| Lake Zurich is
a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The
population was 18,104 at the 2000 census. A 2003 special
census put the village's population at 19,005. The village
is located by a lake also called Lake Zurich. In 2006,
Lake Zurich was named by Frommer's as one of the top
hundred "Best Places to Raise Your Family"
and by U.S. News as one of the "Top Twenty-five
Affordable Places to Live in the Country".
The area of Lake Zurich was first
settled by Europeans in the 1830s. Two early pioneers
were George Ela, after whom the Ela township is named,
and Seth Paine, who established a number of commercial
ventures in the town. New England farmers moved to the
area in the 1830s and 1840s, and German immigrants began
to move to the area from the middle of the century.
The village of Lake Zurich was incorporated on September
19th, 1896. It remained primarily a farming community;
although the village was connected to the railroad in
1910, the line was closed ten years later. However,
the arrival of the highway system with Rand Road, U.S.
Route 12 in 1922 and Half Day Road, Illinois Route 22
in 1927 established Lake Zurich as a convenient summer
resort. The now-defunct Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda
Railroad also served the community.
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