Hodgkins, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hodgkins is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,134 at the 2000 census.

An enormous United Parcel Service sorting facility, known as CACH, is located partly in Hodgkins, and partly in nearby Willow Springs. CACH employs over 9,000 people [1], and is the "largest package sorting center in the world." [2]

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Government
4 History
5 McCook-Hodgkins Enterprise Zone
6 Jefferson Hodgkins
7 Hodgkins today
8 Past presidents
9 External links

[edit] Geography

Hodgkins is located at 41°45′51″N, 87°51′34″W (41.764181, -87.859384)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 6.8 km² (2.6 mi²). 6.7 km² (2.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (2.65%) is water. It is located just over 3 miles from Chicago's western city limits.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 2,134 people, 841 households, and 470 families residing in the village. The population density was 320.6/km² (829.7/mi²). There were 918 housing units at an average density of 137.9/km² (356.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 81.82% White, 0.14% African American, 0.47% Native American, 0.05% Asian, 16.26% from other races, and 1.27% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 43.72% of the population.

There were 841 households out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.1% were non-families. 36.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.41.

In the village the population was spread out with 23.9% under the age of 18, 12.1% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 123.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 124.4 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $36,090, and the median income for a family was $42,313. Males had a median income of $32,031 versus $26,683 for females. The per capita income for the village was $17,920. About 11.4% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.1% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Government

Hodgkins is in Illinois' 3rd congressional district.

[edit] History

The first visitors to present-day Hodgkins, explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, paddled down the Des Plaines River in 1673, passing through the area, making their camp in present-day Summit. Settlement in the area, however, was somewhat stagnant until the early 1800s. It was at this time, around 1836, that Irish and Italian immigrants came to the area to work on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The construction and eventual operation of the canal was responsible for the formation of many villages presently located along it's banks, including Hodgkins. The I&M Canal is still in existence, located about one-mile south of Hodgkins. The canal and its adjacent land, now known as the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, was designated a National Heritage Corridor by Congress in 1984. The I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor is rich in historic sites, nature preserves and wildlife, and stretches from Chicago to La Salle-Peru, Illinois.

The Village of Hodgkins was originally known as Gary, a name locals claim was derived from "Garibaldi", in recognition of the large number of Italian laborers wirking in an area grain mill. After several name changes, the Village of Hodgkins was incorporated in 1896. Jefferson Hodgkins, the president of the Kimball and Cobb Stone company, which was also the first business to locate in the village, was the man for whom Hodgkins was named. Modesto Lenzi, the somewhat dubious "King of Gary", became the village's first president that same year.

In the 1950s and 1960s Hodgkins began to attract motor freight terminals. The village's location relative to expressways and the availability of high, flat, and dry land made it a natural distribution and transfer point between Chicago and the rest of the nation. Hodgkins grew substantially during these two decades; however, by the late 1970s, the motor freight industry began to decline.

[edit] McCook-Hodgkins Enterprise Zone

In 1985 Hodgkins joined with the village of McCook to create the McCook-Hodgkins Enterprise Zone. The next year saw the creation of a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District within the Enterprise Zone. Both of these tools allowed the Village to offer incentives to new businesses desiring to locate within the Village. As a result of these programs, commercial business began to replace motor freight as Hodgkins mechanism of growth.

The crown jewel of the Enterprise Zone is the United Parcel Service (UPS) package sorting facility, built in 1991. This facility is the largest one of its kind in the world.

[edit] Jefferson Hodgkins

Today, many hear the word Hodgkins and associate it with a disease. However, the village's name comes from a local landowner and businessman, Jefferson Hodgkins.

The Kimball and Cobb Stone Quarry, organized in 1888, was the first major business in the area that would later become the Village of Hodgkins. The establishment of this business was the first concrete step in permanent settlement of the Village. The president of the Kimball and Cobb Stone Quarry was Jefferson Hodgkins, the man for whom the village was named. The secretary of the company was Frederic Cobb, the man whose name was given to Cobb Street.

Hodgkins, a quarryman and crushed stone contractor, was born in Lemoine, Maine on October 27, 1843. Hodgkins went through the public schools of Lemoine. After leaving school at the age of 17, he became a sailor. Hodgkins spent eight years in this vocation, sailin gout of both new York and Boston, excpet for one year when he served as a private in Company C 26th Me. Volunteers during the Civil War.

Hodgkins worked for the federal government in surveying projects in 1869 and 1870. He came to Chicago in 1872 and became superintendent of the Chicago Dredging and Dock Company for several years, later contracting business for himself. It was in 1885, while president of the Brownell Improvement Company, that Hodgkins organize dthe Kimball and Cobb Stone Company. Three years later, he bought the company and consolidated it with his own. The newly merged improvement company owned stone quarries, manufactured crushed stone and contracted primarily railway work.

Hodgkins was active socally and in politics. In addition to other posts, Hodgkins served as aide de-camps on Illinois Governor Joseph W. Fifer's staff, holding the rank of Colonel.

It is unclear exactly how Hodgkins' name came to replace Gary as the village's moniker. Throughout its history, Hodgkins has been known by several different names. In the years before settlers began to arrive, the Pottawatomie Indians lived in the area near the Des Plaines River. From 1836 transient workers were brought to the area to work on the I&M Canal; however, it wasn't until 1860, when the United States Government deeded property to a local settler, Hurls Polk, that the name "Polk" was given to the area. When the Santa Fe Depot was built in 1887 the name of the stop was "Novak". By 1890, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad listed the stop in present-day Hodgkins as "Gary". this designation would stick until July 1, 1896 when the Village of Hodgkins was incorporated.

[edit] Hodgkins today

The Village of Hodgkins maintains its own police department, public works department, and water department, which purchases Lake Michigan water from McCook. Hodgkins is part of School District 105, and the Hodgkins Park District offers a large community center and schedules a myriad of activities all year long. The Hodgkins Public Library is a full-service facility in within the Suburban Library System. In Village currently employs 25 full- and part-time employees.

[edit] Past presidents

This list of past presidents of the Village of Hodgkins comes from the village's publication, 100 Years of Progress, published for the Village's Centennial celebration in 1996.