What is in a Name?

Jay Pritzker Pavillion

What’s up?

You’ve probably seen or heard me use the term Chicagoland in some of my post and have no idea what I'm talking about.  Well I’m here to tell you that you are not alone.  I thought it was just a name of a racetrack until we moved out here and learned that its much more than that.

Downtown Naperville River Walk

Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area.  The term was first coined in an article in the Chicago Tribune called “Chicagoland Shrines: A Tour of Discovery” by James O’Donnell Bennett.  In the article he states that Chicagoland encompasses 200 miles in any direction with Chicago being the center.

Chicagoland had undefined borders until 1950 when the U.S. Census Bureau established the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).  An MSA is a geographical region with a high population that is linked by social, economics, and culture.

View of Chicagoland for Willis Tower
(Sears)

The original Chicagoland consisted of six counties.  Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane and Will counties from Illinois and Lake county from Indiana.  Oh yes, Indiana.  Many people don't realize that the city actually shares a border with Indiana.

With the population growth of the city as well as its suburbs, the area of Chicagoland continues to get bigger.  It now consists of eight counties from Illinois, four from Indiana and two from our neighbors to the north Wisconsin.  Chicagoland has grown to be third largest metropolitan area in the United States with 9.5 million people.  Only beat out beat out by number New York and Los Angeles the number 2.  Poor L.A. always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

Cantigny Park

I hope that you found this useful and cleared up any confusion.  There is a lot of use out there.  We are all unique in our own ways but we are all connected to each other as well.  Try to be patient and kind to each other, for we all bare our own burdens that other can't see.

Thanks for stopping by. Util next time.

    Josh