It comes as no surprise that statues, images and renderings of elk are found throughout the Village in everything from official stationary to this beautiful bronze sculpture, which is found in front of the Elk Grove Village Municipal Complex. While the creatures are not native to the area, an elk herd was actually brought to the Village in the 1920s from Montana.

Just about 20 miles northwest of downtown Chicago nestled next to one of the world's busiest airports is Elk Grove Village, Illinois, a place that represents American ideals through its hard-working industrial qualities and family-friendly neighborhoods.

Far before the sounds of jet engines and semis, there were the rustle of bush and noises of the native wildlife. Elk Grove started off as a township settled by New England farmers in 1834 during a period when Native Americans frequently hunted in the area's woods and marshlands. The pioneers, along with German immigrant farmers, worked to drain the marshes and make the area more habitable for the community that formed by the late 1840s.

For a century Elk Grove remained a quiet farming community that helped to feed the sprawling urban metropolis to the east. It took a while but eventually Chicago spread out to the farms. Due to the region's rural nature, no railroad lines went near Elk Grove Township for the first century or so of its existence. Only after 1940 - during the Second World War - were roads built in the township.

Several village streets are named in honor of the German farmers who helped establish Elk Grove, including Landmeier, Cosman, Beisner, and Busse, who is also the inspiration for Busse Woods, also known as the Ned Brown Forest Preserve.

Elk Grove Village was incorporated within Elk Grove Township in 1956 at a time when it only had a population of 125. Dallas-based construction company Centex Corporation was widely influential in creating the residential and industrial feel that defines the village today. Centex built streets and other infrastructure that served to create a true suburb through the 1960s.

Thanks in large part to the 1958 opening of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (also known as the Northwest Tollway), which passes the northern part of Elk Grove Village, schools, shopping centers and restaurants were made easily accessible. The tollway helped the village to more than double in size between 1960 and 1970.

The story of Elk Grove Village is incomplete without mention of O'Hare International Airport, located just a mile southeast of the village. Originally constructed in 1942- 43 as a manufacturing airport for Douglas Aircraft Company to create Douglas C-54 transport aircraft for World War II, the facility and surrounding land was sold for $1 to the City of Chicago as war surplus before blossoming into one of the world's busiest airports - a growth that was tangential to Elk Grove Village's in the 1950s and 1960s.

The headquarters of United Airlines, one of the world's largest commercial airliners, was housed in Elk Grove Township years before moving to downtown Chicago in 2006.

The township's industrial and business roots served as a backdrop for the five-square- mile Elk Grove Village Business Park, one of the largest business parks in the country and the second largest concentration of employment in the state, with approximately 3,600 businesses and 100,000 employees.

Located in Cook and DuPage counties, today Elk Grove Village is 11 square miles with over 32,700 residents as of the 2010 Census. It's accessible through some of the Chicago area's major highways, including the Tollway, the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and the I- 290/I-355/Route 53 combination. With high-performing schools, splendid park areas, a booming business region and superior quality of life, Elk Grove Village certainly earns its nickname, "The Exceptional Community."