BENSENVILLE, IL

Bensenville is a village located near O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County, Illinois, with a portion of the town in Cook County. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 18,813.

First known as Tioga, it was formally established as Bensenville in 1873 along the Milwaukee Road (now Canadian Pacific) right-of-way. The community is named after Bensen, Germany, a village in the municipality of Sudwalde. A post office was established in 1873, but because there was an existing "Benson", the suffix "ville" was added.

The Edge Ice Arena is located in Bensenville, former home of the Chicago Steel junior ice hockey team.

The Churchville School in Bensenville is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The Barker-Karpis Gang used a house on May Street to hide kidnap victims William Hamm, Jr in 1933 and Edward Bremer in 1934, who they had kidnapped from Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Bensenville has a total area of , of which (or 99.15%) is land and (or 0.85%) is water.

Schools

Bensenville School District 100:

Bensenville School District 2:

Private:

Demographics

As of the 2010 census the population density was 3,296.6 people per square mile (5,305.3/km). There were 6,743 housing units. The racial makeup of the village was 67.3% White, 3.5% African American, 1.0% Native American, 4.8% Asian, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 47.8% of the population.

There were 6,312 households, out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 11% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.50.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 20 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were over 65 years of age. The median age was 33.4 years.

The median income for a household in the village was $52,500 and the median income for a family was $55,500. About 15.4% of families and 15.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.1% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those over age 65.

Transportation

Bensenville has a station on Metra's Milwaukee District/West Line, which provides daily rail service between Elgin and Chicago (at Union Station). From there, passengers can connect to an Amtrak train.

Economy

Top employers

According to Bensenville's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the village are:

In popular culture

Bensenville is the site of Victory Auto Wreckers, a auto recycling facility on Green Street which has repeatedly aired the "door-falling-off-the-car" commercial, starring Bob Zajdel, on Chicago television stations since 1981.

Bensenville is mentioned by name in the movie Flatliners, and a scene was filmed at the old green house that was next to Blackhawk Junior High School in 1990.

In the television series Boss, a multi-episode story arc involves the main character, Mayor of Chicago Tom Kane (Kelsey Grammer), being damaged by a scandal in which he authorized the dumping of carcinogenic chemicals that soak into the groundwater of Bensenville.

Sister cities

Notable people