Bourbonnais, Illinois

John Jacob Astor had founded the company in 1808, and when the United States banned foreign (i.e.

British and Canadian) companies (such as the Hudson's Bay Company) from competing in the country after the War of 1812, it flourished.

By 1830 it had a near monopoly of fur trading in the midwest, but the number of local trappable wild animals had declined.

In 1832, Noel Le Vasseur arrived as the Astor firm local fur trading agent, establishing a trading post in the area, and becoming the first permanent non-Native American settler.

The Potawatomi were forced to move westward by a series of treaties culminating in the Treaty of Tippecanoe, which Congress ratified in 1833.

Stephen Badin briefly settled in Bourbonnais Grove in 1846, before retiring further south.

In 1853, the Illinois legislature split Iroquois County, and Bourbonnais Grove became part of new Kankakee County.

Because the Illinois Central Railroad ran through Kankakee, founded in 1854, it became the county seat, with Bourbonnais Grove as one of several townships.

In 1858, residents built the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, and soon nuns of the Congregation of Notre Dame arrived from Canada to teach and provide nursing care.

In 1865 clerics of St.

After a referendum in 1875, the settlement incorporated as the Village of Bourbonnais, with George R.

Joseph Viateur "Léo" Dandurand, born 1889 He was the owner and coach of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL).

After enrollment declines in the early 20th century, in 1940, the Catholic institutions were bought out by what became Olivet Nazarene University, since the Protestant school in...

In 1974, a state representative from Bourbonnais introduced a resolution "correcting" the pronunciation of the town's name to bur-bə-NAY, closer to the French.

In 1976, for the U.S.

Sam Yagan, born 1977 an American Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of OkCupid.

Abbie Marie Boudreau, Born 1978 an American ABC television news correspondent.

Colin Holderman, 1995: a baseball player who plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball.

In 1999, the town was the site of a major train wreck, the Bourbonnais train accident.

Bourbonnais was home of the summertime training camp of the Chicago Bears professional football team from 2002 to 2019.

Murrow awards in both 2006 and 2007.

She joined ABC in November 2010.

In 2013, he was named to TIME Magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World' list.

== Notable people == Natalie Benson, 2018-2022: A star college volleyball player for the Memphis Tigers and Providence Friars, famous for being a great teammate but an even bett...

In 2020, the team relocated their training camp to their headquarters at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois after major renovations of the building complex.