Des Plaines is a Cook County city considered a Chicago suburb. It’s next to O’Hare International Airport and has a population of approximately 59,000 individuals. The Des Plaines River runs through the city just east of its downtown center.

Des Plaines is a city of about 14.5 square miles whose name comes from the Des Plaines River. The name in French is “of the plains”.

There are portions of the city limits of Des Plaines that have layers of sedimentary rocks that are considered abnormal. According to geologists, these abnormal layers of rocks are probably from an ancient meteor crater approximately 75 x 200 feet. All of this is beneath the city itself. The bedrock was highly fractured by the impact with large blocks of sediment remaining.

The area was first settled in 1833 after the Treaty of Chicago. Des Plaines was incorporated first in 1869 and then reincorporated in 1873 and elected a village board the following year. In 2008, the Illinois Gaming Board awarded Des Plaines the 10th and last Illinois casino license. This license allowed Des Plaines to begin building a 140,000 square foot casino on about 21 acres of land adjacent to the Illinois Tri-State Tollway. The casino is projected to open in the middle of 2011.

Located within its city boundaries is Oakton Community College which opened as a community college in 1969. The public schools for the area are served by Districts 62 and 59. The high school district is 207 with Maine West High School and District 214 also servicing students of Des Plaines.

Des Plaines is an easy commute to the Chicago Loop by the Edens and Kennedy Expressways or by the Metra rail system.