Manteno, Illinois

Manteno is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,210 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Origins of village name
Manteno was named after Manteno (Mawteno), a daughter of Francois Bourbonnais, Jr. (thus her grandfather was the man for whom the city of Bourbonnais was named) and his Potawatomi wife. A Potawatomi name, it is a possible anglicization of manito or manitou, a Potawatomi word for "spirit". Oliver W. Barnard, an early settler in this area, spelled her name "Mantenau" in a poem, romanticizing the Potawatomi maiden. Other 19th century books spell it "Mawteno" and "Manteno".

Because she was of Potawatomi descent, Mawteno (spelled phonetically in the treaty, "Maw-te-no") was given a section of land, now part of Kankakee County, near Soldier Creek, by the treaty of Treaty of Tippecanoe of 1832.

Incorporation
Both Kankakee and Iroquois counties were part of Will County, Illinois, before the State Legislature granted a plea of Kankakee's citizens and permitted them to incorporate in 1853.

The present township of Manteno was then the east half of the township of Rockville. On March 12, 1855, the town's petition that the area become the township of Manteno was granted by the county's board of supervisors.

The village was incorporated in 1869.

Geography
Manteno is located in northern Kankakee County and is bordered to the south by the village of Bourbonnais. The average elevation is 675 ft.

Interstate 57 passes through the west side of the village, with access from Exit 322. I-57 leads south 10 mi to Kankakee, the county seat, and north 47 mi to Chicago. Illinois Route 50 passes through the center of Manteno as Locust Street and leads north 6 mi to Peotone and south 8 mi to Bradley.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Manteno has a total area of 5.38 sqmi, of which 5.34 sqmi (or 99.37%) is land and 0.03 sqmi (or 0.63%) is water.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 9,210 people, 3,550 households, and 2,230 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,712.53 PD/sqmi. There were 4,008 housing units at an average density of 745.26 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 89.08% White, 1.64% African American, 0.17% Native American, 0.79% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 2.04% from other races, and 6.22% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.42% of the population.

There were 3,550 households, out of which 46.31% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.14% were married couples living together, 7.69% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.18% were non-families. 31.24% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.05 and the average family size was 2.40.

The village's age distribution consisted of 22.2% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 22.2% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 22.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 116.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.6 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $71,576, and the median income for a family was $98,529. Males had a median income of $55,278 versus $37,595 for females. The per capita income for the village was $36,235. About 2.6% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.6% of those under age 18 and 0.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Manteno is located approximately 50 mi south of Chicago's loop. There is a combination of industrial and agricultural employers in town. Farmers Elevator Company of Manteno stands as the tallest site in town, with the ability to house 2 million bushels of corn or soybeans at any one time.

Manteno is home the Diversatech Industrial Park is on the east side of town. It contains many diversified industrial plants and warehousing complexes.

Manteno State Hospital, one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the country when it opened in 1928, was located 2 mi southeast of the village. It received its first patients in 1930 and closed in 1985. That closure and the 1983 closure of Hilman Hospital, a general medical hospital, brought economic stagnation to the town. The north half of the original campus of the state hospital has been turned into a veterans' home. Some buildings have been torn down and housing has been put up. A lot of the buildings have been renovated, and very few buildings on the south side of the campus are left in original condition, but are still abandoned.

Education
Manteno Public Schools are part of the Manteno Community Unit School District 5. The district has an elementary school, middle school and high school. Students attend Manteno High School. The schools together have about 2,200 students.

Transportation
River Valley Metro provides bus service on Route 9 connecting Manteno to destinations in the Kankakee area.

Although the village once had direct access to Chicago via a commuter line, that railroad hasn't operated since the 1920s. The Metra Electric station in University Park, 16 mi north of Manteno, is the closest rail access.

Notable people

 * Fred Sylvester Breen, Arizona newspaper editor and politician, born in Manteno
 * George R. Lawrence, photography and aviation pioneer; lived in Manteno and is buried there
 * John Moisant, aviator, lived in Manteno
 * Charles A. Spring, son of Samuel Spring; helped establish the First Presbyterian Church of Manteno (1859)
 * Elizabeth Packard, crusader/activist for married women's property rights and the rights of the mentally ill.