Yorkville, Illinois

Yorkville (officially the United City of Yorkville) is a city within the Chicago Metropolitan Area and is the county seat of Kendall County, Illinois, United States. It is a southwest suburb/exurb of Chicago, Illinois. The population was 23,835 as of the 2022 census.

History


In 1836, the city of Yorkville was settled by early pioneers. Originally, the city's main thoroughfare of Bridge Street was designed for horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians. As time passed, Hydraulic Street, which runs parallel to the Fox River, boasted a trolley that ran from Ottawa to Aurora. This part is now operated by the Illinois Railway.

At the time, Yorkville's central business district was on the south side of the Fox River and the public square was north of the river, a layout unique to the region. The public gathering place was near the river's edge. The Kendall County Courthouse was next to the downtown commercial district. Many of the city's remaining historic single-family homes are within walking distance of Bridge Street, the courthouse and Union Hall. Earl Adams was the first to settle what would become Yorkville when he built his cabin on Courthouse Hill on the south side of town in 1833. One year later, Lyman and Burr Bristol set up residency in neighboring Bristol, north of the river.

When the county of Kendall was formed in 1841, Yorkville was chosen as the county seat. After a 13-year period in which Oswego claimed that honor, voters chose to relocate the county government in 1859 to Yorkville, a more central location. The new courthouse was completed in 1864. Replaced in 1997 with a courthouse on the city's north side, the 1864 building is used by the Kendall County Forest Preserve and other organizations. Yorkville was no exception to the railroad boom. Development began and businesses sprang up in 1870 along the tracks and included Squire Dingee's pickle factory, the Yorkville Ice Cream Company and the Rehbehn Brothers button factory. A few of those buildings still remain.

The present city of Yorkville was originally two towns, Bristol to the north and the Yorkville south of the Fox River, with separate governments for more than 100 years. In 1957, Bristol and Yorkville merged, becoming the United City of Yorkville. Ellsworth Windett became the combined city's first mayor. As a part of the consolidation, the residents of both towns agreed to a uniform school district. It was in that same year high school classes began in the downtown area at the northeast corner of Van Emmon and Bridge Streets. In 1888, a two-story brick school building on West Center Street was constructed. After the construction of Circle Center School in 1968, the two-story building was closed and the space was rented by the Yorkville School District to neighboring Waubonsee Community College. Due to rising enrollment in the early 1970s, the school was reopened and renamed as Parkview Christian Academy.

Geography
Yorkville is in northern Kendall County and is bordered to the northeast by Montgomery, to the east by Oswego, and to the west by Plano. Its boundaries are located approximately 4 mi southwest of Aurora, 13 mi southwest of Naperville, and 47 mi southwest of Chicago.

According to the 2020 census, Yorkville has an area of 20 sqmi. The Fox River flows through downtown Yorkville. The city is in Bristol, Kendall, and Fox townships.

Demographics
As of the census of 2020, there were 22,594 people and 7,035 households residing in the city. The average household size was 2.88. The population density is 1,076.8 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of the city is 68.2% White, 11.5% African American, 3.5% Asian, and 4.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race are 17.3% of the population.

In the city, 48.8% of the city's population are female, 27.3% are under the age of 18, and 8.1% are age 65 and older. The median age is 32.7 years.

The median income for a household in the city is $105,129. The per capita income for the city is $39,765. About 2.88% of the population is at or below the poverty line.

Economy
The William Wrigley Company has a large manufacturing facility in Yorkville. Wrigley planned to start making Skittles in Yorkville. It planned to invest about $50 million to expand its Yorkville factory by 145,000 square feet.

Parks and recreation
Raging Waves waterpark, the self-proclaimed largest waterpark in Illinois, is in Yorkville. It opened in 2008 and owns about 45 acre of property.

The Marge Cline Whitewater Park (on the Fox River) opened in 2010. It is the only whitewater park of its kind in Illinois, similar to East Race in South Bend, Indiana. It offers opportunities for freestyle kayaking, slalom kayaking and river tubing. It is named after Marge Cline, former president of American Whitewater (1982-1988), National Board of Directors of American Canoe Association, President of Midwest Division of ACA, and member of the Chicago Whitewater association.

Education
The area is served by Yorkville Community Unit School District 115. Schools include Yorkville Middle School and Yorkville High School. Additionally, a small portion of Yorkville attends Oswego Community Unit School District 308.
 * Autumn Creek Elementary
 * Bristol Bay Elementary
 * Bristol Grade School
 * Circle Center Grade School
 * Grande Reserve Elementary
 * Yorkville Grade School
 * Yorkville Intermediate School
 * Yorkville Middle School
 * Yorkville Freshman Academy
 * Yorkville High School

Notable people

 * Jon Blackman, college and NFL football player
 * Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House
 * Mike Radja, ice hockey player, born in Yorkville
 * Andy Richter, actor and comedian
 * The Giving Tree Band, American indie folk rock group

In popular culture
In August 2011, the movie Man of Steel was filmed at a house built specifically for the set in Yorkville. It appeared in the movie as the Kent family farm. In the fall of 2014, that house was rebuilt for use on the set of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In 2017, the same house was used in Justice League for one small scene, then later demolished.