Located in Kane County about 40 miles Northwest of the Chicago Loop, Carpentersville, IL was first settled when the Fox River stopped brothers Daniel and Charles Carpenter from continuing their travel westward in 1837. They began a settlement (named Carpenter’s Grove) and approximately 15 years later, Charles’ son Angelo platted the area and renamed it Carpentersville, incorporated in 1887.
By the early 1860s, Carpenter established a blacksmith shop and iron foundry named the Illinois Iron and Bolt Company. The company was later purchased by Star Manufacturing Company, which was a major producer of agricultural machinery. During the 1870s and 1880s, many German, Polish, and Swedish settlers came to work in the area’s factories and Carpenter housed them and erected a church.
The town remained much the same size until the mid-1950s when another community north of Carpentersville was established called Meadowdale. Many failed attempts by Meadowdale’s founder to have the town incorporated lead to Carpentersville annexing the area in 1956. During the town’s first two years, over 700 homes were sold and the Meadowdale Shopping Center was erected in 1957.
In 1958, the Northwest Tollway opened and allowed commuters better access to Carpentersville and the surrounding areas. That same year, the founder of Meadowdale built the Meadowdale Raceway, which attracted as many as 200,000 race goers at a time. Even with the large number of spectators coming to the area, the racetrack had a multitude of problems and was forced to close in 1970.
Currently, Carpentersville, IL boasts a population of over 37,000 residents. The area of the town that once housed the Meadowdale Speedway is now the home of the County Forest Reserve and Township Park. Currently, the top industries for the city include Temporary Help Services – 6 percent of all workers are employed in this industry – as well as Commercial Banking, Physicians, and Supermarkets.
