Geneva, Illinois
Encyclopedia
Geneva is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Kane County, Illinois
Kane County, Illinois
Kane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 515,269, which is an increase of 27.5% from 404,119 in 2000. Its county seat is Geneva, and its largest city is Aurora.- Geography :...

. It is located on the western fringe of the 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...

 suburbs. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 26,652. Geneva is part of a tri-city area, along with St. Charles
St. Charles, Illinois
St. Charles is a Chicago suburb in Kane and DuPage counties of Illinois, United States, and is roughly west of Chicago on Illinois Route 64. According to a 2004 census estimate, the city has a total population of 32,134. The official city slogan is Pride of the Fox, after the Fox River that runs...

 and Batavia
Batavia, Illinois
Batavia was founded in 1833, and is the oldest city in Kane County, Illinois, with a small portion in DuPage County. During the Industrial Revolution, Batavia became known as ‘The Windmill City’ for being the largest windmill producer of the time...

. The area is currently experiencing a high level of population growth as Chicago's urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...

 spreads farther west.

Geneva is a popular tourist destination with its scenic location along the Fox River
Fox River (Illinois River tributary)
The Fox River is a tributary of the Illinois River in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois in the United States. There are two other "Fox Rivers" in southern Illinois: the Fox River and a smaller "Fox River" that joins the Wabash River near New Harmony, Indiana.-Wisconsin:The Fox River rises near...

 and numerous shops and restaurants. There is an extensive bike trail system in Geneva including portions of the Fox River Trail
Fox River Trail (Illinois)
The Fox River Trail is a multi-use path in Illinois along the Fox River. The Fox River Trail connects the communities of Oswego, Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, South Elgin, Elgin, Dundee, Carpentersville, and Algonquin...

 and the Illinois Prairie Path
Illinois Prairie Path
The Illinois Prairie Path is a network of of bicycle trails, mostly in DuPage County, Illinois. Portions of the trail extend west to Kane County and east to Cook County. Most of the trail is categorized as rail-to-trail, meaning that the bicycle path is built atop an old railroad right of way...

. Geneva has an active historical society, the Geneva History Center, located in downtown Geneva as well as the Fabyan Windmill
Fabyan Windmill
The Fabyan Windmill is an authentic, working Dutch windmill dating from the 1850s located in Geneva, Illinois. The , five-story wooden smock mill sits upon the onetime estate of Colonel George Fabyan, but is now part of the Kane County Forest Preserve District.In 1979, the windmill was listed on...

, an old Dutch windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

 dating back to the 1850s. The city is home to the Kane County Cougars
Kane County Cougars
The Kane County Cougars are a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Kansas City Royals, that plays in the Midwest League. Their home games are played in Geneva, Illinois, about 35 miles west of Chicago....

 baseball club of the Midwest League
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...

.

Geography

Geneva is located at 41°53'9" North, 88°18'42" West (41.885722, -88.311771),
36 miles (57.9 km) west of downtown Chicago.

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 city has a total area of 8.6 square miles (22.2 km²), of which, 8.4 square miles (21.8 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it is water. The total area is 2.10% water.

History

Geneva was first settled in the 1830s on an important route from 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...

. A local's connections with Col. Richard Hamilton, a prominent Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...

 politician, led to the naming of Geneva as county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 in 1836. The town was platted a year later and was probably named after Geneva, New York
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...

. A courthouse and jail were among the first major works. Geneva was incorporated as a village in 1858. While its site as a county seat attracted attention, the village's location on the Fox River
Fox River (Illinois River tributary)
The Fox River is a tributary of the Illinois River in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois in the United States. There are two other "Fox Rivers" in southern Illinois: the Fox River and a smaller "Fox River" that joins the Wabash River near New Harmony, Indiana.-Wisconsin:The Fox River rises near...

 provided the most economic opportunities. Early goods manufactured in Geneva included cheese, butter, milled grains, and packed meat. The connection of the railroad in 1853 provided increased demand for industry, and by 1900, Appleton Manufacturing, Howell Foundry, Bennet Milling Co., and Pope Glucose Co. became major employers. This resulted in major civic improvement projects such as a pumping stations and water mains in 1896. Geneva was particularly noted for its flux of Swedish immigrants, who comprised half of the population by 1900. A year later, Geneva was connected to other Fox Valley communities through the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric Company.

