Vernon Hills, Illinois


Vernon Hills is a suburb north of Chicago, Illinois in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,850 at the 2020 census. Vernon Hills serves as a retail hub for its surrounding area.
WWW vernonhills.orgR/ VernonHills

History

The land that was to become Vernon Hills, founded by Richard Theodore Freese, Ron Freese, Nathan Kowitt, and Jim Carswell, began with the establishment of a farm in 1857. Use of the land remained relatively static until the 1960s, when part of it was purchased for a residential community and golf course; the development was the first use of the name "Vernon Hills." On June 16, 1958, the village officially incorporated with 123 residents and 125 houses in a single subdivision built by Quinn Hogan and Barney Loeb. During these times, the village and police department were run from a local motel until 1971 when village trustees bought two portable buildings. It saw steady but slow growth until the annexing of a plot of land near the corner of IL-60 and IL-21 in 1971, which led to the building of Hawthorn Center. By 1980, the village's population had grown to almost 10,000 residents, and by 2000, it had surpassed 20,000.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, the village grew geographically through the annexation of surrounding areas. This included land that would become the Corporate Woods business park and Centennial Crossing residential development, a section of Hawthorne-Mellody Farms, and part of the village of Half Day.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Vernon Hills has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 26,850 people, 10,006 households, and 7,218 families residing in the village. The population density was. There were 10,996 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the village was 57.90% White, 2.47% African American, 0.68% Native American, 25.90% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 5.07% from other races, and 7.92% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.18% of the population.
There were 10,006 households, out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.99% were married couples living together, 11.14% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.86% were non-families. 23.81% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.24% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.17 and the average family size was 2.63.
The village's age distribution consisted of 26.1% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.2 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $100,725, and the median income for a family was $123,919. Males had a median income of $76,259 versus $46,682 for females. The per capita income for the village was $49,540. About 5.3% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 12.4% of those age 65 or over.
Race / Ethnicity Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010
White alone 15,69116,43415,03977.99%65.44%56.01%
Black or African American alone 3365276351.67%2.10%2.36%
Native American or Alaska Native alone 1019360.05%0.08%0.13%
Asian alone 2,3374,8486,93111.62%19.30%25.81%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone 210100.01%0.04%0.04%
Other race alone 30251200.15%0.10%0.45%
Mixed race or Multiracial 2683908101.33%1.55%3.02%
Hispanic or Latino 1,4462,8603,2697.19%11.39%12.18%
Total20,12025,11326,850100.00%100.00%100.00%

In 2011 Vernon Hills had 4,858 persons of Asian ancestry, 19.3% of the village's population, the sixth highest percentage of Asians of any Chicago suburb. The Asian population figure was more than twice that of 2001. John Kalmar, the village manager, said that despite the increase from 2001 to 2011, "We haven't seen a specific increase in Asian-oriented types of businesses, and I haven't noticed in any significant way changes in what businesses are carrying."

Economy

Recently, Vernon Hills developed a former 52 acre soybean field into a $200 million shopping center known as Mellody Farm, whose tenants are a host of restaurant and retail businesses.
When Tiger Electronics was an independent company, its headquarters were in Vernon Hills.

Top employers

According to the Village's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city were:
#Employer# of Employees
1Hawthorn Mall2,500
2American Hotel Register 500
3Mitsubishi Electric Automation400
4CDW 350
4Rust-Oleum 350
6ZF Aftermarket300
6Cole-Parmer 300
6Becton Dickinson300
9Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corp.200
10Neil Enterprises160

Arts and culture

Vernon Hills is one of six communities which, in part, comprise the Cook Memorial Public Library District. The Evergreen Interim library, which was one of the District's two library facilities, closed on July 3, 2010. On July 10, 2010, the new Aspen Drive Library opened to the public. This building is located across the street from the Vernon Hills Elementary and Grade School Campus at 701 N Aspen Drive.
The Aspen Drive Library in Vernon Hills is the village's first full-service library. The new library is 20,000 sq. ft. and offers 120,000 volumes of books, movies and music. The library also has an interactive children's department, a high-tech teen area, a state-of-the-art computer lab, small group study spaces and community meeting rooms.
The remainder of Vernon Hills is in the Vernon Area Public Library District.

Parks and recreation

In 2000, the village acquired land that had belonged at different times to the U.S. Army as a Nike missile base, the U.S. Navy as a naval training center, and the Curtiss Candy Company; it was converted to what is now the Vernon Hills Athletic Complex.

Government

Vernon Hills lies in the Illinois 10th Congressional District.

Education

There are six grade schools in the village served by the Hawthorn School District. In 2006, Hawthorn Junior High School was formally divided into Hawthorn Middle School North and Hawthorn Middle School South. High school students, who formerly went to Libertyville High School, now attend either Vernon Hills High School or Libertyville High School.
Students living in the southwest corner of Vernon Hills attend Long Grove grade schools. Some subdivisions in southern Vernon Hills send students to Lincolnshire schools, including Adlai E. Stevenson High School. A small area in the southwest corner of the village is zoned to attend the high school in Mundelein, IL.
Elementary Schoolers may be enrolled in four different Hawthorn Schools. Hawthorn Elementary South, Hawthorn Elementary North, Aspen Elementary, or Townline Elementary.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Vernon Hills has a station on Metra's North Central Service, which provides week-day rush hour rail service between Antioch, Illinois and Chicago, Illinois. It is also serviced by Pace buses.

Notable people