Wheaton Real Estate
Wheaton is an affluent city in DuPage County, approximately 25 miles west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 52,894,which was estimated to have increased to 53,469 by July 2012. In 2010, it was listed by Money magazine as one of the 25 highest earning towns in the United States.
Wheaton has rapidly expanded since the 1950s, although population growth has slowed since the early 1990s, as the city has become increasingly landlocked. Downtown lost much business after the county courthouse facility moved two miles west in 1990, but in the decade since, the downtown has seen a renaissance of sorts, with the creation of several significant condominium and business developments. One of the most recognizable landmarks of the city is Wheaton Center, a 758-unit apartment complex on 14 acres in downtown Wheaton. The six building complex includes two twenty-story high-rise buildings built in 1975.
The Wheaton Park District has received the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence from the National Recreation and Park Association four times, in 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2005. It boasts 52 parks covering more than 800 acres. Lincoln Marsh Natural Area has 135 acres, and over 300 species of prairie and wetland plants and animals includes a regionally acclaimed ropes course. Cosley Zoo founded in 1974, houses over 200 animals that represent over 70 species. There are two public swimming pools, the Northside Family Aquatic Center, and the Rice Pool and Water Park with three water slides, a zero-depth entry point and sand volleyball courts. The 27-hole Arrowhead Golf Club, renamed in 1929 from the Antlers Golf Club. The Chicago Golf Club is a prestigious private golf club on the south-side of Wheaton. It is the oldest 18-hole golf course in the nation. It has hosted numerous U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur Golf Championships in its history. In 2005, it was host to the Walker Cup. Cantigny Park and Golf Course is the former estate of Chicago Tribune owner Robert R. McCormick, is in southwestern Wheaton. The park contains a championship 18-hole public golf course that was the site of the 2007 US Amateur Public Links. The park also contains two museums, one relating to the Chicago Tribune, and the other devoted to the First Division of the United States Army, as Robert McCormick was a colonel in the First Division during World War I. The Danada Forest Preserve and Equestrian Center is located on the site of the former estate of Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice, after whom Danada is named.In the 1940s, the Rices added a barn to the estate to house horses. In 1965, their horse Lucky Debonair won the Kentucky Derby. The Danada Farm estate was acquired by the county in 1980 and 1981.
Wheaton has forty-five churches located within the city limits and an additional thirty places of worship in the outlying unincorporated areas, representing nearly forty religious denominations. The Genus Edition of Trivial Pursuit states that Wheaton has “more churches per capita than any other town in America”. Built in 1926, the national headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America is located on a 42-acre estate on the north side of Wheaton. Wheaton is also the North American Headquarters for the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which moved into its new home in June 1946.
The Union Pacific/West Line runs through downtown Wheaton and has been a staple of Wheaton since its founding. Metra has two stops along the line in Wheaton, one at College Avenue serving Wheaton College, and another at West Street in the heart of downtown Wheaton.