Burr Ridge

History

Burr Ridge's gently rolling hills were carved by glaciers at the end of the last ice age, and most of the village lies on the Valparaiso Moraine. Flagg Creek, a tributary of the Des Plaines River, runs through town. Joseph Vial erected a log cabin near Wolf and Plainfield roads in 1834. Vial also ran a hotel on the stagecoach line, and the Vial family was actively involved in Lyons Township politics and the creation of the Lyonsville congregational church. The first Democratic convention in Cook County was held in Burr Ridge in 1835. After 1848, farmers shipped their goods to Chicago along the Illinois and Michigan Canal. A small settlement of German farmers also inhabited Flagg Creek by the 1880s. In 1917, the International Harvester Company purchased for an experimental farm, where it tested the world's first all-purpose tractor, the Farmall. Also in 1917, the Cook County Prison Farm (also known as the Bridewell Farm) began operation in what is now Burr Ridge. In 1947, developer Robert Bartlett, whose company also developed Beverly Shores and Countryside, established the Hinsdale Countryside Estates out of a former pig farm. In 1956 these residents decided to incorporate as the village of Harvester, in honor of International Harvester. In the 1940s, Denver Busby bought that became known as the Burr Ridge dairy farm. He later launched the Burr Ridge Estates, with home sites. In 1961, International Harvester and the Burr Ridges Estates merged with Harvester, changing the community's name to Burr Ridge. The town name is derived from a group of bur oak. By 1963, the population had more than doubled, to 790, and by 1975 it had soared to over 2,200. In 1969, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley suggested a proposal to build low-income subsidized housing on the prison…

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Burr Ridge has a total area of , of which (or 98.15%) is land and (or 1.85%) is water. Burr Ridge lies in both Du Page and Cook counties. The village is bordered by Hinsdale to the north, Western Springs to the northeast, Indian Head Park to the east, Willow Springs to the south and southeast, and Willowbrook to the west, along with several unincorporated areas.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  75,832
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  70,276
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  52,451
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  52,261
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  51,498
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  51,168
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  51,007
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  50,168

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2026-07-08
  21 km ENE of Kenilworth, Illinois
• M 2.6 — 2025-03-15
  6 km W of Dwight, Illinois
• M 3.1 — 2024-07-15
  2 km WNW of Somonauk, Illinois
• M 2.9 — 2015-03-25
  3 km WNW of Lake in the Hills, Illinois
• M 3.2 — 2013-11-04
  1 km SSW of Lyons, Illinois
• M 2.6 — 2013-06-10
  4 km NNE of Virgil, Illinois