Libertyville, Illinois


Libertyville is a village in Libertyville Township, Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is located west of Lake Michigan, approximately 40 miles north of the Chicago Loop. As such, it is part of the United States Census Bureau's Chicago combined statistical area. It is bordered by Gages Lake and Gurnee to the north, Vernon Hills to the south, Mundelein to the west, and Grayslake to the northwest. The eastern portions of the village border Mettawa, unincorporated Waukegan and Lake Forest, and part of Knollwood CDP. Its 2020 census population was 20,579.
WWW libertyville.comR/ Libertyville

History

The land that is now Libertyville was the property of the Illinois River Potawatomi Indians until August 1829, when economic and resource pressures forced the tribe to sell much of their land in northern Illinois to the U.S. government for $12,000 cash, an additional $12,000 in goods, plus an annual delivery of 50 barrels of salt.
Pursuant to the treaty, the Potawatomi left their lands by the mid-1830s, and by 1835 the future Libertyville had its first recorded non-indigenous resident, George Vardin. Said to be a "well-educated" English immigrant with a wife and a young daughter, Vardin lived in a cabin located where the Cook Park branch of the Cook Memorial Public Library District stands today. Though he apparently moved on to the west that same year, the settlement that grew up around his cabin was initially known as Vardin's Grove.
In 1836, during the celebrations that marked the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the community voted to name itself Independence Grove. 1837 brought the town's first practicing physician, Jesse Foster, followed quickly by its first lawyer, Horace Butler, for whom Butler Lake is named. The professionals needed services, so a post office opened, necessitating a third name change, because another Independence Grove existed elsewhere in the state. On April 16, 1837, the new post office was registered under the name Libertyville.
The town's name changed again two years later to Burlington when it became the county seat of Lake County. When the county seat moved to Little Fort in 1841, the name reverted to Libertyville, without further changes.
Libertyville's most prominent building, the Cook Mansion, was built in 1879 by Ansel Brainerd Cook, very close to the spot where Vardin's cabin was built in the 1830s. Cook, a teacher and stonemason, became a prominent Chicago builder and politician, providing flagstones for the city's sidewalks and taking part in rebuilding after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The two-story Victorian mansion served as Cook's summer home as well as the center of his horse farm, which provided animals for Chicago's horsecar lines. The building was remodeled in 1921, when it became the town library, gaining a Colonial-style facade with a pillared portico. The building is now a museum with furnishings of the period and other relevant displays. It is operated by the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society.
The community expanded rapidly with a spur of the Milwaukee Road train line reaching Libertyville in 1881, resulting in the incorporation of the Village of Libertyville in 1882, with John Locke its first village president.
Libertyville's downtown area was largely destroyed by fire in 1895, and the village board mandated brick to be used for reconstruction, resulting in a village center whose architecture is substantially unified by both period and building material. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which gave Libertyville a Great American Main Street Award, called the downtown "a place with its own sense of self, where people still stroll the streets on a Saturday night, and where the tailor, the hometown bakery, and the vacuum cleaner repair shop are shoulder to shoulder with gourmet coffee vendors and a microbrewery. If it's Thursday between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m., it's Farmer's Market time on Church Street across from Cook Park -- a tradition for more than three decades."
Samuel Insull, founder of Commonwealth Edison, began purchasing land south of Libertyville in 1906. He eventually acquired, a holding that he named Hawthorn-Mellody Farms. He also bought the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric line, which built a spur from Lake Bluff to Libertyville in 1903. When Insull was ruined by the Great Depression, parts of his estate were bought by prominent Chicagoans Adlai Stevenson and John F. Cuneo. The home Cuneo built is now the Cuneo Museum.
From 1970 until 2013, Libertyville was the resting place of the only European monarch buried on American soil, Peter II of Yugoslavia, who died in exile in Denver. On 22 January 2013, Peter II's remains were removed from his tomb at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery and sent to Serbia in a ceremony attended by the Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, Peter's son Alexander with his family, and Serbian Patriarch Irinej. Peter II lay in state in the Royal Chapel in Dedinje before his burial in the on May 26, 2013.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Libertyville has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
The Des Plaines River forms much of the eastern boundary of the village. Other bodies of water include Butler Lake, Liberty Lake, and Lake Minear.
Libertyville's main street is Milwaukee Avenue. The main automobile route to Chicago is via Interstate 94 ; Chicago's Loop is approximately 45 minutes away. The main Metra rail station sits at the northern edge of downtown off Milwaukee Avenue, and serves the Milwaukee District North Line running from Union Station in Chicago to Fox Lake. The same line is served by another Metra station at Prairie Crossing, near the boundary of Libertyville and Grayslake. Prairie Crossing station also serves Metra's North Central Service, with service from Union Station to Antioch.

