Barrington Hills
is a village that sits within the boundaries of multiple counties.
The village straddles approximately 30 square miles in Cook,
Kane,
Lake
and McHenry
County, Illinois. The population was 3,915 at the 2000 census.
The Village of Barrington Hills was incorporated in 1957.
A country suburban setting among the
greater Barrington area, Barrington Hills has developed into one of
the most unique communities in Illinois. It is a popular destination
for wealthy Chicagoans seeking large estates in a serene and
pastoral environment while still enjoying proximity to the amenities
of the big city. Property owners enjoy expansive vistas on minimum
five-acre sites where both farming and horse raising are allowed.
The village is home to Hill 'N Dale
Farms, belonging to Richard Duchossois, owner of the famous
Arlington Racetrack, and Bill McGinley's Horizons Farms, which exalt
the equestrian flavor of the community. The community's
identification with horses can be seen in names like Broncos and
Colts for school teams, stores catering to saddlery and riding
outfits, and subdivisions with names such as Saddlewood and
Steeplechase and roads such as Bridlewood Trail and Surrey Court.
Geography
Barrington Hills is located at 42°8′29″N,
88°12′0″W
(42.141486, -88.200251)GR1.
According to the United
States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 73.6 km˛
(28.4 mi˛).
72.2 km˛ (27.9 mi˛) of it is land and 1.3 km˛ (0.5 mi˛) of it
(1.83%) is water.
Barrington Hills has 6,000 acres of
forest preserve, constituting 42 percent of the village landscape.
The largest is Spring Creek Nature Preserve, which measures 4,000
acres of prairie, stream, slough, and woods. Into the 1990s farmers
still retained about 3,000 acres of land. Residential properties of
over one acre covered 30 percent. Devoid of a downtown center, the
village has a small shopping strip along Route 14. With a population
of 3,915 in 2000, Barrington Hills has kept its rural flavor as
industrial and commercial development has sprung up around its
borders.[1]
History
The rich farmland and abundant water
supplies attracted settlers Jesse Miller and William Van Orsdal in
1834. In the early 1840s other farm families arrived, many of whom
were German, English, and Irish immigrants, and formed a town near
present-day Sutton Road and Illinois
Route 68. Initially called Miller's Grove, the community was
later named Barrington Center. Farmers brought their crops to nearby
markets on the Fox
River in East
Dundee. Dairy farmers supported a cheese factory in the late
nineteenth century.
Barrington Center Church (used by a
Korean Wesleyan church in the beginning of the twenty-first century)
was built in 1853 and used as an army recruiting station during the
Civil War. Industry came to the area for a short period in the
1890s, when American Malleable Iron Company built a plant on the
northern fringe of Barrington Hills along U.S.
Highway 14. The company hired hundreds of Hungarian workers and
constructed a residential community for their workers which they
called Chicago Highlands. The foundry closed in 1903 and the workers
deserted their homes.
At the turn of the century, Barrington
Hills attracted business executives working in Chicago. Many of the
rolling farms subdivided into large estates where owners turned from
agriculture to horse breeding and riding. By the 1920s residents
began marking bridle paths. The Fox River Valley Hunt Club, founded
in the late 1930s, aided in continuing the system of trails which
traversed both private properties and forest preserve land. By the
late 1980s over 70 miles of paths could be found.
The Barrington Horse Show began in
1945. It was held on various estates until 1965, when the 15-acre
Barrington Countryside Riding Center became its permanent home. The
village is home to Hill 'N Dale Farms, belonging to Richard
Duchossois, owner of the Arlington Racetrack, and the late Bill
McGinley's Horizons Farms, which exalt the equestrian flavor of the
community. The community's identification with horses can be seen in
names like Broncos and Colts for school teams, stores catering to
saddlery and riding outfits, and subdivisions with names such as
Saddlewood and Steeplechase and roads such as Wagon Wheel Lane and
Surrey Court.
The village incorporated in 1957 in
order to retain the rustic landscape. In 1962 Barrington Hills
annexed the neighboring town of Middlebury (incorporated in 1953).[2]
Demographics
As of the censusGR2
of 2000, there were 3,915 people, 1,381 households, and 1,168
families residing in the village. The population
density was 54.2/km˛ (140.4/mi˛). There were 1,456 housing
units at an average density of 20.2/km˛ (52.2/mi˛). The racial
makeup of the village was 94.30% White,
0.46% African
American, 3.91% Asian,
0.74% from other
races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanic
or Latino
of any race were 1.92% of the population.
There were 1,381 households out of
which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 78.9%
were married
couples living together, 3.5% had a female householder with no
husband present, and 15.4% were non-families. 12.5% of all
households were made up of individuals and 5.3% had someone living
alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size
was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the village the population was
spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 20.0%
from 25 to 44, 37.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of
age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females
there were 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
were 98.6 males.
The median income for a household in
the village was $145,330, and the median income for a family was
$156,002. Males had a median income of $0 versus $56,167 for
females. The per
capita income for the village was $73,629. About 0.9% of
families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty
line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and none of those age
65 or over.
