Sycamore is a city in

DeKalb County, Illinois DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 100,420. Its county seat is Sycamore. DeKalb County is part of the Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL–IN–WI Metropolit ...

, United States. It has a commercial district based and centered on

Illinois Route 64 Illinois Route 64 (IL 64, Illinois 64) is an east–west state highway in Northern Illinois. Its western terminus is at the Iowa state line, connecting with U.S. Route 52 in Illinois, U.S. Route 52 (US 52) and Iowa Highway 64 via th ...

. The population was 18,577 at the 2020 census, up from 17,419 at the 2010 census. Sycamore is the county seat of DeKalb County and was named after the

sycamore tree Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...

History

Early settlement

The first European settlers to the Sycamore-area arrived in 1835 and concentrated themselves mostly north of the

Kishwaukee River The Kishwaukee River, locally known as simply The Kish, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Illinois.. United States Board on ...

(the name of which means Sycamore) and the present site of Sycamore. The original town was platted by a New Yorker named Christian Sharer. A mill was constructed and the Kishwaukee dammed but the town failed. By 1837, after some controversy, the location of

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

was settled in favor of Orange, Sycamore's original name, and the settlement moved to the present-day site of the city.Wagner, Robert.
Sycamore Historic District
," (

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

), National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form, December 13, 1978, ''

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of ...

'', accessed May 21, 2008. The present-day town site was platted by James Waterman and Evans Wharry in 1837 (the same year Chicago was founded). The first settler at the new site was Carlos Lattin, who preceded the town, having arrived in 1835. Lattin staked a claim that included most of the present west side of the city and erected his first cabin just north of downtown.

County seat location

Early in the city's history, it seemed that Sycamore might not be the location of the DeKalb County Courthouse: other towns were vying for the

title. A now-defunct town called Brush Point was the choice of a Dr. Henry Madden; and the

Clerk of the Court A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court and administering oaths t ...

Rufus Colton would have preferred Coltonville, where he made his home. Colton had set the first session of county court to be held at his home in Coltonville. In his attempt to make Coltonville the county seat, Colton decided to hold a new election for the status in 1837. Colton made sure that Coltonville would win the election by telling only the population of Coltonville about it. His political tactics were eventually cancelled by an act of the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

,Klein, Ron and McIntyre, Mac.
Looking Back at the DeKalb County Courthouse
," ''DeKalb County Online''. Retrieved May 21, 2008. after the DeKalb County court intervened. When court convened the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

served a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...

declaring Sycamore had built a Courthouse and that the Court session should be held there. Afterward, Coltonville eventually suffered the same fate as Brush Point and disappeared from the map. These events settled for a time the issue of where the courthouse and, in turn, the DeKalb County seat was going to be located.History of DeKalb County Courthouse
, 16th Judicial Circuit, 2005. Retrieved May 21, 2008. In 1903, as the county prepared to construct a new courthouse, the debate over county seat was reignited. This time, it was the city of DeKalb that sought to wrest the title of county seat away from Sycamore. Two of DeKalb's most prominent citizens,

Jacob Haish Jacob Haish (March 9, 1826 – February 19, 1926) was one of the first inventors of barbed wire. His type of barbed wire was in direct competition with the other barbed wire manufacturers in DeKalb, Illinois. He was a known carpenter and architec ...

and Isaac L. Ellwood, each promised to donate $20,000 to help absorb some of the new building's cost. The city of Sycamore responded, raising funds of their own, and after some back and forth and legal wrangling, the issue was settled in Sycamore's favor.

Later settlement

Following the end of the second county seat controversy, in 1839, the first DeKalb County Courthouse was built in the city, as well as Sycamore's first hotel. A year later the settlement consisted of 12 houses, which increased to 18 by 1844. Sycamore then began an era of steady growth marked by population increases in 1848 to 262, 1849 to 320, 1850 to 390, 1851 to 435. The Sycamore and Cortland Railroad arrived in the late 1850s and a station was erected in Sycamore. Sycamore was home to 41 commercial and industrial business by 1855. In 1858, Sycamore was incorporated as a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

. Following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

the railroad began to assist Sycamore's growth and the settlement was incorporated as a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in 1869.

Maria Ridulph murder

Sycamore is the location of a notable

cold case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

, the 1957 abduction and murder of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph. On the evening of December 3, 1957, Maria disappeared while playing outside her family's Sycamore home. She was last seen by her playmate Kathy Chapman (née Sigman) with a young man who called himself "Johnny" and had approached the girls offering them

piggyback Piggyback, piggy-back, or piggybacking may mean: Transport * Piggyback (transportation), something that is riding on the back of something else Art, entertainment, and media * Splash cymbal piggybacking, mounting a cymbal on top of an already ...

rides. A search and investigation by local and state police and the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

failed to locate either Maria or "Johnny", and the following April, Maria's body was found in a field approximately 100 miles from Sycamore. The case remained unsolved for over 50 years until in 2011, Jack Daniel McCullough, a former neighbor of the Ridulphs, was arrested and convicted of kidnapping and murdering Maria. The case received national news coverage as the oldest cold case in US history to result in a conviction. However, in April 2016, McCullough's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison after a post-conviction review of the evidence indicated that he could not have committed the crime.

