Lake County, Illinois

Lake County is a county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Illinois, along the shores of Lake Michigan. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 714,342, making it the third-most populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Waukegan, the tenth-largest city in Illinois. The county is primarily suburban, with some urban areas and some rural areas. Due to its location, immediately north of Cook County, Lake County is one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. Its northern boundary is the Wisconsin state line.

According to the 2010 census, Lake County is the second wealthiest county in the state by per capita income, after DuPage County. Additionally, Lake County ranks as the 27th wealthiest county in the nation. The county includes the affluent North Shore communities of Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, and Highland Park, and much of the county's wealth is concentrated in this area, as well as in communities bordering Cook County to the south and McHenry County to the west. The north and northwest areas of the county, though historically rural and exurban, have experienced rapid suburbanization in the past three decades, while the lakefront communities of Waukegan, North Chicago, and Zion are post-industrial areas that have majority-minority populations. The Hispanic population has seen significant increases in nearly all areas of the county and comprise 24% of the county's population in 2020. Naval Station Great Lakes is located in the city of North Chicago. It is the United States Navy's Headquarters Command for training, and the Navy's only recruit training center.

History


The county, which was primarily unsettled prairie and was still home to its native Potawatomi Indians, was created by the Illinois State Legislature in 1839. At that time, Libertyville, then known as Independence Grove, was the first county seat. In 1841, however, the county's residents voted to move the county government to Little Fort, now Waukegan, where the commissioners had purchased a section of land from the state. Lake County's first courthouse was built on part of that land in 1844 and the remainder was sold to pay for the $4,000 construction cost.

The county's first courthouse was used solely for court sessions and the jail, but in 1853, commissioners constructed a building to accommodate county administration offices and house records. When fire damaged the courthouse on October 19, 1875, the county records were saved because they were in the adjacent building.

After the fire, proposals were made to move the county seat to Highland Park, Libertyville or another site in central Lake County. The county commissioners, however, decided to rebuild in Waukegan. The east half of the building was reconstructed at a cost of $45,000. In 1895, the first jail building was added to the government complex and a west addition was added to the courthouse in 1922. By 1938, county commissioners saw a need for additional space and approved the addition of a 5th Floor. This courthouse, however, was demolished in 1967 to make room for a new high-rise administration building, which was completed with the addition of the jail in 1969 and courts in 1970.

Shortly thereafter, the Lake County Board commissioned the construction of a multi-faceted justice facility and ground was broken in 1986 for the Robert H. Babcox Justice Center, named in memory of Sheriff Babcox, who served as Lake County Sheriff from 1982 to 1988. The justice center, which houses the county jail, work release program, sheriff's administration offices and three courtrooms, was finished in 1989 at a cost of $29.6 million.

Additional county government facilities have been built or expanded throughout Lake County, including the Coroner's Office, Health Department/Community Health Center facilities, Division of Transportation, Public Works and Winchester House. Lake County government services extend throughout the county's 470 sqmi.

The historic Half Day Inn, a tavern/restaurant, was constructed in 1843. This structure, once located at the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Rte. 45/Old Half Day Road, was one of the oldest structures in Lake County until it was demolished in 2007 to make way for retail space, condominiums, and a retention pond.

Geography


According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1368 sqmi, of which 444 sqmi is land and 935 sqmi (67.6%) is water. It is the second-largest county in Illinois by total area and the only one that has more water area than land area. Most of the water is in Lake Michigan.

State parks

 * Illinois Beach State Park
 * North Point Marina
 * Volo Bog State Natural Area
 * Chain O'Lakes State Park

Lakes
Besides Lake Michigan, lakes in the county include:


 * Bangs Lake
 * Bluff Lake
 * Butler Lake
 * Channel Lake
 * Lake Charles
 * Countryside Lake
 * Diamond Lake
 * Druce Lake
 * Dunns Lake
 * East Loon Lake
 * Fox Lake
 * Gages Lake
 * Grays Lake
 * Highland Lake
 * Island Lake
 * Lake Linden
 * Loon Lake
 * Lake Naomi
 * Sterling Lake
 * Valley Lake
 * Wooster Lake
 * Lake Zurich

Natural areas
Lake County's forest preserves and natural areas are administered by the Lake County Forest Preserves district. These facilities include traditional nature preserves, such as the Ryerson Conservation Area, as well as golf courses and historic homes, such as the Adlai Stevenson historic home. A long north–south string of the preserves in Lake County, including Half Day Woods, Old School Forest Preserve, Independence Grove, and Van Patten Woods, form the Des Plaines River Greenway, which contains the Des Plaines River Trail, a popular place for walking, running, and biking. Lake County is also home to Illinois Beach State Park, featuring over six miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, as well as dune areas, wetlands, prairie, and black oak savanna. Several local environmental groups operate in Lake County, such as Conserve Lake County and Citizens for Conservation, working to improve habitat. Volunteer opportunities also exist with the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

