors, charities, and reporters. Shortly after their development they were used for all kinds of statistics, including movie theater distribution and juvenile delinquency. Although developed by the University of Chicago, they have been used by other universities in the Chicago area, as well as by

2805-568: The Works Progress Administration installed sewers. Residents were still seeking improvements such as curbs into the 1960s. Despite being annexed by Chicago, the area maintained a character similar to nearby blue collar city-suburbs. Mount Greenwood was home to the last farm in Chicago, owned by Peter Ouwenga until the mid-1980s when he sold his farm to the Chicago Public School system. The district built

2890-475: The codification of Cook County's local ordinances . Cook County's current County Board president is Toni Preckwinkle . The Circuit Court of Cook County , which is an Illinois state court of general jurisdiction is funded, in part, by Cook County, and accepts more than 1.2 million cases each year for filing. The Cook County Department of Corrections , also known as the Cook County Jail ,

2975-439: The third most populous city in the United States. The county is at the center of the Chicago metropolitan area . Cook County was incorporated in 1831 and named for Daniel Pope Cook , an early Illinois statesman. It achieved its present boundaries in 1839. Within a century, the county recorded explosive population growth, going from a trading post village with a little over six hundred residents to four million, rivaling Paris by

3060-476: The 19th ward. The current alderman is Matthew O'Shea of neighboring Beverly . Aldermen who have represented Mount Greenwood since 1927 Community areas in Chicago The city of Chicago is divided into 77 community areas for statistical and planning purposes. Census data and other statistics are tied to the areas, which serve as the basis for a variety of urban planning initiatives on both

3145-411: The 2000 census and the 2010 census, and increased 1.6% between 2010 and 2020. As of the 2010 Census , the population of the county was 5,194,675, White Americans made up 55.4% of Cook County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 43.9% of the population. African Americans made up 24.8% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.4% of Cook County's population. Asian Americans made up 6.2% of

3230-433: The 24-acre (97,000 m) site in 1949, and slowly began improving the property. The park district constructed a fieldhouse in 1966, and added a swimming pool in 1973. The 1990s brought further improvements. A soft surface playground featured an airport/train station-themed play area. A refrigerated ice skating rink provides winter recreation. Several features of Mount Greenwood Park honor noted local citizens. A parking area

3315-486: The 523 acres of institutional land use. Additionally, there is 365 acres of transportation use, 37 acres of commercial use, 30 acres of open space, 19 acres of multifamily residential housing and 8 acres of mixed use buildings. Mount Greenwood is home to a large number of cemeteries and, for a time, was nicknamed the Seven Holy Tombs. Although completely surrounded by the City of Chicago, Mount Greenwood Cemetery

3400-566: The County Department of Transportation was instrumental in designing many of the expressways in the county, today they are under the jurisdiction of the state. The Cook County Forest Preserves , organized in 1915, is a separate, independent taxing body, but the Cook County Board of Commissioners also acts as its Board of Commissioners. The district is a belt of 69,000 acres (280 km ) of forest reservations surrounding

3485-685: The Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed in 1848, extending from the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago on the Chicago River, to the Illinois River at the cities of LaSalle-Peru. This canal spurred the growth of Chicago and the areas around it, as water travel was the primary way to ship grain or other commodities in that part of the 19th century. The Illinois and Michigan Canal ceased major operation in 1933. Portions are now designated as

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3570-597: The Pilsen and Back of the Yards neighborhoods are much better known than their respective community areas Lower West Side and New City . In the case of New City this was a deliberate choice; Burgess opted for the less common "New City" to name the area as "Back of the Yards" carried a stigma after the publication of Upton Sinclair 's The Jungle (1904), which made the area notorious for its poor living conditions. Some of these discrepancies are due to names that were common at

3655-459: The Republican candidate in 2012 with 4,908 votes cast for Mitt Romney and 3,983 votes cast for Barack Obama . In the Illinois General Assembly , Mount Greenwood is located in the 18th legislative district and represented by Democratic Senator Bill Cunningham , Democratic Representative Frances Ann Hurley and Democratic Representative Kelly M. Burke . Mount Greenwood has always been in

3740-518: The addition of two areas ( O'Hare from land annexed by the city in 1956 and Edgewater 's separation from Uptown in 1980) and peripheral expansions due to minor annexations, the areas' boundaries have never been revised to reflect change but instead have been kept stable. The areas have become a part of the culture of Chicago, contributing to its perception as a "city of neighborhoods" and breaking it down into smaller regions for easier analysis and local planning. Nevertheless, Park's and Burgess's ideas on

3825-400: The age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.7% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were someone living alone including 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.38. In the county, the population age distribution was: 26.0% under

3910-463: The age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males. The median income for a household in the county was $ 45,922, and the median income for a family was $ 53,784. Males had a median income of $ 40,690 versus $ 31,298 for females. The per capita income for

