Peotone, Illinois

Peotone is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,385 at the 2000 census. The city is about 43 miles south of Chicago.

South Suburban Airport

Peotone is the proposed site of a new airport to serve the Chicago area. As is often the case with the construction of airports, the proposal is controversial. In 1967 the Chicago Tribune ran several editorial regarding the need for a third airport in Peotone.

Proponents point out that the existing facilities at O'Hare and Midway airports cannot meet the transportation needs of the Chicago area, and that the development will bring economic prosperity to Chicago Southland, an area deprived of economic development and the State of Illinois. Politicians backing plans include Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Congressmen Jesse Jackson Jr., Henry Hyde, and Jerry Weller, the representative of the district in which the airport would be located and Will County Executive Larry Walsh.

Opponents to the plan are concerned about the environmental disruption that would be caused by new airport construction and the roads that would be needed to support it. They also point out that Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary, Indiana already exists, is closer to Chicago than Peotone, and is already undergoing expansion to support heavier use with minimal environmental impact. Politicians opposing the Peotone airport plan include Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, former Gary Mayor Scott King, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and, Rep. Peter Visclosky.

Jesse Jackson Jr. is the head of a private group looking to take ownership of the proposed airport. A state backed IDOT plan is more friendly to the citizens of the actual footprint of the proposed airport by giving local control of the airport to county officials.

Geography

Peotone is located at 41°19′46″N 87°47′42″W (41.329445, -87.795138).Template:GR

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.9 km² (1.5 mi²) all of it is land.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 3,385 people, 1,268 households, and 930 families residing in the village. The population density was 859.8/km² (2,232.4/mi²). There were 1,299 housing units at an average density of 330.0/km² (856.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.93% White, 0.27% African American, 0.06% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 0.30% from other races, and 0.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.36% of the population.

There were 1,268 households out of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.1% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.6% were non-families. 22.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the village the population was spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $56,404, and the median income for a family was $61,768. Males had a median income of $47,500 versus $26,636 for females. The per capita income for the village was $23,415. About 0.7% of families and 0.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.9% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.

Peotone School District

The Peotone 207-U school district is, if not the largest, one of the largest district's square mile wise in the state of Illinois. The unincorporated towns of Green Garden and Wilton Center funnel into the Peotone district after the 4th grade. Peotone, Green Garden, and Wilton Center have their own elementary schools.

The Connor Shaw Center is the home to fifth graders in Peotone. The building used to be the high school and then in the late 1950s it was turned into a junior high when the new high school was built.

In the current age the new high school that was built in 1957 is now the junior high for the entire district. It is located on Blue Devil Drive and the outdoor high school sports still have their home games on the fields surrounding the junior high.

2001 is when the new high school was built on the northwest side of town. Presently about 680 students attend the high school.

Registered Historic Places

• Peotone Mill

External links

• Village of Peotone, Illinois
• Peotone website, privately owned
• Fourth Airport website
• Peotone School District