Naperville Illinois Real Estate

Naperville Illinois Web Site

Naperville, Illinois
By Julie Farby

Located about 28 miles of the Chicago Loop in both Will and DuPage Counties, Naperville is one of the fastest growing cities in Illinois. According to a special census in 2003, Naperville’s population is estimated at around 135,858--with approximately 95,000 Napervillians living in DuPage County, and about 40,000 residing in Will County. Naperville’s explosive growth over the last few decades is indicative of its well-earned reputation as one of the most desirable places to live in Illinois, and in July of 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Naperville third on its list of the 100 best places to live in the United States.

Naperville was founded along the DuPage River in 1831 by Joseph Naper, who drew the first plat in 1842 and was elected the president of the board when the village of Naperville was incorporated in 1857. Naperville then organized as a city in 1890 and by 1900, had a population of 2,629. Between 1890 and 1920, residents began receiving city services such as water, sewers, electricity, and telephones—and Naperville grew to 12,933 by 1960. A predominantly rural community for most of its existence, Naperville experienced a population explosion in the 1980s and 1990s following the construction of the East-West Tollway (now known as Interstate 88/Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) and North-South tollways. In the past two decades, it has nearly quadrupled in size as Chicagoland's urban sprawl brought corporations, jobs, and wealth to the area. Naperville’s move towards high-tech was cemented in the second half of the twentieth century, with many Fortune 500 companies setting-up shop in the fast-growing city. According to Wikipedia.org, “employers contributing to this population explosion include Bell Labs and Western Electric (both now owned by Lucent Technologies), Amoco Labs (now owned by BP), Nalco Chemical, NiCor, and more recently by Edward Hospital. Tellabs and Laidlaw have corporate headquarters in Naperville, and ConAgra's Packaged Meats and Deli division's offices are also in Naperville. Also, Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory are nearby.”

Touting itself as “the jewel of Chicago’s western suburbs,” today Naperville is the fourth-largest city in Illinois, and a growing, thriving city in its own right. Straddling DuPage and Will counties, Naperville’s 36 acres are rimmed by forest preserves and interwoven with branches of the DuPage River. Excellent schools (including two K-12 school districts, North Central College, and satellite campuses for Northern Illinois University, Robert Morris College and DePaul University), a 30-minute commute to the Chicago Loop via an express train, and “a notably picturesque downtown centered on the Riverwalk” (a promenade along the west branch of the DuPage River) have made it one of the most desirable areas to live in the United States.

According to VillageProfile.com, “in the nearly 50 years since developer Harold Moser built Naperville’s first subdivision, the city has grown from a rural community to a modern city looking toward the future.” The Naperville area features nearly 300 subdivisions in a broad range of styles, size, neighborhoods, and prices, with many offering swimming pools, tennis courts, club-houses and/or golf courses. Naperville is also a leader in the Chicago metropolitan area in housing starts. New home prices range from $140,000 to more than $1,000,000—and there are more than 51,000 homes in Naperville, with a median selling price of $356,000, as of 2003. Additionally, Naperville’s groundbreaking ordinance requiring developers to donate land or cash for parks and schools has made the “neighborhood park and school” concept a reality throughout the city.

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