Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Mokena, IL

Mokena is a fast-growing village in Will County, about 27 miles southwest of Chicago's Loop, in the heart of the south suburban Lincoln-Way area.

The name Mokena comes from a Native American word meaning 'mud turtle,' likely from the Anishinaabemowin word for the snapping turtle once common in the area's creeks.

The Mokena area was first settled in the 1830s, the Rock Island Railroad arrived in 1852, and a public school was built in 1855 — one of the village's earliest buildings.

Mokena incorporated as a village in 1880 with a population of 522, then barely grew for a century as a farming market center, reaching only 657 residents by 1940.

Mokena's population exploded with suburbanization, more than doubling in the 1990s alone from 6,128 in 1990 to 14,583 in 2000, and reaching 19,887 in the 2020 census.

Census Bureau figures show about 7,374 households in Mokena, with one of the highest ownership rates in the Chicago suburbs — about 91% of homes are owner-occupied.

Mokena has two Metra stations on the Rock Island District line, Hickory Creek and Front Street, giving commuters a direct ride to Chicago's LaSalle Street Station.

Mokena students attend Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 schools — Lincoln-Way East, Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way North — while the village's own long-closed Mokena High School fielded teams known as the Meteors.

The historic McGovney-Yunker Farmstead, with its distinctive gable bank barn, preserves a piece of Mokena's 19th-century farming heritage amid the subdivisions.

Mokena's official village motto is 'Planned Progress, Pleasant Living.'