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Yorkville, Illinois
The Ville
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The Kendall County Courthouse is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
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| Nickname(s):
The Ville, Y-Town
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| Motto:
“The City with a River in Its Heart” [1]
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Location of Yorkville in Kendall County, Illinois
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.svg)
Location of Illinois in the United States
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| Coordinates: 41°36′59″N 88°25′14″W[2] | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| County | Kendall |
| Townships | Bristol, Kendall, Fox |
| Founded | 1833 |
| Incorporated | 1836 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council |
| • Mayor | John Purcell |
| Area | |
| • Total | 20.09 sq mi (52.04 km2) |
| • Land | 20.00 sq mi (51.79 km2) |
| • Water | 0.10 sq mi (0.25 km2) |
| Elevation | 745 ft (227 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 22,594 |
| • Density | 1,076.81/sq mi (415.77/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code |
60560
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| Area codes | 630 / 331 |
| FIPS code | 17-84038 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2397394[2] |
| Wikimedia Commons | Yorkville, Illinois |
| Website | www |
Yorkville (officially the United City of Yorkville) is a city within the Chicago Metropolitan Area and is the county seat of Kendall County, Illinois, United States.[4][5] It is a southwest suburb/exurb of Chicago, Illinois.[6][7][8][9] The population was 22,594 as of the 2020 census.[10][11]
History
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In 1836, the city of Yorkville was settled by early pioneers. Originally, the city’s main thoroughfare of Bridge Street was designed for horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians. As time passed, Hydraulic Street, which runs parallel to the Fox River, boasted a trolley that ran from Ottawa to Aurora. This part is now operated by the Illinois Railway.
At the time, Yorkville’s central business district was on the south side of the Fox River and the public square was north of the river, a layout unique to the region. The public gathering place was near the river’s edge. The Kendall County Courthouse was next to the downtown commercial district. Many of the city’s remaining historic single-family homes are within walking distance of Bridge Street, the courthouse and Union Hall. Earl Adams was the first to settle what would become Yorkville when he built his cabin on Courthouse Hill on the south side of town in 1833. One year later, Lyman and Burr Bristol set up residency in neighboring Bristol, north of the river.
When the county of Kendall was formed in 1841, Yorkville was chosen as the county seat. After a 13-year period in which Oswego claimed that honor, voters chose to relocate the county government in 1859 to Yorkville, a more central location. The new courthouse was completed in 1864. Replaced in 1997 with a courthouse on the city’s north side, the 1864 building is used by the Kendall County Forest Preserve and other organizations. Yorkville was no exception to the railroad boom. Development began and businesses sprang up in 1870 along the tracks and included Squire Dingee’s pickle factory, the Yorkville Ice Cream Company and the Rehbehn Brothers button factory. A few of those buildings still remain.