KANKAKEE

city, seat (1853) of Kankakee County, northeastern Illinois, U.S., on the Kankakee River. The city was founded in the 1850s when the builders of the Illinois Central Railroad bypassed the French-Canadian town of Bourbonnais (now a suburb) and chose Kankakee as a station because it offered better opportunities for townsite promotion. Kankakee is now a centre for agricultural trade and manufacturing. The Kankakee State Hospital for the mentally ill was established in 1877. Olivet Nazarene University was founded at Bourbonnais in 1907, and Kankakee Community College was opened in 1966. Inc. 1854. Pop. (1992 est.) city, 28,058; Kankakee MSA, 97,934.