After five years of planning, the Hampshire Village Board has annexed a 3.5-mile strip of farmland that connects the community with a lucrative Northwest Tollway interchange.
“I look upon it as an historic occasion,” said Mayor Bill Schmidt.
Schmidt said the annexation of about 677 acres of farmland brings the village, founded in 1876, close to its original settlement of Henpeck, a frontier town for stagecoaches that is 3 miles northeast of the village.
“Now it’s back in its old neighborhoood again,” Schmidt said. “I think in that regard it’s historic.”
The annexed land attracted attention because it’s visibly a snaking strip connecting the village with a truck stop at Interstate Highway 90 and U.S. Highway 20.
Schmidt said the village’s annexation of nine parcels of land more than two weeks ago allows the village to tap into the sales tax revenue at the truck stop and to position itself for the growth along Interstate 90.
The village expects to initially receive about $180,000 in sales tax revenue from the service stations and fast-food restuarants at the interchange, but the village must also build a $1.8 million sewer line to the newly annexed farmers and businesses, Schmidt said. Construction is expected to begin in the fall, he said.