Frankfort is a village in Will County and Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a suburb of Chicago, about 28 miles (45 km) southwest of the city. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,296.
Frankfort's historic downtown area contains the Frankfort Grainery, Breidert Green, and part of the Old Plank Road Trail, a 22-mile-long paved recreation trail. The village also contains Commissioners Park and multiple schools, including Lincoln-Way East High School, Hickory Creek Middle School, and Dr. Julian Rogus School.
Name
The name "Frankfort" was taken from Frankfort Township designated by the Will County governing board. It was commonly known as "Frankfort Station" after the opening of the Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad through the township in 1855, though the official plat of the community dated March 1855 shows the name as "Frankfort". Property deed abstracts and railroad documents also show that the name was always Frankfort. Local residents incorporated Frankfort as a village in 1879. It also has some reference to the German city Frankfurt.
History
First inhabited by Native Americans, including the Potawatomi and Sac and Fox tribes, Frankfort was used as a conduit between the Des Plaines and St. Joseph rivers. The area was part of the Virginia Territory until the French signed a treaty with Manitoqua, the Potawatomi chief, for land in the Prestwick area. The first pioneers came to Frankfort in the early 1830s by means of the Des Plaines River from the southwest and by wagon from the east along the Sauk Trail, a roadway that still exists.
William Rice, the first non-native settler, made a permanent settlement in Frankfort in 1831. While the first pioneers, coming mainly from the New England colonies, were mostly of English and Scottish descent, German immigrants made the village of Frankfort a reality in the 1840s. They had fled harsh conditions in their homeland and were industrious and experienced farmers, soon buying most of the fertile farmland from the "Yankees", who were more inclined to provide services for local needs. Establishing both ownership and pride in the area, the German settlers implemented the first system of resident concern for local lands, which has been maintained ever since.
What is now known as Frankfort Township was originally part of the Hickory Creek Precinct. Will County was originally divided into ten precincts. In 1850, the county adopted the township form of government. Frederick Cappel named Frankfort Township after his native city, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 1855 the Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad built a line through an area linking Joliet, Illinois, with Lake Station, Indiana. The J&NI Railroad was leased to the Michigan Central Railroad, and service was implemented in July 1855. Nelson D. Elwood, an officer of the rail line, and Sherman Bowen, a Joliet attorney and real estate man, jointly platted a village of around in March 1855 and named it Frankfort after the township. It was commonly called "Frankfort Station" because of the railroad depot there, but when the village was incorporated, "station" was dropped from the name.
John McDonald became the first railroad agent in 1857.
In 1879, the village of Frankfort was incorporated, and elected John McDonald as the first Village President. Along with the establishment of the government, among the new administration's first undertakings was the institution of land use policies. Early recorded plans indicate a traditional grid pattern with residential uses surrounding the business district and railroad line and additional land for schools and public open spaces.
Geography
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, it has an area of , all land.
Frankfort is in the Chicago metropolitan area, about 28 miles south of downtown.
An unincorporated area north of the village of Frankfort (in Frankfort Township) is a census-designated place known as Frankfort Square.
The village is bordered by Richton Park to the east; Tinley Park, Frankfort Square, and Matteson to the northeast; Mokena and New Lenox to the west; and Monee and University Park to the southeast.