Illinois is a state in the Midwestern United States. The Great Lakes are to its northeast and the Mississippi River to its west. Its largest metropolitan areas are Chicago, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other metropolitan areas include Peoria and Rockford, as well as Springfield, its capital. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth-largest population, and the 25th-largest land area.
The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in North America and contains the headquarters and regional offices of several global and national businesses, retail establishments, restaurants, hotels, and theaters, as well as many of Chicago's most famous attractions. It is home to Chicago's City Hall, the seat of Cook County, and numerous offices of other levels of government and consulates of foreign nations. The intersection of State Street and Madison Street, located in the area, is the origin of the address system of Chicago's street grid. Most of Grant Park's 319 acres (1.29 km2) are in the eastern section of the community area. The Loop community area is bounded on the north and west by the Chicago River, on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Roosevelt Road.
St. Clair County is the ninth most populous county in Illinois. Located directly east of St. Louis, the county is part of the Metro East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in southern Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, St. Clair County had a population of 257,400, making it the third most populous county in Illinois outside the Chicago metropolitan area. Belleville is the county’s seat and largest city.
Macoupin County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 44,967. The county seat is Carlinville.
Lake County is situated in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Illinois, along the shores of Lake Michigan. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 714,342, making it the third-most populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Waukegan, the tenth-largest city in Illinois. The county is primarily suburban, with some urban areas and some rural areas. Due to its location, immediately north of Cook County, Lake County is one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. Its northern boundary is the Wisconsin state line.
Kane County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 516,522, making it the fifth-most populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Geneva, and its largest city is Aurora. Kane County is one of the collar counties of the metropolitan statistical area designated "Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL–IN–WI" by the US Census.
Franklin County is a county in Southern Illinois. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 37,804. The largest city is West Frankfort and the county seat is Benton. This area of Southern Illinois is known locally as "Little Egypt".
Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,222.
North Chicago is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 30,759 at the 2020 census making it the 3rd largest city by population in the county, after Waukegan and Mundelein.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a public land-grant research university in Champaign and Urbana, Illinois, United States. It is the flagship institution of the University of Illinois system and was founded in 1867. Enrolling over 56,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the University of Illinois is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the country.
PLATO, also known as Project Plato and Project PLATO, was the first generalized computer-assisted instruction system. Starting in 1960, it ran on the University of Illinois' ILLIAC I computer. By the late 1970s, it supported several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked mainframe computers. Many modern concepts in multi-user computing were first developed on PLATO, including forums, message boards, online testing, email, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multiplayer video games.
Plato is an incorporated village in northwestern Texas County, Missouri, United States. It is located approximately 20 miles northwest of Houston and 10 miles south of Fort Leonard Wood on Route 32. The population was 82 at the 2020 census.
The Golden Corridor is the area around the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, formerly known as the Northwest Tollway, in the Chicago metropolitan area. Its name refers to the "gold" mine of economic profit for communities in the area. Several Fortune 500 company headquarters, office parks, industrial parks, exhibition and entertainment centers, medical facilities, hotels, shopping centers, and restaurants are in the Golden Corridor. With the exception of the O'Hare area of Chicago, all the communities in this region are part of a larger region known as the "Northwest Suburbs".
Plato Township is one of sixteen townships in Kane County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 6,166 and it contained 2,182 housing units. It was originally named Homer Township; the name was changed to Plato on July 2, 1850.
Central Community Unit School District 301 is a school district located mainly in Kane County, Illinois. It serves Burlington, Lily Lake, and portions of Elgin, Campton Hills, St. Charles and Pingree Grove, as well as several unincorporated areas such as Bowes, North Plato, Plato Center, and Udina. In 2013, the district served 4,638 students across seven (7) schools. In 2023, the number of students was approaching 5,000.
Central High School, is a public four-year high school located in Kane County, Illinois, a far northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is part of Central Community Unit School District 301, which serves Elgin, Lily Lake, Plato Center, Udina, Hampshire, Pingree Grove, Sycamore, Maple Park, Burlington and far western portions of St. Charles.
Riley, elevation 807 feet (246 m), is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. It was named a CDP before the 2020 census, at which time it had a population of 10.
Plato Center is an unincorporated community in Kane County, Illinois, United States, located south of Pingree Grove. Plato Center has its own ZIP code, 60170, and is also part of ZIP code 60124.
Bowes is an unincorporated community in Plato Township, Kane County, Illinois, United States, located at the intersection of Bowes and Nesler Roads.
Udina is an unincorporated community in Elgin and Plato Townships, Kane County, Illinois, United States. It is located mainly at the intersection of Coombs Road, U.S. Route 20 and Plank Road. The Pingree Grove Fire Department, Klein's Farm & Garden Market, Plank Road Tap Room, and Pasek Meat Market are located here.