2010 earthquake

On the morning of February 10, 2010 at 3:59 a.m., Sycamore was near the epicenter of an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

. The shock had a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

of 3.8 and a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS) measures the effects of an earthquake at a given location. This is in contrast with the seismic magnitude usually reported for an earthquake. Magnitude scales measure the inherent force or ...

of IV (''Light''). It was felt away in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. When the quake was first reported, it was thought Sycamore was the

epicenter The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

. However, revised data from the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

determined the

to be closer to

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

. This was the first

in Northern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

since an M4.2 (intensity V (''Moderate'')) event in 2004.

Geography

Sycamore is located along

(State Street in Sycamore) about southeast of Rockford and west-northwest of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It is along the south bank of the East Branch of the South Branch Kishwaukee River in

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johann de Kalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama DeKalb County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Alabama, northeastern part ...

. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Sycamore has a total area of , of which (or 99.43%) is land and (or 0.57%) is water. The terrain in Sycamore and the surrounding area is gently rolling and contains rich soil which was originally heavily forested.

Cityscape

The commercial district of Sycamore is based on

, and stretches about a mile down starting from the intersection of route 64 with

Illinois Route 23 Illinois Route 23 (IL 23) is a north–south state highway in northern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 116 in Pontiac north to U.S. Route 14 south of Harvard. This is a distance of . Illinois 23 was established in 1918 as one of the o ...

and ending at Center Cross Road. The district is composed of two-story shops, a bank, small movie theater, and former Midwest Museum of Natural History. The town also has the county courthouse, built in 1904, of limestone.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 18,577 people, 7,083 households, and 4,602 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,792 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 83.03%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.20%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.46%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, 2.25% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 3.50% from other races, and 7.54% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 9.31% of the population. There were 7,083 households, out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.45% were married couples living together, 14.85% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.03% were non-families. 27.05% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.19% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.12 and the average family size was 2.51. The city's age distribution consisted of 24.8% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $65,924, and the median income for a family was $82,318. Males had a median income of $53,784 versus $35,290 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $33,586. About 9.2% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 11.2% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Sycamore has never had a large manufacturing or industrial sector. Among Sycamore's early industries were Marsh Harvester Manufacturing, R. Ellwood Manufacturing, and Sycamore Preserve Works. Marsh Harvester was established in 1859, Ellwood in 1875 and the preserve works in 1891. R. Ellwood Manufacturing relocated to DeKalb in 1891. Today,

Ideal Industries Ideal Industries is an American company that produces electrical connector, connectors, hand tools, electronic test equipment, testers, and measuring instrument, meters for the electrical power industry, electrical and telecommunications industri ...

is a privately owned manufacturer based in Sycamore.

Arts and culture

Tourism

Sycamore IL Courthouse lawn Pumpkin Fest 2007

Sycamore is home to the annual Sycamore Pumpkin Festival, a pumpkin festival established in 1962 when local resident Wally Thurow began displaying pumpkins on his front lawn. The festival features many activities, a carnival, and a parade. The lawn of the DeKalb County Courthouse is the center of the event and includes a display of decorated and carved pumpkins.Frillman, Carrie.
Pumpkin enthusiasts pack streets
, ''

Daily Chronicle The ''Daily Chronicle'' was a left-wing British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the '' Daily News'' to become the '' News Chronicle''. Foundation The ''Daily Chronicle'' was developed by Edward Lloyd out of a ...

'' (

DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,290 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian-French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died during the Ameri ...

), October 28, 2007, accessed May 21, 2008. The event attracts thousands to Sycamore from locations throughout northern Illinois, the Midwest, and the broader United States.McMurray, Andy.
Families travel from near and far to see Pumpkin Parade
, ''

'' (

), October 30, 2006, accessed May 21, 2008.Johnson, David.
Pumpkins aplent -- thousands gather for fest
, ''

'' (

), October 26, 2002, accessed May 21, 2008. The city is also home to the Sycamore Historic District, an architecturally interesting area containing over 200 individual properties.Bigolin, Steve.
Welcome to a bright new town - Sycamore: A wealth of sites will be covered in this tour
", ''

