Wood Dale, Illinois
city in Addison Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States
Wood Dale is a city in Addison Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 14,012.
History
Wood Dale was originally known as Lester's Station, after John Lester, an early settler.
Geography
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Wood Dale has a total area of 4.89 square miles (12.67 km2), of which 4.78 square miles (12.38 km2) (or 97.91%) is land and 0.10 square miles (0.26 km2) (or 2.09%) is water.
Wood Dale shares borders with Elk Grove Village (on the north), Bensenville (east), Addison (south, southwest) and Itasca (west).
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Wood Dale had a population of 14,012, with 5,402 households, including 3,684 family households.
The median age was 43.7 years. 18.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.7% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 97.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
The public source identifies “Wood Dale, Illinois” as city in Addison Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Wood, Dale and Illinois.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Wood Dale, Illinois”, the useful work is to connect “city in Addison Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q575546. VIAF identifies the subject as 155982223. The Library of Congress control number is n83226404. Authority coordinates are 41.967, -87.981. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 2021.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wood Dale, Illinois”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wood Dale, Illinois primary sources, Wood Dale, Illinois archive and Wood research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wood Dale, Illinois”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wood Dale, Illinois” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.