New Lenox

History

The first European settlement in the modern-day village of New Lenox was settled near the intersection of US-30 and Gougar Road as Van Horne Point. New Lenox Township was established when Will County was created in 1852 with the building of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad main line from Chicago to Omaha. Originally named Tracey in honor of the general superintendent of the Rock Island Railroad, the town was later renamed by New Lenox Township's first Rock Island Line supervisor, John van Duser, in honor of Lenox, New York, Van Duser's hometown, at the request of Tracey. The Village of New Lenox was incorporated on October 4, 1946 under the guidance of F. Carlton Cole, Walter Baers, and 44 other community leaders. In 1829, fur traders Aaron Friend and Joseph Brown established an outpost along the north side of Hickory Creek (near today’s Gougar Road), which was one of the earliest settlements in Will County. Friend moved west with Black Hawk's British Band, Ho-Chunk, and Potawatomi after the Black Hawk War of 1832. In 1830, William Rice Sr. and William Rice Jr. arrived and began farming and building a log cabin, which they sold along with their land to John Gougar on behalf of his father William Gougar. In 1832, “Uncle Billy” Gougar established a post office at his farm where area residents would pick up their mail. The Gougar farm became the center of activity in the area. Joseph Norman, who opened the second area sawmill in 1833, was also the father of Elizabeth Norman, born in 1832, and was the first child born in New Lenox Township. In 1852, the coming of the Rock Island Railroad changed the settlement of the Township. Before the railroad, farmers hauled their goods to the I & M Canal or by wagon all the way to larger cities like Chicago. The…

Geography

New Lenox is located approximately 36 miles southwest of downtown Chicago at (41.508251, -87.970597). According to the 2010 census, New Lenox has a total area of , of which (or 99.85%) is land and (or 0.15%) is water. It is bordered by Joliet to the northwest, Ingalls Park to the west, Mokena to the east, Frankfort to the southeast and Manhattan to the south. The average temperatures in New Lenox range from 21 °F (-6 °C) in January to 73 °F (23 °C) in July. There are, on average, 137 days of the daily low temperature being below or at freezing, and 86 days when the daily high is above 80 °F (27 °C).

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  17,403
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  15,766
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,798
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,263
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  12,759
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,109
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,881
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,954

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