Biohazard Cleanup Near Creeks Crossing Algonquin, IL

Algonquin is a village straddling McHenry and Kane counties in Illinois - about 78 percent of it in McHenry County - a Fox River suburb roughly 40 miles northwest of the Chicago Loop.

Long before European settlement, the Potawatomi inhabited the Algonquin area, and the village site held Native American burial grounds known in the 1800s as the Algonquin Mounds.

The first settler, Samuel Gillilan, arrived from Virginia in 1834; after proposed names including Denny's Ferry, Cornish Ferry, Cornishville, and Osceola, the name Algonquin - suggested by Samuel Edwards - became official on December 23, 1847.

The railroad reached Algonquin in 1855, giving area farmers a way to ship their products to Chicago markets, and the village was formally incorporated on February 25, 1890.

From 1906 to 1913, Algonquin hosted the Algonquin Hill Climbs, where early automakers proved their cars by racing up the village's steep hills for the nationally recognized Algonquin Cup; Hill Climb Park now stands at the old Huntington Hill finish line, and a festival still marks the event each year.

For much of the 20th century Algonquin was a quasi-resort town where Chicagoans kept summer homes on the Fox River, before suburban development exploded its population from 5,684 in 1980 to 30,046 in 2010.

The 2020 census counted 29,700 residents and 10,769 households in Algonquin, with a median household income of $109,819.

Algonquin Commons, an 80-store outdoor shopping center that opened on Randall Road in 2004, has been described as the largest outdoor mall in Illinois.

Most Algonquin students attend Community Unit School District 300 schools such as Harry D. Jacobs High School, while the far western side is served by District 158, which is headquartered in Algonquin; the nearest community colleges are McHenry County College and Elgin Community College.

Algonquin's original Village Hall, built in 1907 at 2 South Main Street, still stands as a historic landmark and community gathering place.