Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Cook County, Illinois

Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. According to 2007 US Census Bureau estimates, the county has 5,285,107 residents, which is larger than the populations of 29 individual U.S. states, the combined populations of the six smallest US states, and home to 43.3% of Illinois residents. There are over 130 incorporated municipalities in Cook County, the largest of which is the county seat, Chicago, which makes up approximately 54% of the population of the county. Geographically the county is the fifth largest in Illinois by land area and shares the state's coast line on Lake Michigan with Lake County.

History

Cook County was created on January 15 1831 out of Putnam County 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 second U.S. Representative from Illinois and the first Attorney General of the State of Illinois. Shortly thereafter, in 1839, DuPage County was carved out of Cook County.

Government & Politics

Cook County has the 19th largest government in the United States. Cook county's current County Board president is Todd Stroger. The 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 voted only once for a Republican candidate in a Presidential election in the last forty years, when county voters preferred Richard Nixon to George McGovern in 1972.

The Circuit Court of Cook County, which is the largest unified court system in the world, disposing of 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 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 of roadways in the county. These thoroughfares 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 (275 km²) 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. Ninety-two officials were indicted, including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 8 policemen, 10 deputy sheriffs, 8 court officials, and 1 state legislator.

Cook County is the fifth largest employer in Chicago.

In March 2008, the Cook County Board increased sales tax one percent, increasing the county sales tax rate from 0.75% to 1.75%. This followed a recent quarter-cent increase in mass transit taxing coming into effect in April. In Chicago, the rate increased to 10.25 percent, the steepest of any major metropolitan area in America. In Evanston, sales tax reached 10 percent and Oak Lawn residents will pay 9.5 percent. On July 22, 2008, the Cook County board voted against Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica's proposal to repeal the tax increase.

Presidential Election Results 1960-2004
Year	Democrat	Republican
2004	70.25% 1,439,724	29.15% 597,405
2000	68.63% 1,280,547	28.65% 534,542
1996	66.79% 1,153,289	26.73% 461,557
1992	58.21% 1,249,533	28.20% 605,300
1988	55.77% 1,129,973	43.36% 878,582
1984	51.02% 1,112,641	48.40% 1,055,558
1980	51.99% 1,124,584	39.60% 856,574
1976	53.44% 1,180,814	44.69% 987,498
1972	46.01% 1,063,268	53.41% 1,234,307
1968	50.56% 1,181,316	41.11% 960,493
1964	63.18% 1,537,181	36.82% 895,718
1960	56.37% 1,378,343	43.33% 1,059,607

Secession movements

To establish more localized government control and policies which reflect the often different values and needs of large suburban sections of the sprawling county, several secession movements have been made over the years which called for certain townships or municipalities to form their own independent counties.

In the late 1970s, a movement started which proposed a separation of six northwest suburban townships, Cook County's panhandle (Barrington, Hanover, Palatine, Wheeling, Schaumburg, and Elk Grove) from Cook to form Lincoln County, in honor of the former U.S. president and Illinois resident. It is likely that Arlington Heights would have been the county seat. This 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 coming to a vote.

In 2004, Blue Island mayor Donald Peloquin tried to organize a coalition of fifty-five south and southwest suburban municipalities to form a new county, also proposing the name Lincoln County. The county would include everything south of Burbank, stretching as far west as Orland Park, as far east as Calumet City, and as far south as Matteson, covering an expansive area with a population of over one million residents. Peloquin cited that the south suburbs are often shunned by the city and blamed the Chicago-centric policies of Cook County government for failing to jumpstart the long-depressed local economy of the south suburban region. Pending sufficient interest from local communities, Peloquin planned a petition drive to place a question regarding the secession on the general election ballot.

Talk of secession amongst outlying communities have again heated up in mid-2008 in response to a highly controversial 1% sales tax hike which has pushed the sales tax rate in Chicago proper to 10.25%, and pushed the tax rates across the various other county communities up amongst the highest in the nation. Border towns in particular have been outraged, as without a captive tax base like Chicago, people can easily take their business across the county border (paying, for instance, 7% in Lake County instead of 10).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,635 square miles (4,235 km²), of which 946 square miles (2,449 km²) is land and 689 square miles (1,785 km²) (42.16%) is water, most of it in Lake Michigan.