3995-617: The area are Mt. Greenwood Elementary School, George F. Cassell Elementary School, and Annie Keller Regional Gifted Center. The neighborhood is zoned to Morgan Park High School . Mount Greenwood, like many other Chicago neighborhoods, has its own branch of the Chicago Public Library . The library in this area looks identical to the Hegewisch Branch of the Chicago Public Library. The library has

4080-525: The census of 1840, growing rapidly to 5,150,233 people estimated for 2019 by the US census. Growth was rapid in the 19th century, with the County reaching 2.4 million people by 1910. In the 20th century, the County reached 5.1 million population. Cook County is nearly completely developed, with little agricultural land remaining near the outer county boundaries. According to the 2000 Census there were 1,974,181 households, out of which 30.9% had children under

4165-551: The city and academics largely agree on its boundaries. The area has three neighborhoods; Mount Greenwood, Mount Greenwood Heights and Talley's Corner. Land use in Mount Greenwood consists mostly of single family residential housing of which there is 748 acres, most of which was built between 1940 and 1970. The presence of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Science and St. Xavier University contribute to

4250-420: The city and regional planners. They have contributed to Chicago's reputation as the "city of neighborhoods", and are argued to break up an intimidating city into more manageable pieces. Chicago was an early adopter of such a system, and as of 1997 most cities in the United States still lacked analogous divisions. The areas do not necessarily correspond to popular imagination of the neighborhoods. For example,

4335-664: The city of Chicago. The Brookfield Zoo (managed by the Chicago Zoological Society) and the Chicago Botanic Garden (managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society) are located in the forest preserves. Cook County is the fifth-largest employer in Chicago. In March 2008, the County Board increased the sales tax by one percent to 1.75 percent. This followed a quarter-cent increase in mass transit taxes. In Chicago,

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4420-533: The community areas and suburbs, the most recent being data from 2018 published in June 2020 . Only two major changes have occurred in the boundaries of the community areas. O'Hare was created from land that was annexed by Chicago in 1956 to control O'Hare International Airport . Edgewater was separated from Uptown in 1980 as residents considered being joined to it a detriment to obtaining aid for local improvements. In addition to these two there have been minor changes due to further annexations and additions to

4505-429: The county was $ 23,227. About 10.6% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over. As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the median home value in Cook County was $ 299,571, an increase of 11.7% from the prior year. According to Census Bureau estimates, the county's population grew by 5.3% from 1990 to 2000, decreased by 3.4% between

4590-507: The county, Cook County became the first county in American history where a candidate received one million votes. The Cook County Democratic Party represents Democratic voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County. The organization has dominated County, city , and state politics since the 1930s. The last Republican mayor of Chicago was William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson , who left office in 1931 with

4675-445: The county. Mexicans are the most common Latino group. Cook County's 925,000 Mexican Americans make up 17.5% of its population. Roughly 127,000 Puerto Ricans live in the county, while over 12,200 Cubans reside in the county. There are some 140,000 Hispanics and Latinos of other nationalities living in Cook County (i.e. Colombian , Bolivian , etc.), and they collectively make up 2.6% of the county's population. In 2010 statistics,

4760-408: The creators of the areas. As of 2020 , Near North Side is the most populous of the areas with over 105,000 residents, while Burnside is the least populous with just over 2,500. Other geographical divisions of Chicago exist, such as the "sides" with origin in the 3 branches of the Chicago River , the 50 wards of the Chicago City Council which undergo redistricting based in population movements, and

4845-478: The former U.S. president and Illinois resident. It is likely that Arlington Heights would have been the county seat. This northwest suburban region of Cook was at the time moderately conservative and has a population over 500,000. Local legislators, led by State Senator Dave Regnar, went so far as to propose it as official legislation in the Illinois House . The legislation died, however, before coming to

4930-586: The general election ballot, but the idea was not met with success. In arguing against the Lincoln County proposal, others noted several of the cities involved had power structures, law enforcement, or de facto "mayors for life" often accused in the press, or civilly or criminally charged with, political corruption , cronyism , and nepotism , and themselves being the main factor in their depressed economies rather than anyone in Cook County government. The opposition decried that their true reason for joining

5015-403: The home of many Chicago firefighters , Chicago police officers , and union workers. In the mid-nineteenth century, German and Dutch farmers settled the area. The region received its name in 1879 when the surveyor George Washington Waite platted an eighty-acre land grant that he had received from the federal government. The proliferation of saloons led to a movement to turn Mount Greenwood into

5100-465: The inevitability of physically related areas forming a common bond have been questioned, and the unchanging nature of the areas has at times been seen as analytically problematic with major subsequent changes in the some of the areas' urban landscapes, such as the construction of expressways. During the 19th century wards were used by the Census Bureau for data at the level below cities. This