Adjacent counties

 * Kenosha County, Wisconsin – north
 * Cook County – south
 * McHenry County – west

Transit

 * Metra
 * Milwaukee District North Line
 * North Central Service
 * Union Pacific North Line
 * Union Pacific Northwest Line
 * Pace

County routes and county highways
Lake County's county road system currently covers 300 miles of road. The county also employs two different numbering systems, a county route system and a county highway system. While both systems' can be seen on official road maps, only the County Route designations have been indicated with highway markers on traffic signals or dedicated poles.

The county route system in use today by Lake County was purportedly intended to be the dominant system for all of Illinois' counties and was proposed by the National Association of Counties (NACo), however their system was not chosen and instead each county was given the freedom to number their own county routes as well as choose whether or not to produce and display highway markers. Currently, only Lake County, Boone County, McHenry County and Cook County use NACo's proposed numbering system, and of the four only Lake and McHenry counties chose to fully display the county route designations on highway markers. Cook County began to roll out the production of highway markers near the beginning of 2009, but the seemingly arbitrary numbering system as well as the cost to produce the markers resulted in a lot of confusion and backlash, and ultimately only some of the markers were produced and mounted.

For Lake County, all East–West-bound County Routes begin with an "A", while North—South-bound County Routes on the western half of the county begin with a "V", and those located on the eastern half begin with a "W".

2010 Census
As of the 2010 Census, there were 703,462 people, 241,712 households, and 179,428 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,585.6 PD/sqmi. There were 260,310 housing units at an average density of 586.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 75.1% white, 7.0% black or African American, 6.3% Asian, 0.5% American Indian, 8.5% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 19.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 20.5% were German, 12.9% were Irish, 9.4% were Polish, 6.9% were Italian, 6.5% were English, and 4.0% were American.

Of the 241,712 households, 40.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.6% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 25.8% were non-families, and 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.31. The median age was 36.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $78,948 and the median income for a family was $91,693. Males had a median income of $62,042 versus $44,200 for females. The per capita income for the county was $38,120. About 4.8% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.

2021 American Community Survey one-year estimates
According to 2021 US Census Bureau American Community Survey one-year estimates (which is conducted annually for cities over 65,000 via sampling), the population of Lake County, Illinois was 61.8% White (57.8% Non-Hispanic White and 4.0% Hispanic White), 6.3% Black or African American, 8.4% Asian, 1.1% Native American and Alaskan Native, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 7.5% Some Other Race, and 14.8% from two or more races. The White population continues to remain the largest racial category and includes the 17.3% of Hispanics in Lake County who identify as White. A plurality of Hispanics identify as Multiracial (48.5%) with others continuing to identify as Some Other Race (29.1%) and smaller amounts identifying as Black (0.5%), American Indian and Alaskan Native (4.0%), Asian (0.4%), and Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (0.1%). By ethnicity, 23.1% of the total population is Hispanic-Latino (of any race) and 76.9% is Non-Hispanic (of any race). If treated as a separate category, Hispanics are the largest minority group in Lake County, Illinois surpassing the Black population in the 1990 Census. The majority of Hispanic/ Latino residents in Lake County, Illinois are of Mexican descent (18.0% of the county population in 2021). Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central Americans, and South Americans also reside in Lake County, Illinois.

Sports
The following sports teams play in Lake County:
 * Lake County Fielders baseball (defunct)
 * Lake County Coyotes baseball

Amusement parks

 * Six Flags Great America in Gurnee
 * Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago in Gurnee
 * Lambs Farm in Libertyville

Museums

 * Volo Auto Museum in Volo
 * Bess Bower Dunn Museum in Libertyville
 * Warbird Heritage Foundation in Waukegan
 * Waukegan History Museum in Waukegan
 * Raupp Museum in Buffalo Grove
 * Shiloh House in Zion
 * Fort Hill Memorial Museum in Mundelein
 * Dunn Museum in Libertyville

Performing arts

 * Adler Arts Center in Libertyville
 * ArtWauk in Waukegan
 * Clockwise Theatre in Waukegan
 * Genesee Theatre in Waukegan
 * James Lumber Center for Performing Arts in Grayslake
 * Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire
 * Ravinia Festival in Highland Park

Other

 * Naval Station Great Lakes
 * Gurnee Mills shopping mall
 * Lake Michigan

Cities

 * Highland Park
 * Highwood
 * Lake Forest
 * McHenry (unincorporated part)
 * North Chicago
 * Park City
 * Waukegan
 * Zion

