Cook County, Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cook County, Illinois | |
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| Map | |
| Image:Cook County Illinois.png Location in the state of Illinois | |
| Statistics | |
| Formed | January 15, 1831 |
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| Seat | Chicago |
| Area - Total - Land - Water | (1,635 mi²) (946 mi²) (689 mi²), 42.16% |
| Population - (2000) - Density | 5,376,741 2,195/km² |
| Website: www.cookcountygov.com | |
Cook County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 5,376,741, making it the second largest county by population in the United States (after Los Angeles County, California). The county seat is Chicago, the principal city of its metropolitan area, Chicagoland; Chicago makes up about 54% of the population of the county, the rest being provided by various suburbs, and Cook county itself makes up 43.3% of the state population as of 2000. Cook County is the 19th largest government in the United States. Cook County has by far more Democratic Party members than any other Illinois county and is one of the most Democratic counties in the United States. It has only voted once for a Republican candidate in a Presidential Election in the last forty years, in 1972, when Cook county voters preferred Nixon to McGovern by 53.4% to 46%.
Cook County's current (acting) County Board President is Bobbie L. Steele, the first woman and second African American to serve at that position. Her predecesor was John Stroger, the first African American ever elected to that position, who suffered a major stroke in March 2006.
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[edit] History
Cook County was created on January 15, 1831 by an act of the Illinois State Legislature. It was the 54th county established in Illinois and was named after Daniel Pope Cook, one of the earliest and youngest statesmen in Illinois history who served as the first U.S. representative from Illinois and the first Attorney General of the State of Illinois.
As mandated by State law, Cook County government has principal responsibility for the protection of persons and property, the provision for public health services and the maintenance of County highways.
The obligation to protect persons and property, commonly called public safety, is fulfilled by the provision of County judicial and law enforcement services: the Circuit Court of Cook County, which is the largest unified court system in the world - disposing over 6 million cases in 1990 alone, the Cook County Department of Corrections, which is the largest single-site jail in the nation and the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, the first juvenile center in the nation and one of the largest in the nation, are solely the responsibility of Cook County government. The Cook County Law Library is the second largest County law library in the nation.
The obligation to provide public health services is fulfilled by the provision of comprehensive medical services to the citizens of the County, regardless of their ability to pay. The Bureau of Health Services administers the county's public health services and is the second largest public health system in the nation. Three hospitals are part of this system: John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Provident Hospital and Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County, along with over 30 outpatient clinics.
The Cook County Highway Department is responsible for the design and maintenance of over 578 miles of roadways in the county. These thouroughfares are mostly composed of major and minor arterials, with a few local roads. Although the Highway Department was instrumental in designing many of the expressways in the county, today they are under the jurisdiction of the state.
The Forest Preserve District, organized in 1915, is a separate, independent taxing body, but the Cook County Board of Commissioners also acts as the Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners. The District is a belt of 68,000 acres of forest reservations surrounding the City of Chicago. The Brookfield Zoo (managed by the Chicago Zoological Society) and the Chicago Botanic Garden (managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society) are located in the forest preserves.
In the 1980s, Cook County was ground zero to an extensive FBI investigation named Operation Greylord. "92 officials had been indicted, including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 8 policemen, 10 deputy sheriffs, 8 court officials, and 1 state legislator."
[edit] Secession movements
Many suburban communities often feel unrepresented in Cook County government, as much of it is controlled by Chicago Democratic politicians who often fail to account for the needs of the suburbs, needs which are very different from those of the city of Chicago. As a result, to establish more localized government control and policies which reflect the starkly different values and needs of large suburban sections of the sprawling county, several secession movements have been made over the years, whereby certain townships or municipalities would secede from Cook County to form their own county.