5185-532: The largest county in Illinois, of which 945 square miles (2,447.5 km ) is land and 690 square miles (1,787.1 km ) (42.16%) is water. Land-use in Cook County is mostly urban and densely populated. Within Cook County, the state of Illinois took advantage of its Lake Michigan access and the Chicago Portage , beginning with the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848. This helped make

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5270-674: The largest religious group in Cook County was the Archdiocese of Chicago , with 1,947,223 Catholics worshipping at 371 parishes, followed by 209,195 non-denominational adherents with 486 congregations, an estimated 201,152 Muslims with 62 congregations, 68,865 NBC Baptists with 99 congregations, 49,925 ELCA Lutherans with 145 congregations, 49,909 SBC Baptists with 181 congregations, 45,979 LCMS Lutherans with 120 congregations, 39,866 UCC Christians with 101 congregations, 33,584 UMC Methodists with 121 congregations, and 32,646 AG Pentecostals with 64 congregations. Altogether, 59.6% of

5355-457: The local and regional levels. The areas' boundaries do not generally change, allowing comparisons of statistics across time. The areas are distinct from but related to the more numerous neighborhoods of Chicago; an area often corresponds to a neighborhood or encompasses several neighborhoods, but the areas do not always correspond to popular conceptions of the neighborhoods due to a number of factors including historical evolution and choices made by

5440-523: The nation. Some border towns in particular had been outraged, as people can take their business across the county border (paying, for instance, 7% in Lake County instead of Palatine's 9.5%). The secession issue eventually died down from the nominal tax increase. In 2011, two downstate Republican state representatives, Bill Mitchell of the 87th district and Adam Brown of the 101st district, proposed statehood for Cook County. Mitchell said that Chicago

5525-415: The nation. Three hospitals are part of this system: John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County , Provident Hospital , and Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County , along with over 30 clinics. The Cook County Department of Transportation is responsible for the design and maintenance of roadways in the county. These thoroughfares are composed mostly of major and minor arterials, with a few local roads. Although

5610-495: The parishes of the Roman Catholic Church. The Social Science Research Committee at the University of Chicago defined the community areas in the 1920s based on neighborhoods or groups of related neighborhoods within the city. In this effort it was led by sociologists Robert E. Park and Ernest Burgess , who believed that physical contingencies created areas that would inevitably form a common identity. Except for

5695-406: The population (1.8% Indian, 1.2% Filipino, 1.2% Chinese, 0.7% Korean, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.2% Japanese, 0.8% Other). Pacific Islander Americans made up less than 0.1% of the population. People from other races made up 10.6% of the population; people from two or more races made up 2.5% of the county's population. Hispanics and Latinos (of any race) made up 24.0% of Cook County's population. As of

5780-452: The population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information. In 2014, Cook County had 2,001 religious organizations, second only to Los Angeles County out of all US counties. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 1,635 square miles (4,230 km ), of which 945 square miles (2,450 km )

5865-691: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 9.1% were of Polish, 8.1% German, 7.9% Irish and 5.7% Italian ancestry. 17.63% reported speaking Spanish at home; 3.13% speak Polish . Whites (Hispanic and non-Hispanic) number roughly 2,793,500. There are about 2,372,500 non-Hispanic whites residing in Cook County. Sizeable non-Hispanic white populations are those of German (11.4%), Irish (10.3%), Polish (9.7%), Italian (6.1%), and British (4.1%) descent. There are also significant groups of Swedish (1.5%), Russian (1.5%), French (1.3%), Greek (1.2%), Czech (1.0%), Dutch (1.0%), Lithuanian (0.9%), and Norwegian (0.8%) descent. Black Americans are

5950-714: The population. In the area, the population was spread out, with 29.5% under the age of 19, 18.2% from 20 to 34, 22.5% from 35 to 49, 18.8% from 50 to 64, and 11% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. The median household income was $ 89,728 compared to a median income of $ 47,831 for Chicago at-large. The area had an Income distribution in which 10.8% of households earned less than $ 25,000 annually; 13.5% of households earned between $ 25,000 and $ 49,999; 16.1% of households earned between $ 50,000 and $ 74,999; 16.3% of households earned between $ 75,000 and $ 99,999; 27.8% of households earned between $ 100,000 and $ 149,999 and 15.5% of households earned more than $ 150,000. This

6035-489: The rate increased to 10.25 percent, the steepest nominal rate of any major metropolitan area in America. In Evanston , sales tax reached 10 percent and Oak Lawn residents pay 9.5 percent. On July 22, 2008, the Cook County board voted against Cook County Commissioner's proposal to repeal the tax increase. In 2016, Cook County joined Chicago in adopting a $ 13 hourly minimum wage. Cook County Board chairman John Daley called