Major streets

Surrounding areas



Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 20,579 people, 7,324 households, and 5,478 families residing in the village. The population density was. There were 8,103 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the village was 84.13% White, 1.33% African American, 0.15% Native American, 6.04% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.71% from other races, and 6.63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.76% of the population.
There were 7,324 households, out of which 38.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.86% were married couples living together, 5.64% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.20% were non-families. 21.82% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.07% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.21 and the average family size was 2.71.
The village's age distribution consisted of 26.4% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 18.5% from 25 to 44, 30.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $150,580, and the median income for a family was $192,500. Males had a median income of $107,121 versus $51,353 for females. The per capita income for the village was $72,487. About 1.4% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 5.8% of those age 65 or over.
Race / Ethnicity Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010
White alone 18,81217,77717,06190.70%87.51%82.90%
Black or African American alone 2092322621.01%1.14%1.27%
Native American or Alaska Native alone 1814140.09%0.07%0.07%
Asian alone 9481,1541,2384.57%5.68%6.02%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone 6440.03%0.02%0.02%
Other race alone 1316550.06%0.08%0.27%
Mixed race or Multiracial 1702827590.82%1.39%3.69%
Hispanic or Latino 5668361,1862.73%4.12%5.76%
Total20,74220,31520,579100.00%100.00%100.00%

Government

Donna Johnson was elected mayor of Libertyville in April 2021. She is the first African-American, and the second woman, to hold the position.
Libertyville is represented by Jennifer Clark on the Lake County Board.

Education

Libertyville District 70

Libertyville has four public elementary schools and one public middle school within village lines, all comprising Libertyville District 70:
  • Adler Park Elementary School
  • Butterfield Elementary School
  • Copeland Manor Elementary School
  • Rockland Elementary School
  • Highland Middle School

Hawthorn District 73

Students residing south of Golf Road attend Hawthorn District 73 schools in Vernon Hills.

Oak Grove District 68

Students residing in communities along Buckley Road attend Oak Grove Grade School in neighboring Green Oaks.

Libertyville High School

Libertyville High School, part of Community High School District 128, serves students in Libertyville and other communities in Libertyville Township. Students residing south of Golf Road but north of Greentree Parkway or Red Top Drive are permitted to register for Vernon Hills High School or Libertyville High School, which consolidates District 70's Highland Middle School and Oak Grove School and Rondout Schools of Districts 72 and 68 respectively.

Other

The Roman Catholic St. Joseph Elementary School and St. John's Lutheran School of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod both provide Pre-K-8 education to residents of Libertyville and the surrounding area. St Sava Monastery is also home to the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology.

Economy

Top employers

According to the Village's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, as of April 30, 2020 the top employers in the city were:
#Employer# of Employees
1Advocate Condell Medical Center2,102
2Hollister Incorporated527
3Volkswagen Credit446
4Avexis407
5Medline Industries343
6Libertyville District 70326
7Fabrication Technologies307
8Commonwealth Edison278
9Snap-on Credit242
10Community High School District 128239

Library

Libertyville is one of six communities comprising the Cook Memorial Public Library District. The Cook Park library, located on Cook and Brainerd streets in Libertyville, is one of the District's two library facilities. The library was originally housed in the Cook Mansion, after resident Ansel B. Cook's wife, Emily, deeded the property to the Village of Libertyville in 1920 for use as a library. In 1968, a addition was added, adjacent to the Cook home. By 1984, the library's collection, as well as the population, had doubled in size. The Evergreen Interim Library opened in 2003 as a temporary facility at the south end of the district, in Vernon Hills. In 2007, the Library Board adopted plans to add an approximately addition to the Cook Park facility, which was completed in January 2011.

Media

The Libertyville Review, published by Pioneer Press, covers Libertyville. Regional newspapers that occasionally contain coverage of Libertyville include the Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald and Lake County News-Sun.

Transportation

Libertyville has a station on Metra's North Central Service and also two stations along Metra's Milwaukee District North Line which provides service between Fox Lake and Union Station, one of which shares a driveway with the station for the North Central Service.
Pace provides bus service on Route 574 connecting Libertyville to Grayslake and other destinations.

Drinking water supply

The Libertyville water supply comes from the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency located in Lake Bluff. CLCJAWA purifies water from Lake Michigan.

Recreation

  • Pools: Adler Pool, Riverside Pool
  • Golf courses: Merit Club
  • Lakes: Lake Minear, Butler Lake, Independence Grove, Liberty Lake
  • Parks: Adler, Cook, Sunrise Rotary, Charles Brown, Riverside, Butler Lake, Nicholas-Dowden, Independence Grove, Blueberry Hill, Paul Neal, Greentree, Jo Ann Eckmann, Gilbert Stiles.