'' (

), August 14, 2006, accessed May 21, 2008. The district was established in 1978 when it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The area is bounded in an irregular pattern along Main and Somonauk Streets but contains portions of several other streets and includes much of the downtown commercial district and residential areas north and south of downtown. During the summer, the Sycamore Historical Society offers guided walking tours with a local historian.Staff.
Year's last guided walking tour of the Sycamore Historic District is Sunday
, ''

'' (

), August 27, 2007, accessed May 21, 2008. Sycamore is also home to the former Midwest Museum of Natural History, which featured a varied taxidermy collection and closed in February 2020. The

Great Western Trail (Illinois) The Great Western Trail is a rail trail in Illinois, United States. Description The trail occupies three non-contiguous sections of an abandoned Chicago Great Western Railway corridor in suburban Chicago and a section in Iowa that have been ...

passes through town.

Historic sites

File:ElmwoodCemeteryGates1.jpg, Elmwood Cemetery Gates (1865) File:Sycamore_Il_DeGraff_House3.jpg, David DeGraff House (1867) in the Sycamore Historic District File:Frederick_Townsend_Residence6.jpg, Frederick B. Townsend House bed and breakfast (1892) File:Townsend_Garage.jpg, Frederick Townsend Garage (1905) File:Sycamore_Historic_District1_0.jpg, Prairie style Wally Thurow House (1917)

Government

Sycamore features a Council-Manager government. Policy is developed by an elected

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

and then implemented by an appointed professional City Manager. The Sycamore City Council consists of a Mayor elected at-large and eight Aldermen representing one of four wards (two per ward). The Mayor and Aldermen serve four year terms, with one Alderman from each ward being elected every two years. Sycamore's current mayor is Steve Braser.

Education

Public schooling began in Sycamore as early as 1839, with classes held in the first DeKalb County Courthouse, a log building across the street from the courthouse's current location.DeKalb County Courthouse
", Taming the Wild Prairie Digitization Project, 2004, ''

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

'', accessed May 21, 2008. The city's first school building was built in 1853. Current public education needs in Sycamore are provided by Sycamore Community Unit School District 427. The current Superintendent of Sycamore School District is Steve Wilder. The district operates Sycamore High School, Sycamore Middle School, and five elementary schools. The newest elementary school, North Grove, opened in 2009 was built for access by the nearby subdivision.

Transportation

DeKalb Public Transit provides bus service on Routes 17, 18, 21 and 21T connecting Sycamore to downtown DeKalb and other destinations.

Notable people

David Boies David Boies ( ; born March 11, 1941) is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Boies rose to national prominence for three major cases: leading the U.S. federal government's succes ...

, attorney, born in Sycamore *

Bryan Carter Bryan Carter (born July 11, 1990, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American drummer, vocalist, composer, arranger, orchestrator and bandleader. In 2023, he and Charlie Rosen won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for ''Some Like It Hot''. In 2 ...

, musician, lived in Sycamore. Recipient of the Grammy and Tony Award. * Adam C. Cliffe, United States court judge *

Reuben Ellwood Reuben Ellwood (February 21, 1821 – July 1, 1885) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Biography Reuben Ellwood was born in Minden, New York on February 21, 1821, to Abraham and Sarah Ellwood. He attended public schools in New York be ...

Republican U.S. Representative from Illinois. (d.1885). Buried in Elmwood Cemetery. * William J. Fulton, Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, lived in Sycamore * Jay Henigan, plumber and CIA contractor killed in Afghanistan * Mark Johnston, former cornerback for

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

, born in Sycamore *

Ben Niemann Ben Niemann (born July 27, 1995) is an American professional football linebacker. He played college football at Iowa was signed as an undrafted agent by the Kansas City Chiefs. Early life Niemann is the son of Jay and Lou Ann Niemann. He was b ...

, linebacker for NFL's

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

. Won the Super Bowl 2020 with the Chiefs. *

Nick Niemann Nick Niemann (born December 2, 1997) is an American professional football linebacker for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL draft. He played college football for the Iowa ...

, linebacker for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

. * Maria Ridulph (1950–1957), child murder victim * Alvah Sabin, politician, congressman, lived in Sycamore * Frederick B. Townsend, judge, mayor of Sycamore * Floyd K. Whittlemore, Illinois state treasurer * David A. Wirsling, Illinois representative and farmer, born in Sycamore * George McCaskey, Chicago Bears chairman.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Cities in Illinois County seats in Illinois Populated places established in 1835 Cities in DeKalb County, Illinois 1835 establishments in Illinois

History

Early settlement

County seat location

Later settlement

Maria Ridulph murder

2010 earthquake

Geography

Cityscape

Demographics

Economy

Arts and culture

Tourism

Historic sites

Government

Education

Transportation

Notable people

See also

References

External links