Lake Zurich, Illinois

Lake Zurich is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,759.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The village is named after a body of water named "Lake Zurich," which is completely located inside the village.

History

The area of Lake Zurich was first settled by European descendants in the 1830s. Three early pioneers were George Ela, after whom the Ela township is named, Seth Paine, who established a number of commercial ventures in the town, and Nathan Kowitt,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> who accompanied them on their voyage. Yankee farmers moved to the area in the 1830s and 1840s, and German immigrants began to move to the area later in the middle of the 19th century. The lake was originally named Cedar Lake, but Paine later renamed it Lake Zurich.<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The village of Lake Zurich was incorporated on September 29, 1896. It remained primarily a farming community; although the village was connected to the railroad in 1910, the line was closed ten years later. However, the arrival of the highway system with Rand Road (U.S. Route 12) in 1922 and Half Day Road (Illinois Route 22) in 1927 established Lake Zurich as a convenient summer resort. The now-defunct Palatine, Lake Zurich, and Wauconda Railroad also served the community. Housing development began in the 1950s, with the population increasing throughout the latter part of the 20th century.

The town of Lake Zurich puts on an annual festival each summer, called the Alpine Fest. The Lake Zurich Lion's Club hosted the first Alpine Fest as a way to celebrate their victories from World War II.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first-ever Alpine Fest took place in 1942 and has been a popular summer activity for families and adults of all ages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1988, a historic, landmark legal case in Illinois took place settling a dispute on Lake Zurich, thereby clarifying throughout Illinois property owners' rights on private lakes. In 1988, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Beacham v. Lake Zurich Property Owners Association (123 Ill. 2d 227; 526 N.E.2d 154; 1988 Ill. LEXIS 91; 122 Ill. Dec 14, filed June 20, 1988) that each individual owner of the private (aka non-public) lake's bottom has the legal right to recreate over the surface waters of the entire private lake. The High Court ruled that by ownership of a lake bottom land, each partial-lake-bottom owner of a private lake can not be prohibited from recreating on the surface waters that may be located above other owners' lake bottom properties. Riparian land rights were defined in Illinois.

Eminent domain controversy

The village government has used eminent domain to obtain properties in an attempt to increase downtown revenue via new businesses. As of 2004 Lake Zurich had acquired all the property intended to fulfill its downtown redevelopment project. While many protests occurred regularly throughout 2005 near the promenade, the protests failed to garner much attention and ended up failing.<ref name="Chicagotribune1">Template:Cite news</ref> A 2007 court defeat brought the issue back into the public eye, as a village-owned rental parcel was denied eminent domain. The renters were granted the ability to stay through the end of their lease due to clerical errors made by the village's legal and administrative employees regarding this parcel in particular.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Lake Zurich has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert (or 94.45%) is land and Template:Convert (or 5.55%) is water.<ref name="gaz2021">Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographics

Template:US Census populationAs of the 2020 census<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> there were 19,759 people, 7,002 households, and 5,679 families residing in the village. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 7,262 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the village was 80.42% White, 0.93% African American, 0.25% Native American, 9.03% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.90% from other races, and 6.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.29% of the population.

There were 7,002 households, out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.65% were married couples living together, 10.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.89% were non-families. 14.24% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 2.82.

The village's age distribution consisted of 24.2% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 30.2% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.9 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $113,467, and the median income for a family was $122,729. Males had a median income of $73,512 versus $50,719 for females. The per capita income for the village was $49,263. About 2.7% of families and 3.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and 1.8% of those age 65 or over.

Lake Zurich village, Illinois – Racial and ethnic composition
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Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref>	Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	Pop 2020<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	16,115	16,223	15,552	89.01%	82.64%	78.71%
Black or African American alone (NH)	142	165	174	0.78%	0.84%	0.88%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	18	10	8	0.10%	0.05%	0.04%
Asian alone (NH)	689	1,440	1,781	3.81%	7.34%	9.01%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)	2	11	2	0.01%	0.06%	0.01%
Other race alone (NH)	6	18	31	0.03%	0.09%	0.16%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	127	243	573	0.70%	1.24%	2.90%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	1,005	1,521	1,638	5.55%	7.75%	8.29%
Total	18,104	19,631	19,759	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

Government

The village of Lake Zurich is headed by Village Mayor Thomas Poynton, who was reelected in 2017, and originally won a seat on the village board as Trustee in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The village has a six-member Board of Trustees: Sujatha Bharadwaj (elected 2025), Jake Marx was (elected 2025), Marc Spacone (elected 2015), Roger Sugrue (elected 2023), William Riley (elected 2023), Greg Weider (elected 2017)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>.

Education

Public schools

Public schools are managed by the Lake Zurich Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95. A small section of east Lake Zurich is served by Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 and Consolidated High School District 125.

Elementary schools (K-5):

• Isaac Fox
• Sarah Adams
• Seth Paine
• Spencer Loomis
• May Whitney (also Pre-K)

Until 2009, Charles Quentin Elementary School was also a school in the district, located in nearby Kildeer, that served students in Kildeer, parts of Deer Park and a small part of Lake Zurich, but it closed due to the small total number of students attending it. The district was remapped and students attending Charles Quentin were assigned to various other schools. The site of the former Charles Quentin school became a large part of the retail shopping center known as Kildeer Village Square.

Middle schools (6–8):

• Lake Zurich Middle School South (takes students from Fox and Adams and took students from the former Quentin School, also takes Whitney students)
• Lake Zurich Middle School North (takes students from Paine, Loomis and Whitney)

High school (9–12):

• Lake Zurich High School<ref name="lz95 website">Template:Cite web</ref>

Non-Lake Zurich schools:

• Willow Grove Kindergarten Center (K) (in Buffalo Grove)
• Kildeer Countryside Elementary School (1–5) (in Long Grove)
• Woodlawn Middle School (6–8) (in Long Grove)
• Adlai E. Stevenson High School (9–12) (in Lincolnshire)

Private schools

• St. Francis de Sales (Catholic) (Preschool-8)
• St. Matthew (Lutheran) (K-8)
• Quentin Road Christian School (Baptist) (K-12)

Library

Ela Area Public Library

Popular culture

Lake Zurich is the hometown of Sandra Bullock's character Dr. Ryan Stone in the 2013 science fiction film Gravity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable people

• Matt Blanchard, former National Football League player<ref name="Twitter Bio">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Leo Burnett, founder of the advertising company that would become Leo Burnett Worldwide<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Anthony Costanzo former offensive tackle for Indianapolis Colts<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Bob Parsons former National Football League player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Al Salvi, former Illinois state legislator and 1996 Republican U.S. Senate nominee<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Jack Sanborn, current National Football League player for the Dallas Cowboys, formerly for the Chicago Bears<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Phoebe Snetsinger, notable birdwatcher; raised in Lake Zurich and daughter of Leo Burnett<ref name="Burnett Family">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Matt Svanson, current pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals organization<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Justin Tranter, songwriter and singer for Semi Precious Weapons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Village of Lake Zurich official website
• Ela Area Public Library