Tri-Cities, Illinois
| Tri-Cities | |||||||||
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| City | |||||||||
Clockwise from top: Fox River, Hotel Baker, State Street in Geneva, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia Depot Museum, Kane County Government Center, St. Charles Municipal Building
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| Country |  United States of America |
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| State |
 Illinois
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| County | Kane, DuPage | ||||||||
| Founded | 1833-1835 | ||||||||
| Townships |
List of townships
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| Government | |||||||||
| • Mayor of Batavia | Jeffery D. Schielke | ||||||||
| • Mayor of Geneva | Kevin Burns | ||||||||
| • Mayor of St. Charles | Raymond Rogina | ||||||||
| Population (2014) | |||||||||
| • Total | 81,532 (est.) | ||||||||
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) | ||||||||
| ZIP codes | 60510, 60134, 60174, 60175 | ||||||||
| Area codes | 630 | ||||||||
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The Tri-City area is a vernacular region that is situated between the large cities of Aurora and Elgin, Illinois, and encompasses the cities of Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles.
A "vernacular region" is a distinctive area where the inhabitants collectively consider themselves interconnected by a shared history, mutual interests, and a common identity. Such regions are "intellectual inventions" and a form of shorthand to identify things, people, and places. Vernacular regions reflect a "sense of place," but rarely coincide with established jurisdictional borders.
The Tri-City area—the name sometimes appears as "Tri-Cities"—is primarily located in Kane County, though Batavia and St. Charles include parcels in DuPage County. They are often grouped together due to their shared history, close proximity on the Fox River, relative socioeconomic condition, and similar population sizes. These three communities are among the oldest in Kane County as well as the state, all having been incorporated long before Chicago.
The name, "Tri-City" originated in 1910 with the publication of the first Tri-City Directory: Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, by the Evans Directory Service of [Elgin, Illinois|Elgin], Illinois. There were ten editions of the Tri-City Directory published from 1910 to 1943. During this same period, the local telephone directories served all three cities, as well.
There are other origin stories. In 2011, Batavia Mayor Jeffery D. Schielke has theorized that the Tri-City moniker originated in the early 20th century from the deviation of the railroad track between Aurora and Elgin to the three cities, which conductors nicknamed the Tri-Cities. Former St. Charles mayor Norris has theorized that the nickname grew in popularity during the 1940s and 1950s, when the area experienced a relative population boom and the boundaries of the cities began to move closer and closer together. Nowadays, the Tri-City area is bonded by retail and industrial corridors on Kirk and Randall Roads, joint policy decisions, area organizations, and the Fox River.
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