Historical sites

  • Fabyan Windmill
    Fabyan Windmill
    The Fabyan Windmill is an authentic, working Dutch windmill dating from the 1850s located in Geneva, Illinois. The , five-story wooden smock mill sits upon the onetime estate of Colonel George Fabyan, but is now part of the Kane County Forest Preserve District.In 1979, the windmill was listed on...

  • Riverbank Laboratories
    Riverbank Laboratories
    Riverbank Laboratories, or Riverbank Labs, is a company on Route 31 in Geneva, Illinois that started in 1918. This company has played an instrumental piece in the United States history of World War I for decrypting the German and Mexican code. The current address for the company is 1512 Batavia Ave...

  • Campana Factory
    Campana Factory
    The Campana Factory is a historic building in Batavia, Illinois. It was built in 1936 to serve as a factory for The Campana Company, which produced Italian Balm, the most popular hand lotion in the United States during The Great Depression. The Streamline Moderne and Bauhaus building features many...

  • Elizabeth Place
    Elizabeth Place
    Elizabeth Place, or the Henry Bond Fargo House, is a historic residence in Geneva, Illinois in the Mission Revival style. The house was owned by Henry Bond Fargo, a prominent local businessmen who brought several early industries to Geneva...


Transportation

Geneva is served by Midway International Airport (IATA code MDW), O'Hare International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...

 (IATA code ORD) and Dupage Airport
DuPage Airport
DuPage Airport is a general aviation airport located west of downtown Chicago in West Chicago, DuPage County, Illinois. It is owned and operated by the DuPage Airport Authority, which is an independent government body established by law by the State of Illinois...

 (DPA). The city also benefits from highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...

s running through the city, including State Routes 25
Illinois Route 25
Illinois Route 25 is a state road in northeast Illinois. It runs north from U.S. Highway 34 in Oswego to Illinois Route 62 in Algonquin. Illinois 25 is in length.- Route description :...

, 31
Illinois Route 31
Illinois Route 31 is a north–south state road in northeastern Illinois, United States. It runs from U.S. Highway 34 in Oswego north to U.S. Highway 12, near the Wisconsin border, just south of Richmond. Illinois 31 is long.- Route description :...

, 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...

 with easy access to Interstate 88
Interstate 88 (west)
Interstate 88 is an intrastate Interstate Highway in the state of Illinois. It runs from an interchange with Interstate 80 near Silvis and Moline to an interchange with Interstates 290 and 294 in Hillside, near Chicago...

.

Bus

Geneva is also serviced by the PACE
Pace (transit)
Pace is the suburban bus division of the Regional Transportation Authority in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to CTA, Metra and Pace. In 2010, Pace had 35.077 million riders. Pace's headquarters are in...

 bus system run by Chicago's suburbs. The following bus routes run through this city:
  • Route 529 - Randall Rd / 5th Street
  • Route 801 - Elgin / Geneva
  • Route 802 - Aurora / St. Charles

Train

As a part of the Chicago metropolitan area, Geneva has a station
Geneva (Metra)
Geneva is a Metra commuter railroad station in Geneva, Illinois served Metra's Union Pacific/West Line. The station is away from Ogilvie Transportation Center. In Metra's zone-based fare structure, Geneva is in zone H....

 on the Union Pacific/West line of the 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...

 commuter rail system; it provides frequent service to downtown Chicago
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...

, 36 miles (57.9 km) away.

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 2010 there are 26,652 people, 6,718 households, and 5,186 families residing in the city. 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...

 is 2,321.4 people per square mile (895.9/km²). There are 6,895 housing units at an average density of 820.2 per square mile (316.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 96.50% White, 1.02% African American, 0.06% Native American, 1.25% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.58% from other races, and 0.56% from two or more races. 2.77% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 6,718 households out of which 45.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.0% are 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, 6.8% have a female householder with no husband present, and 22.8% are non-families. 19.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.85 and the average family size is 3.31.