Townships

Barrington, Berwyn, Bloom, Bremen, Calumet, Cicero, Elk Grove, Evanston, Hanover, Lemont, Leyden, Lyons, Maine, New Trier, Niles, Northfield, Norwood Park, Oak Park, Orland, Palatine, Palos, Proviso, Rich, River Forest, Riverside, Schaumburg, Stickney, Thornton, Wheeling, Worth

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

National protected area

Chicago Portage National Historic Site

Demographics

Cook County Population by year
2006 - 5,288,655 2000 - 5,376,741 1990 - 5,105,067 1980 - 5,253,655 1970 - 5,492,369 1960 - 5,129,725 1950 - 4,508,792 1940 - 4,063,342 1930 - 3,982,123 1920 - 3,053,017 1910 - 2,405,233 1900 - 1,838,735 1890 - 1,191,922 1880 - 607,524 1870 - 349,966 1860 - 144,954 1850 - 43,385 1840 - 10,201

As of the 2000 Census, 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 people per square mile (2,195/km²). There were 2,096,121 housing units at an average density of 2,216 per square mile (856/km²). 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. 9.1% were of Polish, 8.1% German, 7.9% Irish and 5.7% Italian ancestry according to Census 2000. 17.63% reported speaking Spanish at home; 3.13% speak Polish

2005 Census estimates placed the non-Hispanic white population of Cook County at 45.4% of the total population of the county. Other racial groups were African-Americans at 26.4%, Latinos at 22.2% and Asians at 5.5%. 2006 estimates showed the non-Hispanic white percentage of the population at 44.7%.

According to the 2000 Census 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.

According to Census Bureau estimates, the county's population was down to 5,303,683 in 2005

Townships

Townships by population

Thornton Township - 180,802
Wheeling Township - 155,834
Proviso Township - 155,831
Worth Township - 152,239
Maine Township - 135,623
Schaumburg Township - 134,114
Palatine Township - 112,740
Bremen Township - 109,575
Lyons Township - 109,264
Niles Township - 102,638
Elk Grove Township - 94,969
Leyden Township - 94,685
Bloom Township - 93,901
Orland Township - 91,418
Cicero Township - 85,616
Hanover Township - 83,471
Northfield Township - 82,880
Evanston Township - 74,239
Rich Township - 67,623
New Trier Township - 56,716
Berwyn Township - 54,016
Palos Township - 53,419
Oak Park Township - 52,524
Stickney Township - 38,673
Norwood Park Township - 26,176
Calumet Township - 22,374
Lemont Township - 18,002
Riverside Township - 15,704
Barrington Township - 14,026
River Forest Township - 11,635

Former townships

The City of Chicago had a population of 2,873,790 as of the 2006 Census. Its eight former townships and annexed parts of others no longer have any governmental structure or responsibility since their annexations, but their names and boundaries are still used on property plats and by Cook County for tax assessment purposes.

Municipalities

Several municipalities straddle county borders.

Pop culture references

NBC medical-drama, ER is set in Cook County. The hospital is named "Cook County General Hospital", although filmed in Los Angeles.

The 1928 play The Front Page is a newspaper comedy focussed on the impending hanging of a prisoner at the Cook County Jail. The play has been made into at least four movies and four television productions.
In the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers, the title characters race to the offices of the Cook County Assessor to pay the back taxes owed by the church-owned orphanage in which the characters were reared. In reality, however, back taxes are paid in the Office of the Cook County Treasurer, and church-owned property is tax exempt anyway. Near the end, a car is driven through the lobby of the Daley Center courthouse, and the County Building is stormed by the title characters and hundreds of policemen and soldiers. Murphy Dunne, who played the pianist in the movie, is the son of then Cook County Board President George Dunne.

In the film The Fugitive, a jail visitation is placed not in the jail but in the County Building, again for better visual effect. This film also places the lead character in the old Cook County Hospital for some key scenes.

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.

In 1927's Chicago, 1942's Roxie Hart, and 2002's Chicago (all of which were based upon stage plays entitled Chicago), Roxie Hart is confined to the Cook County Jail.

Exterior photography of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse was used frequently on the television series, Hill Street Blues, to set up the program's court scenes.