Berwyn () is a suburban city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is coterminous with Berwyn Township, which was formed in 1908 after breaking off from Cicero Township. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 57,250. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area.
History Before being settled, the land that is now Berwyn was traversed by Native American trails. The most important trails converged near the Chicago portage, and two notable routes crossed what is today Berwyn. A branch of the Trail to Green Bay crossed Berwyn at what is now Riverside Drive, and the Ottawa Trail spanned the southern end of the city.
In 1846, the first land in "Berwyn" was deeded to Theodore Doty, who built the plank road from Chicago to Ottawa along the Ottawa Trail. The trail had been used as a French and Indian trade route and more recently as a stagecoach route to Lisle. This thoroughfare, then known as Old Plank Road, became what is now Ogden Avenue in South Berwyn. In 1856, Thomas F. Baldwin purchased of land, bordered by what is now Ogden Avenue, Ridgeland Avenue, 31st Street, and Harlem Avenue, in hopes of developing a rich and aristocratic community called "LaVergne". However, few people were interested in grassy marshland. Mud Lake extended nearly to the southern border of today's Berwyn, and the land regularly flooded during heavy rains. The only mode of transportation to LaVergne was horse and buggy on the Plank Road.
To encourage people to move to LaVergne, Baldwin sold an strip of property to the Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1862. The rail line opened in 1864, but the train did not stop regularly in the area. The railroad refused to build a station, so the residents of the area constructed LaVergne Station on Ridgeland Avenue in 1874.
However, the financial panic of 1873 and Baldwin's death in 1876 stunted the growth of LaVergne. Baldwin's daughter, Emma, inherited her father's estate, and in 1879 she sold most of the land to a group of realtors controlled by Marshall Field. The new development enacted building codes and stipulated the minimum building cost of each home. By the end of 1880, 12 new homes were built. By 1888, the settlement had grown so much that the Baldwin family donated the triangular piece of land bounded by Ogden Avenue, 34th Street, and Gunderson Avenue so that a school could be built. LaVergne School became the first public building in Berwyn.
In 1890, Charles E. Piper and Wilbur J. Andrews, two Chicago attorneys, purchased a plot of land from the Field syndicate to develop. The land was bounded by 31st Street, Wesley, Kenilworth, and Ogden Avenues. On May 17, 1890, approval was received from Cicero Township, and Berwyn, Illinois, was founded
Piper and Andrews wanted the railroad to build a station in their development, but the railroad already had stations at La Vergne and at Harlem Avenue. Piper and Andrews decided to build a station with the understanding that trains would stop regularly. They did not know what to name their station so they consulted a Pennsylvania train timetable to find a name. They chose to name it after Berwyn, Pennsylvania, a Main Line suburb of Philadelphia noted for its beauty. After 1901, all settlements in the area were known as Berwyn.
While Piper and Andrews were developing the southern portion of present-day Berwyn, John Kelly was helping to develop the north part from 12th Street to 16th Street. This area was really a part of an Oak Park subdivision, and it even appeared on some maps as "South Oak Park". In fact, children who lived in this area went to school in Oak Park. John Kelly was known as "Mr. Everything" because he was a realtor, builder, insurance seller, and community servant.
In between the two settlements, there was little except for a few farms. The area between 16th and 31st streets was not settled. There were only two paths by which to travel between the two settlements, and today these paths are known as Oak Park Avenue and Ridgeland Avenue. Although Berwyn was chartered as a city in 1908, it was not until the 1920s that this middle portion of land was developed.
During this time, Berwyn was the area's fastest growing suburb. The city's stringent building codes resulted in block upon block of well-built brick two-story bungalows. Many also contained elaborate design elements typically not seen, such as stained glass windows, clay tile roofs, terra cotta, and intricate brick patterns. Today, Berwyn is noted as having the most significant collection of Chicago-style bungalows in the nation.
Geography According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Berwyn has a total area of , all land. Bordering cities include Oak Park to the north, Cicero to the east, Stickney to the south, Lyons, Riverside, North Riverside, and Forest Park to the west. Geologically, Berwyn is predominately composed of Glacial Lake Bottom from the Wisconsin Glacial Episode, the most recent glacial period. A beach ridge of sand and gravel, made during one of the stages of Lake Chicago, is also present in the city. This is most easily identified as Riverside Drive. The elevation change due to the ridge is clearly seen on the 2800 block of Maple Ave. Prior to the settlement of Berwyn, the land was grassy marshland. The body of water that connected the South Branch of the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River was a shallow waterway or a muddy slough (depending on the season) known as Mud Lake. Mud Lake extended nearly to the southern border of today's Berwyn, and the southern end of Berwyn flooded regularly during heavy rains in its early years.
