Riverwoods is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was established on the banks of the Des Plaines River in 1959 by local steel magnate Jay Peterson. Per the 2020 census, the population was 3,790.[3] The corporate headquarters of Discover Financial and CCH are located there, as well as Orphans of the Storm, an animal shelter founded in 1928 by famous dancer Irene Castle. The village used to host the annual "Arts & Riverwoods" festival.
History
In 1885 a station for the Wisconsin Central Railroad was built near the modern day intersection of Deerfield Road & N Milwaukee Avenue that overtime caused an increase in the local population. The first half of the 20th-century saw Riverwoods as a popular vacation spot. The Des Plaines River was often frequented by outdoorsman.
In 1959 the locals had Riverwoods incorporated as a village in order to hault development and protect their woodlands.[4]
Riverwoods features many significant examples of midcentury residential design, including over 40 homes designed by "prairie modernist" architect Edward Humrich. A recent wave of teardowns and the lack of a local preservation ordinance led the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois to identify Riverwoods in 2006 as one of the Chicago region's communities most threatened by overdevelopment.[6]
According to the 2010 census, Riverwoods has a total area of 4.016 square miles (10.40 km2), of which 3.97 square miles (10.28 km2) (or 98.85%) is land and 0.046 square miles (0.12 km2) (or 1.15%) is water.[8]
Riverwoods village, Illinois – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the census[13] of 2000, there were 3,843 people, 1,261 households, and 1,118 families residing in the village. The population density was 963.3 inhabitants per square mile (371.9/km2). There were 1,281 housing units at an average density of 321.1 units per square mile (124.0 units/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 94.12% White, 0.36% African American, 4.50% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 0.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.98% of the population.
There were 1,261 households, out of which 42.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 82.8% were married couples living together, 4.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.3% were non-families. 9.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.93 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 27.8% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 33.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.9 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $158,990, and the median income for a family was $166,076. The per capita income for the village was $67,878. About 1.8% of families and 3.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.