Villages

 * Antioch
 * Arlington Heights (unincorporated part)
 * Bannockburn
 * Barrington (part)
 * Barrington Hills (part)
 * Beach Park
 * Buffalo Grove (part)
 * Deerfield (mostly)
 * Deer Park (part)
 * Fox Lake (part)
 * Fox River Grove (part)
 * Grayslake
 * Green Oaks
 * Gurnee
 * Hainesville
 * Hawthorn Woods
 * Indian Creek
 * Island Lake (part)
 * Kildeer
 * Lake Barrington
 * Lake Bluff
 * Lake Villa
 * Lake Zurich
 * Lakemoor (mostly)
 * Libertyville
 * Lincolnshire
 * Lindenhurst
 * Long Grove
 * Mettawa
 * Mundelein
 * North Barrington
 * Old Mill Creek
 * Palatine (unincorporated part)
 * Port Barrington (part)
 * Riverwoods
 * Round Lake
 * Round Lake Beach
 * Round Lake Heights
 * Round Lake Park
 * Spring Grove (unincorporated part)
 * Third Lake
 * Tower Lakes
 * Vernon Hills
 * Volo
 * Wadsworth
 * Wauconda
 * Wheeling (part)
 * Winthrop Harbor

Census-designated places

 * Channel Lake
 * Forest Lake
 * Fox Lake Hills
 * Gages Lake
 * Grandwood Park
 * Knollwood
 * Lake Catherine
 * Long Lake
 * Venetian Village

Unincorporated communities

 * Aptakisic
 * Diamond Lake
 * Eddy
 * Fort Sheridan
 * Fremont Center
 * Gilmer
 * Grange Hall
 * Grass Lake
 * Half Day
 * Ingleside
 * Ivanhoe
 * Kennedy
 * Loon Lake
 * Millburn
 * Monaville
 * Palm Beach
 * Prairie View
 * Rondout (Part of Lake Bluff)
 * Rosecrans
 * Russell
 * Sylvan Lake
 * West Miltmore
 * Wildwood
 * Wilson

Townships
The county is divided into eighteen townships.


 * Antioch
 * Avon
 * Benton
 * Cuba
 * Ela
 * Fremont
 * Grant
 * Lake Villa
 * Libertyville
 * Moraine
 * Newport
 * Shields
 * Vernon
 * Warren
 * Wauconda
 * Waukegan
 * West Deerfield
 * Zion

Politics
As a historic Yankee settlement, Lake County was initially a stronghold of the Free Soil Party. In the 1848 presidential election, it was Free Soil nominee and former president Martin van Buren’s strongest county, giving him over 58 percent of the vote.

Consequently, Lake County would turn rock-solid Republican for most of the next century and a half. After narrowly supporting Democrat Franklin Pierce in 1852, it voted Republican at all but one presidential election from 1856 to 1960. This tradition was only broken in 1912, when the GOP was mortally divided and Lake County voted for Progressive Party nominee and former president Theodore Roosevelt over conservative incumbent William Howard Taft.

In 1964 the Republican Party nominated Barry Goldwater, whose hostility to the Yankee establishment and strongly conservative platform were sufficient to leave many traditional Republicans to stay home or even to vote for Lyndon Johnson, who narrowly became the first Democrat to win an absolute majority in the county since James K. Polk in 1844, and the first to win it at all since Pierce in 1852. Between 1968 and 1988, however, Lake County became powerfully Republican once more, with no Democrat cracking forty percent of the vote.

However, as in the other collar counties, the Republican edge narrowed considerably in the 1990s, and Bill Clinton actually won it with a 166-vote plurality in 1996–the only time that Clinton won any of the collar counties besides Will County during his two campaigns for president. After narrowly voting for George W. Bush twice, in 2008 it swung over dramatically to support Democrat Barack Obama, who carried it by almost 20 points. Obama won it but by a slimmer margin in 2012. Hillary Clinton won it handily in 2016, tallying her second-best margin in the state. At 36%, Donald Trump's performance in the county was the worst of any Republican presidential nominee since 1912. In 2020, Joe Biden won 61% of the vote, the highest percentage of the vote for any candidate since 1988 and the highest ever attained by a Democrat.

Lake County has the highest payout for wrongful conviction in the United States. Juan Rivera was awarded $20 million, the largest wrongful conviction settlement in United States history, including $2 million from John E. Reid & Associates, who were known for the Reid technique of questioning suspects. This technique has been widely criticized for its history of eliciting confessions that were later determined to be false. Rivera was questioned twice at Reid headquarters by an employee of the company during his interrogation, which lasted for several days. Another payout was made to Jerry Hobbs. Kathleen Zellner settled Jerry Hobbs' civil rights case for $7.75 million. Hobbs was incarcerated for 66 months. This was the largest pre-trial detainee settlement in the United States.

