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Waukegan (/w//ɔː/'/k//iː//ɡ//ən/) is the most populous city in and the county seat of Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is an industrial suburb about 36 mile (58 km) north of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, its population was 89,321, making it the seventh most populous city within the Chicago metropolitan area and the 10th most populous city in Illinois. Unlike many of the surrounding North Shore suburbs, Waukegan is socioeconomically diverse. A significant working class population and moderately sized middle class community exist in the community, as well as a number of poorer neighborhoods.

The site of present day Waukegan was recorded as Rivière du Vieux Fort ("Old Fort River") and Wakaygagh on a 1778 map by Thomas Hutchins. By the 1820s, the French name had become "Small Fort River" in English, and the settlement was known as "Little Fort". The name "Waukegance" and then "Waukegan" (meaning "little fort"; cf. Potawatomi wakaigin "fort" or "fortress") was created by John H. Kinzie and Solomon Juneau, and the new name was adopted on March 31, 1849. Waukegan had an abolitionist community dating to these early days. In 1853, residents commemorated the anniversary of emancipation of slaves in the British Empire with a meeting. Waukegan arguably has the distinction of being the only place where Abraham Lincoln failed to finish a speech. When he was campaigning in the town in 1860, he was interrupted by a ringing fire alarm. During the middle of the 19th century, Waukegan was becoming an important industrial hub. Industries included ship and wagon building, flour milling, sheep raising, pork packing, and dairying. William Besley's Waukegan Brewing Company was one of the most successful of these businesses, being able to sell beyond America. The construction of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway through Waukegan by 1855 stimulated the growth and rapid transformation and development of the city's industry, so much that nearly 1000 ships were visiting Waukegan harbor every year. Washburn & Moen, a barbed wire manufacturer that prompted both labor migration and land speculation beginning in 1891, U. S. Starch Works, and Thomas Brass and Iron Works. Immigrants followed, mostly from southeastern Europe and Scandinavia, with especially large groups from Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania. The town also became home to a considerable Armenian population. One member of this community, Monoog Curezhin, even became embroiled in an aborted plot to assassinate Sultan Abdul Hamid II, reviled for his involvement in massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Curezhin lost two fingers on his right hand while testing explosives for this purpose in Waukegan in 1904.

By the 1920s and 1930s, African Americans began to migrate to the city, mostly from the South. The town was afflicted with racial strife. In June 1920, an African American boy allegedly hit the car of an off duty sailor from nearby Great Lakes Naval Base with a rock, and hundreds of white sailors gathered at Sherman House, a hotel reserved for African Americans. Although newspaper reports and rumors suggested that the officer's wife was hit with glass from the broken windshield, subsequent reports revealed that the officer was not married. The sailors called for lynchings, but were kept back by the intervention of the police. Marines and sailors renewed their attack on the hotel several days later. The Sherman House residents fled for their lives as the military members carried torches, gasoline, and the American flag. The Waukegan police once again turned them away, but not before firing and wounding two members of the crowd. The police were not always so willing to protect Waukegan's citizens. The chief of police and the state's attorney in the 1920s, for example, were avowed members of the Ku Klux Klan, facts that came to light when a wrongfully convicted African American war veteran was released from prison on appeal after 25 years. Labor unrest also occurred regularly. In 1919, a strike at the US Steel and Wire Company – which had acquired Washburn & Moen – led to a call for intervention from the state militia. Noted organized crime boss Johnny Torrio served time in Waukegan's Lake County jail in 1925. He installed bulletproof covers on the windows of his cell at his own expense for fear of assassination attempts. The Waukegan urban area developed independently of Chicago, before being officially incorporated into the Chicago metropolitan area during the 2000 census. This inclusion took place as a result of suburban sprawl, effectively dissolving the region's identity as self standing. Despite this, Waukegan has retained a distinct industrial character in contrast to many of the residential suburbs along Chicago's North Shore.

Waukegan is located at (42.3703140, −87.8711404).

Waukegan is located within the humid continental climate zone (Köppen: Dfa) with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold and snowy winters. The record high temperature is , which was set in July 1934, while the record low is , set in January 1985. Waukegan's proximity to Lake Michigan helps cool the city throughout the year.

