Sycamore (Illinois)

DeKalb County

17-74223

Sycamore is a small town and county seat of DeKalb County in the north of the U.S. state of Illinois. In 2000 Sycamore had 12,020 inhabitants, an estimate in 2005 showed a population of 14,866.

Geography

Sycamore is located at 41 ° 59'02 " north latitude and 88 ° 41'39 " west longitude. The city covers an area of 14.2 km ², which consists exclusively of land area.

Sycamore is located on the west bank of the Kishwaukee River, a tributary of the Rock River. This flows at Rock Iceland in the Mississippi River.

By Sycamore leads in east-west direction, the Illinois State Route 64, which is crossed in the center by the Illinois State Route 23.

The neighboring town of DeKalb, the largest city in DeKalb County, is located 9.1 km to the south.

Sycamore is 95 km west of Chicago. Rockford is located 58.7 km to the northwest, Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee 159 km to the northeast and the Quad Cities 185 km to the southwest.

History

The first white settlers arrived in 1835 in the area around present-day Sycamore. The original town was laid out by a New Yorker named Christian Sharer. A mill was built and the Kishwaukee River dikes. The settlement but did not develop and the development focus shifted to the other river bank. 1837 Orange ( the former name of Sycamore ) the county seat.

The current city was created in 1837 by James Waterman and Evans Wharry. The first settlers on the territory of the present-day city was Carlos Lattin, who had settled in 1835. Lattin staked a claim, which included most of the western part of the present town. He built the first house just north of today's city center.

1839 the first courthouse was built in Sycamore. Simultaneously, the first hotel in the city was built. A year later, the settlement consisted of 12 buildings, their number rose to 1844 at 18. The population grew steadily from Sycamore 262 in 1848 to 320 in 1849. 1850 there were 390, in 1851 already 435

In the late 1850s, Sycamore was connected to the railway network and built a station building. 1855 there were 41 businesses in Sycamore. 1958 Sycamore to the community ( "Village" ) has been charged. During the Civil War, the railroad helped the city to a continuous growth, which led to Sycamore got the status of " City " award in 1869.

1903, when the construction of a new courthouse was in question, the location Sycarmore been called into question again. The neighboring town of DeKalb tried to the county seat to attract and wealthy citizens of DeKalb offered $ 20,000 to the construction of new administrative building. The city also collected Sycamore own money for it, and after a series of complicated negotiations and litigation Sycamore kept the status of an administrative center for DeKalb County. In 1904, the new, built of marble courthouse was completed.

During this time, a series of two-story buildings along the main road was built in the city center. There was a bank, a movie theater and today's Midwestern Museum of Natural History.

On Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Sycamore was rocked by an earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale. A number of buildings has been damaged. This was the first earthquake in northern Illinois since 1999.

Demographic data

In the census of 2000 a population of 12,020 was determined. These distributed to 4,692 households in 3,148 families. The population density was 846.9 / km ². There were 4,925 buildings, which corresponded to a housing density of 347.0 / km ².

The population was in 2000 from 93.39 % White, 2.74 % African American, 0.22 % Native Americans, 0.83 % Asian, and 1.58% other. 1.24 % said to be descended from at least two of these groups. 4.27% of the population were Hispanics who belonged to the various of the aforementioned groups.

28.0% were under the age of 18, 8.3 % from 18 to 24, 31.3 % 25-44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.9 % 65 and older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females were statistically 95.7 men in the over 18 -year-olds 93.4.

The average income per household was $ 51,921, the average family income is $ 62,083. Men's income averaged $ 42,676, and for women about $ 27,520. The per capita income amounted to $ 23,112. Approximately 2.3 % of families and 3.7 % of the total population were income below the poverty line.