DuPage County, Illinois

DuPage County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Wheaton
Year Organized: 1939
Square Miles: 334

Court House:

421 N County Farm Road
County Administration Building
Wheaton, IL 60187-3978

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The County was named for a small river named DuPage which flows through the county and is said to have derived its name from a French trapper and trader of that region.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

DuPage County was created on February 9, 1839 (Laws, 1839, p. 73) and was formed from Cook County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Cook County (1831–1839), Putnam County (1825–1831), Fulton County (1823–1825), Pike County (1821–1823), Clark County (1819–1821), Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1815), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801).

The County was named for a small river named DuPage which flows through the county and is said to have derived its name from a French trapper and trader of that region. The County Seat is Wheaton . Prior County Seats was Naperville (1839–1867) and Wheaton (1867–Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 337 sq mi (873 km2), of which, 334 sq mi (865 km2) of it is land and 3 sq mi (7.8 km2) of it is water. The DuPage River and the Salt Creek flow through DuPage County. According to the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, the highest point in the county is located at the Mallard Lake Landfill, which is at its highest point 982 feet (299 m) above mean sea level

Neighboring Counties:

East: Cook County
South: Will County
Southwest: Kendall County
Northwest: Kane County

Cities and Towns:

- Addison	village	Incorporated Area
- Aurora	city	Incorporated Area
- Bartlett	village	Incorporated Area
- Bensenville	village	Incorporated Area
- Bloomingdale	village	Incorporated Area
- Burr Ridge	village	Incorporated Area
- Carol Stream	village	Incorporated Area
- Clarendon Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Darien	city	Incorporated Area
- Downers Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Elmhurst	city	Incorporated Area
- Franklin Park	village	Incorporated Area
- Glen Ellyn	village	Incorporated Area
- Glendale Heights	village	Incorporated Area
- Hinsdale	village	Incorporated Area
- Itasca	village	Incorporated Area
- Lemont	village	Incorporated Area
- Lisle	village	Incorporated Area
- Lombard	village	Incorporated Area
- Naperville	city	Incorporated Area
- Oak Brook	village	Incorporated Area
- Oakbrook Terrace	city	Incorporated Area
- Roselle	village	Incorporated Area
- Villa Park	village	Incorporated Area
- Warrenville	city	Incorporated Area
- Wayne	village	Incorporated Area
- West Chicago	city	Incorporated Area
- Westmont	village	Incorporated Area
- Wheaton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Willowbrook	village	Incorporated Area
- Winfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Wood Dale	city	Incorporated Area
- Woodridge	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."