Editing Bourbonnais, Illinois (section)

==History==
The village is named for François Jace Bourbonnais ''père'', a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the [[American Fur Company]], who had married a Native American woman and arrived in the area near the fork of two major Indian trails and the [[Kankakee River]] circa 1830.<ref name=VB>{{Cite web|url=http://villageofbourbonnais.com/history|title=History|website=Village of Bourbonnais|access-date=September 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030174719/http://www.villageofbourbonnais.com/history|archive-date=October 30, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[John Jacob Astor]] had founded the company in 1808, and when the United States banned foreign (i.e. British and Canadian) companies (such as the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]) from competing in the country after the [[War of 1812]], it flourished. By 1830 it had a near monopoly of fur trading in the midwest, but the number of local trappable wild animals had declined.

In 1832, [[Noel Le Vasseur]] arrived as the Astor firm local fur trading agent, establishing a trading post in the area, and becoming the first permanent non-[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] settler. He married [[Watseka]], niece of a [[Potawatomi]] chieftain, and after the Potawatomi were relocated to Iowa, recruited [[French-Canadians|French-Canadiens]] to settle around his store.<ref>{{cite web|website=Bourbonnais Grove Historical Society|url=http://www.bourbonnaishistory.org/Local_History.html|title=Local History|access-date=September 29, 2013|archive-date=January 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114074242/http://www.bourbonnaishistory.org/Local_History.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Potawatomi were forced to move westward by a series of treaties culminating in the [[Treaty of Tippecanoe]], which Congress ratified in 1833. The treaty reserved two sections for Potawanomi chief Me-she-ke-te-no, and one section each for Catish (Mrs. Bourbonnais Sr.) and [[Manteno, Illinois|Manteno]] (daughter of Francois Bourbonnais Jr.).<ref name=VB/> LeVasseur received considerable land through a series of shrewd trades, and eventually divorced Watseka and married a Canadian woman named Ruth.<ref name=YT>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgui-KA0-x0 Noel LeVasseur in Bourbonnais Illinois.wmv] - via ''YouTube''</ref> After establishment of the new Catholic [[Archdiocese of Chicago|diocese of Chicago]], missionary Fr. [[Stephen Badin]] briefly settled in Bourbonnais Grove in 1846, before retiring further south.

[[Image:Bourbonnais.jpg|left|thumb|Notre-Dame Convent and Virgin Mary Elementary School 1883]]
In 1853, the Illinois legislature split [[Iroquois County, Illinois|Iroquois County]], and Bourbonnais Grove became part of new [[Kankakee County, Illinois|Kankakee County]]. Because the [[Illinois Central Railroad]] ran through [[Kankakee, Illinois|Kankakee]], founded in 1854, it became the county seat, with Bourbonnais Grove as one of several townships. In 1858, residents built the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, and soon nuns of the [[Congregation of Notre Dame]] arrived from Canada to teach and provide nursing care. Two years later they founded Notre Dame Academy. In 1865 [[Viatorian|clerics of St. Viator]] founded [[St. Viator College]] for boys.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://viatorians.com/about-us/a-brief-history/|website=Viatorians|title=A Brief History}}</ref>

After a referendum in 1875, the settlement incorporated as the Village of Bourbonnais, with George R. LeTourneau as its first mayor, and trustees Francois Sequin, Joseph Legris, Alexis Gosselin, P.L. Monast, Alex LaMontagne, Joseph Goulet, Jacob Thyfault and Len Bessette. LeVasseur died, aged 80, four years later.<ref name=YT/> LeTourneau also became mayor and sheriff of Kankakee as well as state senator; his home (begun in 1837 and with renovations completed in 1866) eventually became headquarters of the local historical society, which is also restoring the garden and nearby arboretum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bourbonnaishistory.org/Letourneau_Museum.html|title=Letourneau Museum|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114080301/http://www.bourbonnaishistory.org/Letourneau_Museum.html|archive-date=January 14, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Bourbonnais|url=http://www.antiqueshopsinillinois.com/kankakee_cnty/bourbonnais.htm|website=Antiquing Illinois|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817231043/http://www.antiqueshopsinillinois.com/kankakee_cnty/bourbonnais.htm|archive-date=August 17, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> After enrollment declines in the early 20th century, in 1940, the Catholic institutions were bought out by what became [[Olivet Nazarene University]], since the Protestant school in nearby [[Vermillion County, Illinois|Vermillion County]] had burned down the previous year.

The original [[French language|French]] pronunciation of ''Bourbonnais'' came to be [[Anglicized]] over time to {{IPAc-en|b|ər|ˈ|b|oʊ|n|ᵻ|s}} {{Respell|bər|BOH|nis}}. In 1974, a state representative from Bourbonnais introduced a [[resolution (law)|resolution]] "correcting" the pronunciation of the town's name to {{IPAc-en|b|ɜːr|b|ə|ˈ|n|eɪ}} {{Respell|bur|bə|NAY}}, closer to the French.<ref>{{cite web|author=Mike Ramsey|date=January 10, 2006|url=http://www.sj-r.com/extras/ryan/75816.asp|website=SJ-R.COM|title=Legislator's name mentioned in Ryan trial, but in good way|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317201901/http://www.sj-r.com/extras/ryan/75816.asp|archive-date=March 17, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1976, for the U.S. Bicentennial, the Village Board passed a resolution making "ber-buh-NAY" the official pronunciation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Callary |first=Edward |title=Place names of Illinois |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2009 |pages=41–42}}</ref>

In 1999, the town was the site of a major train wreck, the [[Bourbonnais train accident]].

Bourbonnais was home of the summertime training camp of the [[Chicago Bears]] professional football team from 2002 to 2019. In 2020, the team relocated their training camp to their headquarters at [[Halas Hall]] in [[Lake Forest, Illinois]] after major renovations of the building complex.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/01/14/bears-moving-training-camp-to-halas-hall.html|title=Bears moving training camp to Halas Hall|website=Pro Football Talk|date=January 14, 2020|access-date=October 2, 2020}}</ref>