In the city the population is spread out with 31.8% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 99.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 96.2 males.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, Geneva has a population of 26,652. The median household income of the city is $97,515 and the median income for a family is $105,779 .

Elementary education schools

  • Harrison Street Elementary School (built in 1929)
  • Williamsburg Elementary School (built in 2008)
  • Heartland Elementary School (built in 2002)
  • Mill Creek Elementary School (built in 1996)
  • Fabyan Elementary School (built in 2008)
  • Western Avenue Elementary School (built in 1964)

Middle schools

  • Geneva Middle School South (built in 1994), Principal: Mr. Terrance Bleau
  • Geneva Middle School North (built in 2006), Principal: Mr. Lawrence Bidlack

High schools

  • Geneva High School
    Geneva High School (Illinois)
    Geneva Community High School, or GHS, is a public high school located in Geneva, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Geneva Community Unit School District 304.-History:...

     (built in 1958), Principal: Mr. Thomas Rogers

Former schools

  • Third Street School (closed 1922) was torn down in 1938 to open a Post Office
  • Fourth Street School (closed 1994) is now Geneva CUSD 304 Central Office
  • Sixth Street School (closed 1977) is now Kane County Regional Board of Education Offices. Potentially could be torn down for a new library.
  • Coultrap School (closed 2009) was used as a high school (1922–1958), then middle school (1958–1994) and then an Elementary School (1994–2008); plans for the building after June 2009 are uncertain, as of yet.

Parks and recreation

The following fitness/recreation centers are part of the Geneva Park District
  • Sunset Racquetball and Fitness Center
  • Stephen D. Persinger Recreation Center
  • Peck Farm Interpretive Center


Also containing over 30 parks for recreation use.

Media and entertainment

  • Harry and Tonto
    Harry and Tonto
    Harry and Tonto is a 1974 road movie written by Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld and directed by Mazursky, starring Art Carney.-Synopsis:...

    (1974) starring Art Carney
    Art Carney
    Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....

     and directed by Paul Mazursky
    Paul Mazursky
    Paul Mazursky is an American film director, screenwriter and actor.-Personal life:He was born Irwin Mazursky in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jean , a piano player for dance classes, and David Mazursky, a laborer. Mazursky was born to a Jewish family; his grandfather was an immigrant from...

    . Partly filmed outside of the Geneva Courthouse and the Geneva Motel.
  • The Road to Perdition (2002) starring Tom Hanks
    Tom Hanks
    Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

    , Paul Newman
    Paul Newman
    Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...

    , and Jude Law
    Jude Law
    David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...

     was partly filmed in downtown Geneva.
  • Novacaine
    Novocaine (film)
    Novocaine is a 2001 film written and directed by David Atkins and starring Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Dern, Lynne Thigpen and Elias Koteas. The film was shot in the Chicago, Illinois area, during a limited 32-day schedule. The film received extra publicity during production and as...

    (2001) starring Steve Martin
    Steve Martin
    Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

     was partly filmed at the Geneva Motel on the East Side of Geneva.

Shopping

  • Geneva Commons - is an outdoor shopping experience with many high-end retailers
  • Geneva Shopping - find more about Geneva shopping at this website

Notable people

  • Varney Anderson
    Varney Anderson
    Varney Samuel "Varn" Anderson was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Indianapolis Hoosiers and the Washington Senators.-Early minor league years:...

    , 19th Century MLB player for the Indianapolis Hoosiers
    Indianapolis Hoosiers
    Indianapolis Hoosiers was the name of three major league and at least three minor league baseball clubs based in Indianapolis, Indiana.* Indianapolis Hoosiers , which played in 1884...

     and the Washington Senators
    Washington Senators
    There have been several baseball teams that have played as the Washington Senators, including:*an American League baseball team based in Washington, D.C. from 1901 to 1960, that moved to Minneapolis-St...

  • Sid Bennett
    Sid Bennett
    Sid Bennett is a former player in the National Football League. He first played with the Chicago Tigers during the 1920 NFL season. After a year away from the NFL, he played with the Milwaukee Badgers during the 1922 NFL season.-References:...

    , a former football player, played two seasons in the National Football League
    National Football League
    The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

  • Gower Champion
    Gower Champion
    Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.-Early years:Champion was born in Geneva, Illinois, the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Carlisle. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Fairfax High School...

