Wheaton

Sister cities

• Karlskoga Municipality

History

The city dates its founding to the period between 1831 and 1837, after the passage of the Indian Removal Act, when Erastus Gary laid claim to of land near present-day Warrenville. The Wheaton brothers arrived from Connecticut and in 1837, Warren L. Wheaton laid claim to of land in the center of town. Jesse Wheaton later made claim to of land just west of Warren's. It was not long before other settlers from New England joined them in the community. In 1848, they gave the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad of right of way, upon which railroad officials named the depot Wheaton. The village was later incorporated as a city on April 24, 1890, when the first mayor of the city was selected, Judge Elbert Gary, son of Erastus Gary and founder of Gary, Indiana. However, animosity between the two towns continued, and in 1868, as records were moved from the Naperville courthouse to the new courthouse in Wheaton, Naperville refused to turn over the remaining county records, prompting a band of Civil War veterans from Wheaton to conduct what came to be known as the "Midnight Raid" on the Naperville courthouse. As Wheatonites fled back on Wheaton-Naperville Road, Napervillians were able to secure some of the last remaining records, which were then taken to the Cook County Recorder in Chicago for safekeeping. During that time, Naperville was mounting a lawsuit against Wheaton accusing election judges of leaving their posts for lunch during the vote when duplicate ballot stuffing allegedly occurred. As the courts deliberated the fate of the county seat, the records were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Shortly thereafter, Wheaton was officially proclaimed the county seat. As demand for space increased, the courthouse was rebuilt in 1887 at a cost of $69,390, modeled…

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Wheaton has an area of , of which (or 98.55%) is land and (or 1.45%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Metea Valley High School
  High · Aurora · 2,715 students · 14.2:1 ratio
• York Comm High School
  High · Elmhurst · 2,707 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• Comm H S Dist 99 - South High Sch
  High · Downers Grove · 2,637 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Lake Park High School
  High · Roselle · 2,560 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• Naperville North High School
  High · Naperville · 2,553 students · 14:1 ratio
• Naperville Central High School
  High · Naperville · 2,551 students · 14.4:1 ratio
• Glenbard West High School
  High · Glen Ellyn · 2,324 students · 17.7:1 ratio
• Glenbard East High School
  High · Lombard · 2,275 students · 16.5:1 ratio