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Doing Business in the 13th DistrictRead about the 13th District's rich commercial landscape.The 13th District has a rich commercial history, beginning with the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The I & M Canal, a man-made canal connecting Lake Michigan to the Illinois River (which feeds into the Mississippi), is one of the most important waterways in our nation’s history and runs through the heart of the District. Its completion in 1848 formed the crucial link between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, bringing to life thousands of port towns in the process. Without the Canal, it is unlikely that Chicago, occupying its present site, would have become the continental metropolis it has, and equally unlikely that northern Illinois would have developed as early and richly as it did.
Today, our tradition of commercial ingenuity remains just as vibrant. Commerce and industry of all shapes and sizes call our area home, and new businesses move here or are born here every day.
The Village of Oak Brook, located in the northeastern part of the District, boasts a thriving corporate center. McDonald’s, Kodak, Ty (makers of Beanie Babies), Ace Hardware, Molex, and Federal Signal are just a few of the multinational corporations with headquarters or major branch offices in Oak Brook.
But the commercial sector in the the 13th District lies far from the worlds of Big Macs and Beanie Babies. At the heart of Chicagoland’s high-tech Research and Development Corridor, the 13th District plays a major role in bringing America the technologies of tomorrow. Argonne National Laboratory (birthplace of atomic power), Lucent, Tellabs, and Bell Labs are some of the more well-known 13th District technology-developers breaking new ground in their respective fields.
With the health of our region’s economy strong, the 13th District boasts excellent economic opportunities for individuals and corporations alike.
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