    , theater director, choreographer, and dancer
  • Phil Esposito
    Phil Esposito
    Philip Anthony Esposito, OC is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and is considered to be one of the best to have...

    , is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers.
  • George Fabyan
    George Fabyan
    George Fabyan was a millionaire businessman who founded a private research laboratory. Fabyan's laboratory pioneered modern cryptography, though its initial findings, supporting Fabyan's belief that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays, were later disproven by the cryptographers who trained...

    , (1867) wealthy cloth merchant and inventor of Riverbanks Laboratories
  • James Graham Fair
    James Graham Fair
    James Graham Fair was the overnight millionaire part-owner of the Comstock Lode, a United States Senator and a colorful real estate and railroad speculator.-Early life:...

    , Bonanza King
    Bonanza Kings
    The Bonanza Kings, also called the Silver Kings, was a nickname given to the four men who started a stock brokerage called Flood and O'Brien, more commonly known as the Bonanza Firm...

    , raised
  • Otto Hahn
    Otto Hahn
    Otto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...

    , On 15 November 1945 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Hahn had been awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his discovery of the fission of heavy atomic nuclei, born in Geneva March 8 1879
  • Stu Linder
    Stu Linder
    Stewart Bridgewater "Stu" Linder was an American film editor with 25 credits. He shared the Academy Award for Film Editing for the 1966 film Grand Prix , which was the very first film on which Linder was credited as an editor...

    , Academy Award-winning film editor of Grand Prix and Rain Man
    Rain Man
    Rain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son,...

  • Michael J. Nelson
    Michael J. Nelson
    Michael John Nelson is a U.S. comedian and writer, most famous for his work on the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's 11-year run, and spent half of that time playing the on-air host, also named Mike Nelson...

    , head writer and star of cult TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000
    Mystery Science Theater 3000
    Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....

    , and current leader of Rifftrax
    RiffTrax
    RiffTrax are downloadable audio commentaries featuring comedians Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett heckling films in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a TV show in which Nelson was the head writer, and later the host. The RiffTrax are sold online and delivered by digital...

  • Mike Nelson, Jeopardy! champion
  • John W. Scherer
    John W. Scherer
    John W. Scherer is well known for being the "face" for Video Professor, as he stars in all of the infomercials for Video Professor's products.-Biography:Scherer was born in St. Charles, Illinois, United States, North America...

    , the founder and face of the software tutorial company Video Professor
    Video Professor
    Video Professor, Inc. is a U.S. company that develops, manufacturers and offers tutorials for a variety of computer-related subjects, such as learning to use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Windows, and eBay. Video Professor was founded in 1987 by John W. Scherer and is located in Lakewood, Colorado. ...

  • Brad Pitt
    Brad Pitt
    William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

    , Lived in Geneva for 5 years from 1968 to 1973
  • Edmund Beecher Wilson
    Edmund Beecher Wilson
    Edmund Beecher Wilson was a pioneering American zoologist and geneticist. He wrote one of the most famous textbooks in the history of modern biology, The Cell.- Career :...

    , America's first cell biologist and the discoverer of the chromosomal
    Chromosome
    A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...

     XY sex-determination system
    XY sex-determination system
    The XY sex-determination system is the sex-determination system found in humans, most other mammals, some insects and some plants . In this system, females have two of the same kind of sex chromosome , and are called the homogametic sex. Males have two distinct sex chromosomes , and are called...

  • Bob Woodward
    Bob Woodward
    Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....

    , author, investigative reporter for the Washington Post
  • Bob Zeman
    Bob Zeman
    Robert Zeman is a former American football defensive back who played six seasons in the American Football League from 1960 to 1966.-See also:*Other American Football League players...

    , a former football defensive back, played six seasons in the American Football League
    American Football League
    The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...

  • Cameron Mitchell
    Cameron Mitchell
    Cameron Mitchell may refer to:* Cameron Mitchell * Cameron Mitchell , a fictional character in the series Stargate SG-1* Cameron Mitchell Restaurants* Cameron Mitchell...

    , actor, Disney Channel's High School Musical.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK