{{For|the university|Northern Illinois University}}
Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
of
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
.
Economics
Northern Illinois is dominated by the metropolitan areas of Chicago,
RockfordRockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Rockford is often referred to as "The Forest City" and is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2000 U.S...
, and the
Quad CitiesThe Quad Cities is a geographic region of the Mid-Mississippi Valley of the United States that includes several communities in the states of Iowa and Illinois. As of 2008, the population is 377,625...
, which contain a majority (over 75%) of Illinois' population and economic activity, including numerous Fortune 500 companies and a heavy manufacturing, commercial, retail, service, and office based economy. Much of the economic activity of the region is centered in the
Chicago LoopThe Loop or The Chicago Loop are the terms used to designate the historical center of downtown Chicago. Most accurately, the term refers to an area bounded by a public transit circuit along Lake Street on the north, Wabash Avenue on the east, Van Buren Street on the south, and Wells Street on the...
, the
Illinois Technology and Research CorridorThe Illinois Research & Development Corridor is an area located in northeastern Illinois. The corridor is primarily formed by Interstate 88 through DuPage County, but many companies and research centers are located throughout the Chicago area.-Companies:...
, and the
Golden CorridorThe Golden Corridor is a term used to describe the area around the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in the Chicago metropolitan area. It is coined as such since the corridor generates a "gold" mine of economic profit for communities in the area...
. However, rural sections of this region are highly productive agriculturally, and are part of the Corn Belt. The headquarters for
John DeereJohn Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company— the largest agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world...
farming equipment are located in
MolineMoline is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States, with an estimated population of 43,016 in 2007. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa...
. Additional smaller cities in this area include
KankakeeKankakee is a city in Kankakee County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 25,561. It is the county seat of Kankakee County. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee–Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Kankakee County...
, LaSalle-
PeruPeru is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,835 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Peru is located at ....
,
OttawaOttawa is a city located on the Illinois River, in LaSalle County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,307. It is the county seat of LaSalle County and it is part of the Ottawa-Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area, which was the 259th-most populous area in the...
,
FreeportFreeport is the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...
,
DixonDixon is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,941 at the 2000 census. Named for its founder John Dixon , it is the county seat of Lee County. Located on the Rock River, Dixon was the boyhood home of former U.S...
, and
SterlingSterling is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,451 at the 2000 census. Formerly nicknamed "The Hardware Capital of the World", Sterling has long been associated with manufacturing and the steel industry.-Geography:...
-
Rock FallsRock Falls is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,580 at the 2000 census.- Geography :Rock Falls is located at ....
, which still have predominantly manufacturing and agricultural economies. Northern Illinois is also one of the world's busiest freight railroad and truck traffic corridors.
Interstate 80 southern boundary
Interstate 80Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States . It connects downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. I-80 is the interstate that most closely approximates the route of the Lincoln Highway, the first auto trail to cross the...
is sometimes referenced as the informal southern boundary of Northern Illinois, and is often used in weather reports as a reference point, as in "south of Interstate 80 will see sleet and rain, but north of Interstate 80 can expect mostly snow."
Generally, areas south of I-80 are considered "downstate."
Interstate 88 cross section
Additionally,
Interstate 88Interstate 88 is an Interstate Highway entirely within 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...
(the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) seems to connect the region, east-west, stretching from the Quad Cities, eastward through Sterling-Rock Falls, Dixon, DeKalb,
AuroraAurora is the second largest city in Illinois, with a population of 171,782 and part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The city refers to itself as "The City of Lights" because it was one of the first cities in the United States to implement an all-electric street lighting system in 1881...
,
NapervilleNaperville is a city in DuPage and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. In 2006, Money magazine listed Naperville as #2 on its annual list of America's best small cities to live in...
, and into Chicago. Northern Illinois is also the only region of the state in which there are tollways, which are run by the
Illinois State Toll Highway AuthorityThe Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is an instrumentality and administrative agency of the State of Illinois. The Tollway is governed by an 11-member board of directors. The Governor of the State of Illinois and the head of the Illinois Department of Transportation serve as ex officio...
, another trait separating this region from Central and Southern Illinois.
Education
Northern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois University is a public university located in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as a satellite campus for what is now Illinois State University. The DeKalb campus was originally called Northern Illinois State...
, located in
DeKalbDeKalb is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city's name is "di-KALB"....
is located in the heart of Northern Illinois and is the state's second largest institute of higher education in terms of enrollment, after
University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignThe University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public research university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Illinois system....
.
Additionally, several major colleges can be found in the Chicago area, including the
Big Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its eleven member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
's
Northwestern University{{Infobox university|name = Northwestern University|image_name = NU seal.png|motto = Quaecumque sunt vera |mottoeng =Whatsoever things are true |established = 1851|type = Private|calendar = Quarter...
, Illinois' third largest state school
University of Illinois at ChicagoThe University of Illinois at Chicago, or UIC, is a state-funded public research university located in Chicago. It is the second member of the University of Illinois system and is the largest university in the Chicago area, serving approximately 25,000 students within 15 colleges, including the...
, and other notable schools including
Loyola UniversityLoyola University Chicago is a Jesuit private university located in Chicago, Illinois. The university was founded in 1870 as St. Ignatius College, and is the largest Jesuit, Catholic University in the United States....
,
DePaul UniversityDePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest who valued philanthropy, Saint Vincent de Paul...
,
Columbia CollegeColumbia College Chicago is the largest arts and media college in the United States with over 12,500 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
,
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
,
Northeastern Illinois UniversityNortheastern Illinois University is a public state university located in the North Park community area of Chicago, Illinois. NEIU primarily serves commuter students in the Chicago metropolitan area. The school's predecessor began in 1867 as Cook County's first teachers' college. The school was...
and
Roosevelt UniversityRoosevelt University is a private institution of higher education with full service campuses in Chicago's Loop and northwest suburban Schaumburg...
.
Several liberal arts schools such as
Aurora UniversityAurora University in Aurora, Illinois, USA is a private liberal arts college that admits both male and female students to four-year undergraduate, master's and doctoral degree programs...
,
Lewis UniversityLewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university located in Romeoville, Illinois, United States . The enrollment is currently around 5,200 students...
,
North Central CollegeNorth Central College is a private, 4-year comprehensive liberal arts college located in Naperville, Illinois. Founded in 1861, it is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Comprehensive fees for the 2007-8 academic year total $32,811.-Academics:...
,
Elmhurst College- History :In 1871, Jennie and Thomas Bryan gave land in Elmhurst to the German Evangelical Synod of the Northwest. This land was given for the purpose of establishing a school to prepare young men for the theological seminary and to train teachers for parochial schools, called the Elmhurst...
,
Wheaton CollegeWheaton College is a private Evangelical Protestant, coeducational, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States. Some regard it as the finest of the Evangelical colleges with respect to its reputation of academic rigor.Wheaton College is listed in...
, Concordia University, and
North Park UniversityNorth Park University is a four-year university located at 3225 W. Foster Avenue on the north side of Chicago, Illinois in the North Park neighborhood. It was founded in 1891 by the Evangelical Covenant Church and shares its campus with the denomination's only seminary...
dot the Metropolitan Chicago landscape. Such schools can also be found in Rockford (
Rockford CollegeRockford College is a private American liberal arts college in Rockford, Illinois. It was founded in 1847 as Rockford Female Seminary and changed its name in 1892. The college is known as the alma mater of Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, who was a member of the class of...
) and the Quad Cities (
Augustana CollegeAugustana College is a private liberal arts college located in Rock Island, Illinois. The college enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Covering 115 acres of hilly, wooded land, Augustana is adjacent to the Mississippi River...
).
These schools, along with several others, help to make Northern Illinois a vibrant research area. Such significant developments in science including the creation of the Atomic Bomb and the
Fujita ScaleThe Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
were rooted in Northern Illinois institutions.
Politics
Politically, the region is quite diverse, with
Cook CountyCook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. According to 2008 US Census Bureau estimates, the county has 5,294,664 residents, which is larger than the populations of 29 individual U.S. states, the...
and Rock Island County being long-time strongholds for Democrats and suburban counties such as
DuPageDuPage County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. Its county seat is the city of Wheaton. This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
,
KaneKane County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. In 2000, the population of the county was 404,119. In 2007, its population was estimated at 501,021. This county is part of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Geneva, Illinois, and its largest city is Aurora.- Geography :According...
,
KendallKendall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 54,544. According to Census Bureau statistics released in March 2009, Kendall County's estimated population of 103,460 as of July 2008 made it the fastest growing county in the United States between...
and
McHenry CountiesMcHenry County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 260,077. As of 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population to be 318,641. Its county seat is Woodstock, Illinois. This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest county,...
being reliable strongholds for Republicans. However, several counties such as
WinnebagoWinnebago County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 278,418. Its county seat is Rockford, Illinois.Winnebago County is part of the Rockford, Illinois, Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
and
LakeLake County is the farthest north-east county in the U.S. state of Illinois. A 2006 census estimated the population was 713,076. Its county seat is Waukegan, Illinois. According to the 2000 United States Census, Lake County is the 31st richest county by per-capita income. The county is part of...
are quite evenly divided. Famous politicians native to the area include
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant was general-in-chief of the Union Army from 1864 to 1869 during the American Civil War and the 18th President of the United States from 1869 to 1877....
,
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
, J. Dennis Hastert, Hillary Clinton,
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii...
, and Mayors
Richard J. DaleyRichard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
and
Richard M. DaleyRichard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party and current Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007...
.
Culture
Culturally, the area is tied heavily to Chicago, and most residents of Northern Illinois tend to root for Chicago teams, lean towards the Chicago media market, and visit the
Chicago LoopThe Loop or The Chicago Loop are the terms used to designate the historical center of downtown Chicago. Most accurately, the term refers to an area bounded by a public transit circuit along Lake Street on the north, Wabash Avenue on the east, Van Buren Street on the south, and Wells Street on the...
often{{Fact|reason=please give a reliable source for this assertion.|date=March 2009}}. For College football the Northern Illinois University Huskies have been a staple for Northern Illinois fan bases for the past several years. Conversely, residents of Central Illinois are often split between the Chicago and
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
media markets, and the fan bases for the cities' respective sports teams often overlap. In Southern Illinois, residents are tied primarily to St. Louis. Additionally, regional dialects in Northern Illinois vary from those in other parts of Illinois.
Subregions
- The Illinois portion of the Chicago metropolitan area
- Fox Valley
The Fox Valley—also commonly known as the Fox River Valley—is a more rural region within Illinois and Wisconsin that borders the more urban portions of the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. This region centers on the Fox River of Illinois and Wisconsin...
- Northwestern Illinois
Northwestern Illinois is a geographic region of the state of Illinois within the USA.Northwestern Illinois is generally considered to consist of the following area: Jo Daviess County, Carroll County, Whiteside County, Stephenson County, Winnebago County, Ogle County, and Lee County...
- Quad Cities
The Quad Cities is a geographic region of the Mid-Mississippi Valley of the United States that includes several communities in the states of Iowa and Illinois. As of 2008, the population is 377,625...
{{Illinois}}
{{Chicagoland}}
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