Media
Lake County is covered by the Chicago and Milwaukee media market and the county relies on Chicago and Milwaukee television stations, radio stations, and newspapers for the source of its news and information.

The county has multiple radio stations, including 102.3 FM XLC and 98.3 FM WRLR.

The Lake County News-Sun, owned by Tribune Publishing, is the county's main print newspaper. It is printed and published in Gurnee.

Lake and McHenry County Scanner, launched in 2012 by Sam Borcia, is the county's biggest digital newspaper which covers Lake County as well as nearby McHenry County. The publication's work has been quoted in top news outlets such as Fox News and Yahoo! News.

The county is also covered by the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Herald.

Education
The following is a list of school districts with any territory in Lake County, no matter how slight, even if the school districts' administrative headquarters and/or schools are outside of the county:

K-12:
 * Barrington Community Unit School District 22
 * Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95
 * North Chicago School District 187
 * Round Lake Community Unit School District 116
 * Wauconda Community Unit School District 118
 * Waukegan Community Unit School District 60

Secondary:
 * Antioch Community High School District 117
 * Community High School District 155
 * Grant Community High School District 124
 * Grayslake Community High School District 127
 * Lake Forest Community High School District 115
 * Libertyville Community High School District 128
 * Mundelein Consolidated High School District 120
 * Richmond-Burton Community High School District 157
 * Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125
 * Township High School District 113
 * Warren Township High School District 121
 * Zion-Benton Township High School District 126

Elementary:
 * Antioch Community Consolidated School District 34
 * Aptakisic-Tripp Community Consolidated School District
 * Bannockburn School District 106
 * Beach Park Community Consolidated School District 3
 * Big Hollow School District 38
 * Cary Community Consolidated School District 26
 * Deerfield School District 109
 * Diamond Lake School District 76
 * Emmons School District 33
 * Fox Lake Grade School District 114
 * Fremont School District 79
 * Gavin School District 37
 * Grass Lake School District 36
 * Grayslake Consolidated Community School District 46
 * Gurnee School District 56
 * Hawthorn Community Consolidated School District 73
 * Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96
 * Lake Bluff Elementary School District 65
 * Lake Forest School District 67
 * Lake Villa Community Consolidated School District 41
 * Libertyville School District 70
 * Lincolnshire-Prairieview School District 103
 * McHenry Community Consolidated School District 15
 * Millburn Community Consolidated School District 24
 * Mundelein Elementary School District 75
 * North Shore School District 112
 * Nippersink School District 2
 * Oak Grove School District 68
 * Rondout School District 72
 * Winthrop Harbor School District 1
 * Woodland Community Consolidated School District 50
 * Zion Elementary School District 6

Notable people

 * Jack Benny (February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) – entertainer, comedian, actor and musician, Benny was one of America's greatest stars of radio and television, and also appeared in many films; he was raised in Waukegan, Illinois.
 * Charles Boyce (September 21, 1949) – cartoonist, creator of syndicated comic panel Compu-toon and the telecommunication public affairs image The KeyPad Kid.
 * Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) – fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury is widely considered one of the greatest and most popular American writers of speculative fiction of the twentieth century. Bradbury was born in Waukegan.
 * Marlon Brando (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) actor; as a young sex symbol, he is best known for his roles in A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and Guys and Dolls. Brando and his family moved to Libertyville, Illinois where he lived from 1937 until 1942.
 * Gary Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010) – actor, known for his role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986). Coleman was born in Zion, Illinois.
 * Ron Goldman (July 2, 1968 – June 12, 1994), who was killed along with Nicole Brown Simpson grew up in Buffalo Grove.
 * Michael Jordan (born February 17, 1963) – retired professional basketball player and active businessman, widely considered one of the greatest players of all time; as of 2015, Jordan had a residence in Highland Park, Illinois.
 * Vince Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) – actor, known for his roles in Swingers and Wedding Crashers; grew up in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, then moved to Lake Forest, Illinois, where he graduated from Lake Forest High School in 1988.
 * Pete Wilson (born August 23, 1933), Mayor of San Diego (1971-1983); United States Senator from California (1983-1991); and Governor of California (1991-1999), born in Lake Forest.
 * Thomas E. Wilson (1868-1958), businessman and founder of 'Wilson Sporting Goods', resident and buried in Lake County.

General sources

 * Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004), comprehensive coverage of city and suburbs, past and present
 * Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004), comprehensive coverage of city and suburbs, past and present