Naperville, Illinois

City: Naperville

County: Du Page

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 41.7833, -88.1333

Naperville is located in northeastern Illinois just under thirty miles west of Chicago. Captain Joseph Naper of Ashtabula County, Ohio, was the first Euro-American to settle in what became Naperville. He arrived in the winter of 1831, and his family followed in June of that year. Named after the Naper family, Naperville was initially known as Fort Naper, then became the Naper Settlement. Captain Naper laid out the town plat in 1835. The U.S. Post Office Department established a post office in the town in March 1836. Naperville was incorporated as a village on February 7, 1857. It was long known primarily for agriculture, its limestone quarries, and as a local hub of mercantilism thanks to its location along the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Naperville was the county seat for Du Page County, Illinois from June 17, 1839 until 1868.

Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 811; Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 243; History of Du Page County, Illinois (Aurora, IL: Knickerbocker and Hodder, 1877), 41, 150-52; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Du Page County (Chicago, IL: Munsell, 1913), 2:641; "An Act to Incorporate the Village of Naperville," 7 February 1857, Private Laws of Illinois (1857), 290-99.