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Berwyn city, Illinois – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010White alone (NH)30,47617,59213,37256.42%31.05%23.36%Black or African American alone (NH)5883,3734,6221.09%5.95%8.07%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)8866790.16%0.12%0.14%Asian alone (NH)1,3511,3621,3652.50%2.40%2.38%Pacific Islander alone (NH)4290.01%0.00%0.02%Other Race alone (NH)70741890.13%0.13%0.33%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)8965128881.66%0.90%1.55%Hispanic or Latino (any race)20,54333,67636,72638.03%59.44%64.15%Total54,01656,65757,250100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Berwyn had a population of 57,250 and a population density of . The median age was 36.4 years. 23.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 12.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 97.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.6 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 19,633 households in Berwyn, including 12,348 family households. 37.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 42.6% were married-couple households, 20.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 21,037 housing units, at an average density of , of which 6.7% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.5%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 19,080 33.3% Black or African American 4,882 8.5% American Indian and Alaska Native 1,595 2.8% Asian 1,445 2.5% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 18 0.0% Some other race 18,096 31.6% Two or more races 12,134 21.2% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 36,726 64.2%
Ancestry According to the 2022 American Community Survey, the top ancestries reported in the city were Mexican (48.7%), and Puerto Rican (6.9%). The top five non-Hispanic ancestries reported in Berwyn as of the 2022 American Community Survey were Polish (6.1%), German (5.6%), Irish (5.4%), Italian (5.1%), and Filipino (2.5%). Government City The City of Berwyn operates under a Mayor–council government form of government. The people of Berwyn elect the mayor, clerk, treasurer, and one alderman from each of the city's eight wards. The terms of elected officials are four years. The mayor is given administrative authority, and he has the power to appoint and remove all officers of the municipality, except those covered by civil service. The City Council, composed of the eight aldermen and the mayor, is the legislative organ of the city.
The seat of government is located at City Hall, 6700 26th Street.
Police and fire departments
Police The Berwyn Police Department has six main divisions: Administrative, Investigative, Patrol, K-9 Unit, Communications, Records, and Parking. The Berwyn Police Station is located at 6401 W. 31st Street.
Fire The Berwyn Fire Department is composed of 80 sworn professional firefighters, 30 certified paramedics, and 11 emergency medical technicians. The Fire Department is anchored by three fire stations with the following equipment: StationLocationEngine Co.Truck Co.AmbulanceCommand UnitFire Station 1 (South)6434 Windsor AveQuint 901 Engine/Truck ComboReserve Fire Engine 911Ambulance 906Reserve Ambulance 910Fire Station 2 (North)6615 W. 16th StEngine 902Ambulance 905Command Vehicle 909Fire Station 3 (Center)6700 W. 26th StEngine 903Ladder Truck 904Ambulance 907Command Vehicle 900Command Vehicle 908
Federal Since 2013, Berwyn has been split between three of Illinois' congressional districts: the , , and .
Post Office The United States Postal Service operates the Berwyn Post Office (1940), at 6625 Cermak Road."." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on April 17, 2009. The post office contains a mural, The Picnic, painted in 1942 by Richard Haines. Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department.
Mayors
Term Mayor 1908–1911 George H. Murphy 1911–1914 H.S. Rich 1914–1915 Charles Rudderham 1915–1917 G.M. Smith 1917–1923 George H. Anderson 1923–1925 Fred H. Rudderham 1925–1929 Frank Janda 1929–1931 Byron C. Thorpe 1931–1934 Frank Novotny 1934–1935 Maurice Shay 1935–1943 Anton Janura 1943–1945 Fred J. Mraz 1945–1946 Thomas Barrett 1946–1965 William J. Kriz 1965–1968 George E. Dolezal 1968–1969 Ralph M. Faust 1969–1977 Emil Vacin 1977–1981 Thomas A. Hett 1981–1993 Joseph Lanzillotti 1993–2005 Thomas G. Shaughnessy 2005–2009 Michael A. O'Connor 2009–present Robert Lovero
Education Berwyn is served by two K-8 school districts:
Berwyn North School District 98 comprises 4 schools: Havlicek Elementary, Prairie Oak Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, and Lincoln Middle School. Berwyn South School District 100 comprises 8 schools: Emerson Elementary, Hiawatha Elementary, Irving Elementary, Komensky Elementary, Pershing Elementary, Piper Elementary, Freedom Middle School, and Heritage Middle School.
High school students, depending on residency, attend either J. Sterling Morton High School District 201's J. Sterling Morton High School West in Berwyn or J. Sterling Morton High School East in Cicero. Most areas are west of Ridgeland Avenue and therefore are zoned to Morton West, while those east of Ridgeland Avenue are zoned to Morton East."1950s." J. Sterling Morton High School East. Retrieved on December 20, 2016."Polling Locations for March 2012 ." Stickney Township. Retrieved on December 20, 2016.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago operates one PK-8 school in Berwyn, St. Leonard School. St. Odilo closed in 2024.""Archdiocese of Chicago announces closure of two west suburban Catholic schools"." WGN News. Retrieved on February 8, 2024. St. Mary of Celle closed after the 2004–2005 school year. The building and premises are still used, however. During the Great Depression, the tuition at St. Odilo was only 75 cents (about $ when accounting for inflation).