Buffalo Grove, IL USDA Loans VS FHA Loans

Buffalo Grove is a village in Lake and Cook Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 Census, Buffalo Grove has a population of 43,212. It totals 9.6 square miles (25 km2) 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, which take drivers to O’Hare International Airport 20 miles (32 km) south of Buffalo Grove.
A part of the Chicago Metropolitan Area, Buffalo Grove is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live in Illinois and the Midwest, as well as one with the highest school district rankings in the country.

Before westward expansion, 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 rural area changed minimally until post-Korean War developers bought and suburbanized the region for veterans. After being incorporated in 1958, Buffalo Grove experienced a population boom for the next three decades and hosted a 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2008.

Nearly all schools in Buffalo Grove have achieved commendable status or received awards from the state in the 21st century. The village features dozens of recreational facilities, parks, and festivals, including a months-long Farmers’ market, two golf courses, and popular Buffalo Grove Days. Although its schools and low crime are attractive to moving families, the village’s population has plateaued since 2000. Buffalo Grove has an elected council-manager government with home rule status. Because of Buffalo Grove’s location in two counties, different state and national districts represent each portion. 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 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.