Room to Spread Out
Oak Brook was known as Fullersburg before it was incorporated as a village in 1958. It has far fewer people per square mile than its neighbors. In 2010 it had about 990 people per square mile, while nearby Westmont and Clarendon Hills each had over 4,000. That lower density often means larger lots, more lawn and landscaping, and more space between neighbors.
More yard means more surface for pests. Mosquitoes, ticks, earwigs and ants have more places to live, and treating a large property takes more than a quick spray at the door.
Salt Creek and Fullersburg Woods
Salt Creek runs through Oak Brook, and Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve, with its oak woodlands, follows the creek. The preserve is also home to beavers, red foxes, herons, egrets and nesting songbirds. Historic Graue Mill, built in 1852, sits on the creek. Early settlers described the land along Salt Creek as damp, clay rich bottomland that drained poorly.
That mix of water, clay soil, shade and woods explains a lot. Damp ground helps mosquitoes breed. Wooded edges shelter ticks. Wildlife brings fleas and rodents close to yards, and wet, shaded landscaping is where earwigs and centipedes settle.