6120-513: The region a central transit hub for the nation. Chicago, with its location on the Great Lakes and via the St. Lawrence Seaway , is a global port city, giving Cook County an international shipping port. Cook County's population is larger than that of 28 U.S. states and territories , and larger than the population of 11 of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories . Cook County is at the center of

6205-465: The same time as the New York Times piece, residents successfully managed to restrict the number of minority students who could attend Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences which at the time had a predominantly black student body. In the late 1990s, an African-American family alleged that they were driven out of the neighborhood by persistent vandalism and harassment. In 2016, the area was

6290-407: The secession effort was to start with a 'clean slate' with a new county government by design less willing to enforce responsibility against their abuses of power. Talk of secession from Cook County amongst some outlying communities again heated up in mid-2008 in response to a highly controversial 1% sales tax hike which has pushed the tax rates across the county communities up amongst the highest in

6375-450: The second largest racial group. Black Americans form over one-quarter (25.4%) of Cook County's population. Blacks of non-Hispanic origin form 25.2% of the population; black Hispanics make up the remaining 0.2% of the populace. There are roughly 1,341,000 African Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin living in Cook County; 1,328,000 are non-Hispanic blacks. Roughly 52,500 people were of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, making up 1.0% of

6460-501: The site of a clash between the Blue Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter movements after the latter came to Mount Greenwood to protest after the shooting of 25-year-old Joshua Beal by an off duty fire fighter. Its approximate borders are 103rd Street to the north, 117th Street to the south, Pulaski Road to the west, and Sacramento Avenue to the east. Mount Greenwood is a rarity amongst Chicago community areas as residents,

6545-465: The south suburbs are often shunned by the city (although Chicago is not bound or required to do anything for other municipalities) and he blamed the Chicago-centric policies of Cook County for failing to jumpstart the somewhat-depressed south suburban local economy. Pending sufficient interest from local communities, Peloquin planned a petition drive to place a question regarding the secession on

6630-412: The state's first attorney general . In 1839, DuPage County was carved out of Cook County. The shape of Cook County and the neighboring counties has remained the same since DuPage County was formed. The population in each county and the split of agriculture compared to residential and industrial activity has changed dramatically over the intervening decades to 2020. The county began with 10,201 people in

6715-419: The time of the adoption of community areas but have since been supplanted by others. The static nature of area boundaries is one of their benefits, but is also problematic at times such as when expressways were built in the mid-20th century and divided neighborhoods without area boundaries adapting. The concept of a "natural area" that underpinned Park's and Burgess's thinking has also been challenged. Chicago

6800-472: The total population. Approximately 10,300 residents of Cook County are of Native American ancestry. They consist of Cherokee , Chippewa , Navajo , and Sioux . Native Americans of Hispanic origin represent a sizeable portion of the Native American population. Nearly 6,000 Native Americans are of non-Hispanic origin, and some 4,300 are of Hispanic origin. Over 40% of the Native American racial group

6885-510: The twentieth century. As recently as 1998, an African-American family moving into Mount Greenwood was a newsworthy item. According to a 2016 analysis by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning , there were 18,357 people and 6,416 households in Mount Greenwood. The racial makeup of the area was 86.5% White , 4.5% African American , 2.2% Asian , 1.1% from other races . Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.7% of

6970-400: The wage hike "the moral and right thing to do." In June 2017, however, nearly 75 home rule municipalities passed measures opting themselves out of the increase. The county has more Democratic Party members than any other Illinois county and it is one of the most Democratic counties in the United States. Since 1932, the majority of its voters have only supported a Republican candidate in

7055-414: The workforce works in the surrounding suburbs with the remainder working in the central business district. A small number of Mount Greenwood residents work in Mount Greenwood. A significant portion of residents are City of Chicago employees. Over two thirds of these workers reside outside of Chicago and one fifth reside in Mount Greenwood and the surrounding neighborhoods. The area's main commercial corridor

7140-603: Was Charles H. Percy in 1978 . To establish more localized government control and policies which reflect the often different values and needs of large suburban sections of the sprawling county, secession movements have been made over the years which called for certain townships or municipalities to form their own independent counties. In the late 1970s, a movement started which proposed a separation of six northwest suburban townships, Cook County's panhandle ( Barrington , Hanover , Palatine , Wheeling , Schaumburg , and Elk Grove ) from Cook to form Lincoln County, in honor of

7225-604: Was problematic as wards were political subdivisions and thus changed after each census, limiting their utility for comparisons over time. Census tracts were first used in Chicago in the 1910 Census . However, by the 1920s the Social Science Research Committee at the University of Chicago wanted divisions that were more natural and manageable than the arbitrarily-designated and numerous census tracts. The sociologist Robert E. Park led this charge, considering physical barriers such as railroads and

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