Bensenville, Illinois

Bensenville is a village located near O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County, Illinois, with a portion of the town in Cook County. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 18,352.

Bensenville
Village
Village of Bensenville
Downtown Bensenville
Flag
Motto(s):  Gateway to Opportunity
Location of Bensenville in DuPage County and Cook County, Illinois.
Location of Illinois in the United States
Coordinates: 41°57′29″N 87°56′45″W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	DuPage, Cook
Township	Addison Township
Government
• Type	President-Trustee
• Village President	Frank DeSimone
Area [1]
• Total	5.87 sq mi (15.21 km^2)
• Land	5.82 sq mi (15.08 km^2)
• Water	0.05 sq mi (0.13 km^2)
Population  (2010)
• Total	18,352
• Estimate  (2019)[2]	18,044
• Density	3,098.75/sq mi (1,196.44/km^2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	630
FIPS code	17-05248
Wikimedia Commons	Bensenville, Illinois
Website	http://www.bensenville.il.us/

First known as Tioga, it was formally established as Bensenville in 1873 along the Milwaukee Road railway. The community is named after Benzen, Germany.[3][4] A post office was established in 1873, but because there was an existing "Benson", the suffix "ville" was added.[3]

The Edge Ice Arena is located in Bensenville, former home of the Chicago Steel junior ice hockey team.

The Churchville School in Bensenville is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Bensenville has a total area of 5.618 square miles (14.55 km²), of which 5.57 square miles (14.43 km²) (or 99.15%) is land and 0.048 square miles (0.12 km²) (or 0.85%) is water.[5]

Schools

Bensenville School District 100:

• Fenton High School which serves both Bensenville and Wood Dale

Bensenville School District 2:

• Blackhawk Middle School
• Tioga School
• W.A. Johnson School

Private:

• Holy Family, Private Roman Catholic
• Zion Concord Lutheran School, Private K-8

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1880	136		—
1890	295		116.9%
1900	374		26.8%
1910	443		18.4%
1920	650		46.7%
1930	1,680		158.5%
1940	1,869		11.3%
1950	3,754		100.9%
1960	9,141		143.5%
1970	12,956		41.7%
1980	16,106		24.3%
1990	17,767		10.3%
2000	20,703		16.5%
2010	18,352		−11.4%
Est. 2019	18,044	[2]	−1.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[6]

As of the census [7] of 2010, there were 18,352 people living in the village. The population density was 3,296.6 people per square mile (5,305.3/km²). There were 6,743 housing units. The racial makeup of the village was 67.3% White, 3.5% African American, 1.0% Native American, 4.8% Asian, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 47.8% of the population.

There were 6,312 households, out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 11% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.50.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 20 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were over 65 years of age. The median age was 33.4 years.

The median income for a household in the village was $52,500 and the median income for a family was $55,500. About 15.4% of families and 15.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.1% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those over age 65.

Transportation

The "Midwest Hiawatha" traveling through Bensenville, 1943

Bensenville has a station on Metra's Milwaukee District/West Line, which provides daily rail service between Elgin and Chicago (at Union Station). From there, passengers can connect to an Amtrak train.

Economy

Top employers

According to Bensenville's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[8] the top employers in the village are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	US Foods	400
2	Chicago White Metal Casting	325
3	Expeditors International	300
4	Victor Envelope Co	220
5	Ewing-Doherty Mechanical Inc	200
5	Allmetal, Inc	200
5	UPS Supply Chain Solutions	200
6	Envelop Express	175
7	Amaglo Kemlite Labs	150
7	Fortune Fish & Gorumet	150
8	Roesch Ford/Volkswagen	130

In popular culture

Bensenville is the site of Victory Auto Wreckers, a 7-acre (2.8 ha) auto recycling facility on Green Street which has repeatedly aired the "door-falling-off-the-car" commercial,[9] starring Bob Zajdel, on Chicago television stations since 1981.

Bensenville is mentioned by name in the movie Flatliners, and a scene was filmed at the old green house that was next to Blackhawk Junior High School in 1990.[10]

In the television series Boss, a multi-episode story arc involves the main character, Mayor of Chicago Tom Kane (Kelsey Grammer), being damaged by a scandal in which he authorized the dumping of carcinogenic chemicals that soak into the groundwater of Bensenville.

Sister cities

• Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico [11]

Notable people

• Daren Dochterman is an art designer and illustrator for over 35 feature films including The Abyss, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.[12][13]
• Richard Oruche, basketball player for the Nigerian National Basketball Team. He competed in the 2012 Olympic Games. He played basketball for the Fenton Bison, Bensenville's high school.[14][15]
• William A. Redmond was a longtime Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives who served as Speaker from 1975-1981.[16]
• Genevieve "Audrey" Wagner was a professional baseball player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, winning the league's batting title in 1948. She later earned an M.D. and pilots license.[17][18]
• Marcin Kleczynski, Polish-born Malwarebytes CEO who grew up in Bensenville.[19]

References

1. "2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
2. "Population and Housing Unit Estimates". United States Census Bureau. May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
3. Callary, Edward (2009). Place Names of Illinois. University of Illinois.
4. "Several Towns Named After Founders and Heroes". The Daily Herald. December 28, 1999. p. 220. Retrieved August 17, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "G001 - Geographic Identifiers - 2010 Census Summary File 1". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
6. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
7. "US Census Bureau QuickFacts". 2010 Census. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
8. Village of Bensenville CAFR
9. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-01-27-0601270119-story.html
10. https://www.itsfilmedthere.com/2010/08/flatliners.html
11. "Village of Bensenville Board Minutes, October 13, 2015". Retrieved March 12, 2019.
12. "Daren Dochterman's bio for Fenton's Wall of Fame; retrieved 23 May 2016". Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
13. Daren Dochterman filmography @imdb.com; retrieved 13 August 2008
14. "Fenton alum to play for Nigeria in Olympics". Daily Herald. July 20, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
15. Martinez, Marcia (November 12, 2009). "If not for Richard, Prairie Stars would be poorer". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
16. "William A. Redmond Memoir" (PDF). Illinois Legislative Research Unit. 1982. p. v. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
17. Dr. Audrey Wagner's bio for Fenton HS's Wall of Fame; retrieved 13 August 2008 Archived 28 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
18. AAGPL records page @aagpl.org; retrieved 13 August 2008 Archived September 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
19. Johnson, Steve (18 July 2014). "Q&A: Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of Malwarebytes, on cybersecurity and startups". Mercury News. Retrieved 14 October 2016.

External links

Official website