Buffalo Grove is a village in Lake and Cook Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of Downtown Chicago and north of O'Hare International Airport. As of the 2020 Census, Buffalo Grove has a population of 43,212. It totals of land, with the top three-quarters in Lake County and the bottom quarter in Cook County. Roads in the village such as Lake Cook Road and Illinois Route 83 converge on I-294. It is part of the Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Before European colonization, Native American Potawatomi tribes inhabited the present area. The name "Buffalo Grove" comes from the English translation of the Potawatomi name for Buffalo Creek, which flows through some of the village. Initial Homesteaders sold their land to agricultural Catholic German immigrants, who established St. Mary's Church and a school. The area remained small and rural in character until housing developers began building single-family houses after the Korean War. After being incorporated in 1958, Buffalo Grove experienced a population boom for the rest of the 20th century. The village hosted a 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2008.
The village features dozens of recreational facilities, parks, and festivals, including a months-long Farmers' market, two golf courses, and the popular "Buffalo Grove Days". Buffalo Grove has an elected council-manager government with home rule status. The local government's public works department is nationally accredited. Economically, residents work in health care, education, and professional services, while businesses in the village employ 20,000 daytime workers in 10 million square feet of commercial and industrial space. The population of the village has been stagnant since the early 2000s.
History
Prior to incorporation
The first inhabitants of the region were the Illinois Confederation; they comprised multiple tribes and mainly lived in central Illinois. Throughout the 1700s, the Iroquois, Potawatomi, and others invaded and eventually destroyed the confederation. The Potawatomi's success led them to inhabit areas near the present Buffalo Grove until 1833. Being the dominant group, the Potawatomi would frequently be involved in the conflicts between Europeans, such as the Beaver Wars. The first Europeans to stay the winter in what would become Chicago were the French Jesuit explorers Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673; they established trade relations with the Ojibwe. They were traveling west to find the mouth of the Mississippi River to map its entirety and to spread Christianity.
Consistent with Native American history in the United States, the tribes in Illinois were devastated by decades of war, diseases, and the ever-encroaching American settlers. The settlers caused a dwindling of food and game; in 1829, a group of Illinois River Potawatomi signed a land cession treaty that included what would become Lake County in exchange for annual delivery of $12,000 in cash and 50 barrels of salt, $12,000 in gifts, and an exclusive blacksmith shop for them. The Native Americans' efforts to remain on their land failed because of the pressure of westward migration, aided by the recent opening of the Erie Canal. They signed the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which ceded all their lands in Illinois and Wisconsin and opened the area to white settlement. Some Native Americans who left the area would move onto reservations in western Missouri and Kansas, while others went north into Canada or resettled in northern Michigan and Wisconsin. The first settlers in Buffalo Grove were homesteaders from New England who received land grants from the government. They stayed for five years and sold their land to Catholic German immigrants fleeing poor living conditions. The primarily agricultural immigrants subsequently established the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church and St. Mary's School in the 1850s; they still stand today. Buffalo Grove expanded throughout the 19th century with the additions of the first school (St. Mary's School), the Firnbach Tavern, and the Weidner General Store. Before World War II, Buffalo Grove was entirely rural, consisting of less than 150 people, mostly dairy farmers.
Incorporation and post-incorporation
All farmers eventually sold their land to developers like Al Frank, president of Buffalo Grove Home Builders Inc., who started developing his 100-acre purchase in the 1950s for World War II and Korean War veterans. The incorporation led to a population increase in Buffalo Grove, and as more developers came, the village annexed more land. The increasing population caused the village to continue to annex subdivisions such as the Highlands, Green Knolls, and Windfield and establish home rule status, thereby allowing the government greater ability to solve local problems. In the mid-1980s, the Corporate Grove industrial park was built to the east, and Buffalo Grove Business Park was constructed to the west. The Arbor Creek Business Center at Aptakisic Road and Barclay Boulevard, and Covington Corporate Center on Busch Road were also developed. In 1992, village representatives successfully pushed for a United States Postal Service in Buffalo Grove, the first main postal facility built in the United States in twenty years. In 2006, the village became one of the first official smoke-free communities by banning smoking in public places and work environments. Illinois Route 83 leads north towards central Lake County and south towards O'Hare International Airport. East–west streets can take residents east to Lake Michigan and other North Shore suburbs such as Lake Forest, Highland Park, and Glencoe. Buffalo Creek is a forest preserve located adjacent to Buffalo Grove. Before European settlement, the area featured a tallgrass prairie dotted with small wetlands and even now is a nesting spot for grassland birds, including bobolinks and eastern meadowlarks. Improvements in the 2010s include 1.7 miles of trails, seven boardwalks, two scenic overlooks, and a reservoir expansion. Buffalo Creek also functions as flood control and is built to look like a naturally occurring wetland. Buffalo Grove is in the Des Plaines River watershed.
Climate
Due to its proximity to the city, Buffalo Grove's climate shares many of the same traits as Chicago. Buffalo Grove lies in a humid continental climate zone (Köppen: Dfa) and experiences four distinct seasons. Buffalo Grove receives an average of of precipitation each year. Summers are hot and humid, with frequent heat waves. July is the hottest month, and the daily average temperature is 84 °F (28.9 °C), while the daily low temperatures are around 65 °F (18.3 °C). On average, summer temperatures reach at least 90 °F (32 °C) on as many as 16 days.