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Blue Island

Blue Island, Illinois
City
Skyline of Blue Island, Illinois
Nickname(s): The City on the Hill
Motto: "Discover Blue Island: The Historic Heart of Chicago Southland"
Location in Cook County and the state of Illinois.
Location in Cook County and the state of Illinois.
Blue Island, Illinois is located in Illinois
Blue Island, Illinois
Blue Island, Illinois
Blue Island, Illinois is located in the US
Blue Island, Illinois
Blue Island, Illinois
Location within the state of Illinois
Coordinates: 41°39′26″N 87°40′48″W / 41.65722°N 87.68000°W / 41.65722; -87.68000Coordinates: 41°39′26″N 87°40′48″W / 41.65722°N 87.68000°W / 41.65722; -87.68000
Country United States
State Illinois
Counties Cook
Settled 1836
Incorporated October 26, 1872
Government
 • Type Mayor-council government
 • Mayor Domingo Vargas (Blue Island Independent Party)
 • City Council
 • State House Robert Rita (D)
 • State Senate Emil Jones, Jr. (D)
 • U.S. House
Area
 • Total 4.16 sq mi (10.8 km2)
 • Land 4.07 sq mi (10.5 km2)
 • Water 0.09 sq mi (0.2 km2)  2.16%
Elevation 640 ft (195 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 23,706
 • Density 5,824.6/sq mi (2,248.9/km2)
 • Demonym Blue Islander
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s) Area code 708
GNIS feature ID 404592
Website www.blueisland.org

Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, located approximately 16 miles (26 km) south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 23,706 at the 2010 United States Census.

Blue Island was established in the 1830s as a way station for settlers traveling on the Vincennes Trace, and the settlement prospered because it was conveniently situated a day's journey outside of Chicago. The late-nineteenth-century historian and publisher Alfred T. Andreas made the following observation regarding the appearance of the young community in History of Cook County Illinois (1884), "The location of Blue Island Village is a beautiful one. Nowhere about Chicago is there to be found a more pleasant and desirable resident locality."

Since its founding, the city has been an important commercial center in the south Cook County region, although its position in that respect has been eclipsed in recent years as other significant population centers developed around it and the region's commercial resources became spread over a wider area. In addition to its broad long-standing industrial base, the city enjoyed notable growth in the 1840s during the construction of the feeder canal (now the Calumet Sag Channel) for the Illinois and Michigan Canal and as the center of a large brick-making industry beginning in the 1850s, which eventually gave Blue Island the status of brick-making capitol of the world. Beginning in 1883, Blue Island was also host to the car shops of the Rock Island Railroad. Blue Island was home to several breweries, who used the east side of the hill to store their product before the advent of refrigeration, until the Eighteenth Amendment made these breweries illegal in 1919. A large regional hospital and two major clinics are also located in the city.


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