Tag: West Chicago

West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,469 at the 2000 census. It was formerly named Turner Junction after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU;) in 1855. The city was initially established around the first junction of railroad lines in Illinois, and today is still served by the Union Pacific/West Metra service via West Chicago station.
West Chicago is located at 41°53′18″N 88°12′35″W / 41.888378°N 88.209659°W / 41.888378; -88.209659.
According the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.8 square miles (36 km), all of it land.
The most notable early settler in the area was Erastus Gary, of Pomfort Conn., who homesteaded 760 acres on the banks of the DuPage River just south of West Chicago’s present day city limits in the 1830’s. Gary was the father of “Judge” Elbert Gary, for whom Gary, Indiana is named, and who was the first CEO of America’s first billion-dollar…