In the late 1970s, a movement was started which would collectively separate six Northwest suburban townships from Cook to form a new county: Barrington, Hanover, Palatine, Wheeling, Schaumburg, and Elk Grove Townships. The six townships would then be collectively known as Lincoln County, in honor of the native former U.S. president who ironically does not have an Illinois county named after him. It would be likely that Arlington Heights would have been the county seat. The northwest suburban region of Cook is moderately conservative and has a population over 500,000. Local legislators, led by State Senator Dave Regnar, went so far as to propose it as official legislation in the Illinois House. The legislation died however before it could even be voted on. [1]
In 2004, Blue Island mayor Donald Peloquin tried to organize a coaliton of South and Southwest suburban municipalities to form a new county, this one also proposing the name "Lincoln County". The county would include everything currently in Cook County outside of the city, south of Burbank, stretching as far west as Orland Park, as far east as Calumet City, and as far south as Matteson. The area is quite expansive, and has a population numbering over 1 million. Peloquin cited that the south suburbs are often shunned by the city and blamed the Chicago-centric policies of Cook County governement for failing to jumpstart the long-depressed local economy of the South Suburban region. Peloquin planned to get a petition drive to place a question regarding the secession on the general election ballot, if there was enough interest from local communities.[2]
[edit] Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of (1,635 mi²). (946 mi²) of it is land and (689 mi²) of it (42.16%) is water, most of it in Lake Michigan.
[edit] Adjacent Counties
- Lake County, Illinois - north
- Berrien County, Michigan - east; boundary is in Lake Michigan
- Porter County, Indiana - southeast; boundary is in Lake Michigan
- Lake County, Indiana - southeast
- Will County, Illinois - south
- DuPage County, Illinois - west
- Kane County, Illinois - west
- McHenry County, Illinois - northwest
[edit] Demographics
| Cook County Population by year | |
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2000 - 5,376,741 | |
As of the census² of 2000, there were 5,376,741 people, 1,974,181 households, and 1,269,398 families residing in the county. The population density was (5,686/mi²). There were 2,096,121 housing units at an average density of (2,216/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 56.27% White, 26.14% Black or African American, 0.29% Native American, 4.84% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 9.88% from other races, and 2.53% from two or more races. 19.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 17.63% reported speaking Spanish at home; 3.13% speak Polish.[3]
There were 1,974,181 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.7% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.38.
In the county the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $45,922, and the median income for a family was $53,784. Males had a median income of $40,690 versus $31,298 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,227. About 10.6% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Townships (suburban Cook County)
- Barrington Township, Cook County, Illinois
- Berwyn Township
- Bloom Township
- Bremen Township
- Calumet Township
- Cicero Township
- Elk Grove Township
- Evanston Township
- Hanover Township
- Lemont Township
- Leyden Township
- Lyons Township
- Maine Township
- New Trier Township
- Niles Township
- Northfield Township
- Norwood Park Township
- Oak Park Township
- Orland Township
- Palatine Township
- Palos Township
- Proviso Township
- Rich Township
- River Forest Township
- Riverside Township
- Schaumburg Township
- Stickney Township
- Thornton Township
- Wheeling Township
- Worth Township
[edit] Communities
[edit] Cities
- Berwyn
- Blue Island
- Burbank
- Calumet City
- Chicago - small part of O'Hare in DuPage
- Chicago Heights
- Country Club Hills
- Countryside
- Des Plaines
- Elgin - mostly in Kane County
- Evanston
- Harvey
- Hickory Hills
- Markham
- Northlake
- Oak Forest
- Palos Heights
- Palos Hills
- Park Ridge
- Rolling Meadows
[edit] Towns
[edit] Villages
[edit] Trivia
- In the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, the title characters are racing to the offices of the Assessor of Cook County in order to pay the back taxes owed by the orphanage they grew up in. In reality, however, back taxes are paid in the Cook County Treasurer's Office.
- In Otis, an episode of the television series Prison Break, LJ Burrows is sent to a court hearing at the Cook County Courthouse, while his father Lincoln Burrows and his uncle Michael Scofield attempt to take him out of custody by extracting him while he is in the elevator.
[edit] External links
- Cook County Website
- Cook County Assessor
- Cook County Board of Review
- Circuit Court of Cook County
- Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County
- Clerk of Cook County
- Cook County Recorder of Deeds
- Cook County Sheriff
- Cook County State's Attorney
- Cook County Treasurer
[edit] References
- Forstall, Richard L. (editor) (1996). Population of states and counties of the United States: 1790 to 1990 : from the twenty-one decennial censuses. United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Population Division. ISBN 0934213488.
de:Cook County (Illinois)
