In the 1830s, a Mr. Hollenbeck, who lived near Ottawa, Illinois, was traveling the then-unsettled territory. He found a grove of trees west of the present-day Hinckley and named it Squaw Grove, after the Native American women who were tending camp. In the spring of 1835, John Sebree built a log house. The following year, more families come to the area and a small town was started at the west edge of what is now Hinckley, which was named Squaw Grove. Hinckley was conceived in the 1870s as the brainchild of Francis Hinckley, president of the Chicago and Iowa Railroad. The rail line was placed one-half mile east of the Village of Squaw Grove, which was then named Hinckley. The first store came to Hinckley in 1872. By 1876, Hinckley had twenty businesses. The Methodist Church began in 1835, and St. Paul's Church came in 1885. A volunteer fire brigade was organized in 1886. In 1889, a tornado destroys most of the village. On January 7, 1927, the Harlem Globetrotters played their first road game in Hinckley.
Hinckley-Big Rock Elementary School is located on the west side of Hinckley on US HWY 30.
Hinckley-Big Rock Middle School is located in the center of Big Rock on US HWY 30.
Hinckley-Big Rock High School is located on the east side of Hinckley on US HWY 30.
Geography
Hinckley is located at . According to the 2010 census, Hinckley has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,994 people, 730 households, and 556 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,100.7 people per square mile. There were 761 housing units at an average density of 801.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 90.69% White, 1.80% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.30% Asian, 0.60% from other races, and 1.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.51% of the population. There were 730 households out of which 38.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.8% were married couplesliving together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.8% were non-nuclear families. 18.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.14. In the village, the population was spread out with 28.9% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males. The median income for a household in the village was $58,043, and the median income for a family was $65,726. Males had a median income of $45,179 versus $27,500 for females. The per capita income for the village was $23,491. About 3.8% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.0% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.
Popular culture
In 1981, Hinckley served as a stand-in for fictional North Crawford in Jonathan Demme's film adaptation of Who Am I This Time? by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon portray two painfully shy people who find one another through a community theater production of "A Streetcar Named Desire", in which they portray the tempestuous Stanley and Stella Kowalski.