Waukegan contains three Superfund sites of hazardous substances that are on the National Priorities List. In 1975, PCBs were discovered in Waukegan Harbor sediments. Investigation revealed that during manufacturing activities at Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC), hydraulic fluids containing PCBs had been discharged through floor drains at the OMC plant, directly to Waukegan Harbor and into ditches discharging into Lake Michigan. The OMC plants were subsequently added to the National Priorities List, and was designated as one of 43 Great Lakes Areas of Concern. Cleanup of the site began in 1990, with OMC providing $20–25 million in funding. During the OMC cleanup, additional soil contaminants were found at the location of the former Waukegan Manufactured Gas and Coke Company. Soil removal was completed at the coke site in 2005, and cleanup of that soil will continue for several years. The Johns Manville site is located 1 mi (1.6 km) north of the OMC site. In 1988, asbestos contamination found in groundwater and air prompted listing on the National Priorities List and subsequent cleanup. In 1991, the soil cover of the asbestos was completed. However, additional asbestos contamination was found outside the Johns Manville property, which will require further cleanup. The Yeoman Creek Landfill is a Superfund site located 1.5 mile (2 km) west of the Johns Manville site. The site operated as a landfill from 1959 to 1969. In 1970, it was discovered that the lack of a bottom liner in the landfill had allowed leachate to enter groundwater, contaminating the water with volatile organic compounds and PCBs, and releasing gases that presented an explosion hazard. All major cleanup construction activities were completed in 2005, and monitoring of local water and air continues. The book Lake Effect by Nancy Nichols gives an account of the effects of PCBs on Waukegan residents. The Johns Manville site was cited due to its high concentration of PCBs and asbestos.

Over half (54.4%) of the population identified as members of a religious group. The largest group were Roman Catholics, who comprised 31.0% of city residents. Other Christian groups included Lutherans (3.2%), Baptists (1.9%), Presbyterians (1.6%), and Methodists (1.5%); about 11% adhered to other Christian denominations. Other faiths practiced include Judaism (2.7%) and Islam (1.4%). Christ Episcopal Church on the corner of Grand Avenue and West Street is a historic church, one of the first ones in Waukegan. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago operates Catholic churches. On July 1, 2020, St. Anastasia Parish and St. Dismas Parish merged, with the former having the parish school and the latter having the parish church.

The city has plans for redevelopment of the lakefront. The lakefront and harbor plan calls for most industrial activity to be removed, except for the Midwest Generation power plant and North Shore wastewater treatment facilities. The existing industry would be replaced by residential and recreational space. The city also set up several tax increment financing zones, which have been successful in attracting new developers. The first step in the revitalization effort, the opening of the Genesee Theatre, has been completed, many new restaurants have opened, buildings have been renovated, and the City of Waukegan has made substantial investments in the pedestrian areas and other infrastructure. The city has had an annual "Scoop the Loop" summer festival of cruising since 1998, which since 2010 has become a monthly event during the summer. The current incarnation is known as "Scoop Unplugged".

The City of Waukegan is run on a mayor–council government. The city government consists of a single elected mayor and city clerk, with a city council composed of nine alderpersons, who are elected to represent the nine wards of the city. Any new membera are sworn on the first Monday in May of their respective election year, as it coincides with the first city council meeting of the month.

The mayor of Waukegan as of 2021 is Ann B. Taylor, the city's first female mayor. She was elected in April 2021, defeating incumbent Sam Cunningham, the city's first African American mayor. Since at least 1996, no mayor has been elected for more than a single term.

Science fiction author and novelist Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) was born in Waukegan, and though he moved with his family to the West Coast while still a child, many of his stories explicitly build on Waukegan (often called Green Town in his stories, such as Dandelion Wine) and his formative years there. Ray Bradbury Park, located at 99 N. Park Ave. in Waukegan, is named after him.

Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham (1921–2003) was born and raised in Waukegan and attended nearby Northwestern University on a basketball scholarship, though football soon became his main sport. Graham played quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL), taking his team to league championships every year between 1946 and 1955, winning seven of them. While most of Graham's statistical records have been surpassed in the modern era, he still holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.98. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 0.814. Graham is one of only two people (the other being Gene Conley) to win championships in two of the four major North American sports—1946 NBL (became NBA) and AAFC championship, plus three more AAFC and three NFL championships.

Waukegan is served by the Waukegan Public School District 60. It serves about 17,000 students in preschool through grade 12. Waukegan has three early childhood schools, 13 elementary schools, five middle schools, and three high schools. The multicampus Waukegan High School serves local high school students in two different campuses: Brookside and Washington. Brookside Campus serves as a 9th–10th grade learning center, while Washington Campus serves as an 11th–12th grade learning center. A network of private schools exist within the city. Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep, is private Catholic high school, located within a former Kmart in Waukegan. Immanuel Lutheran School is a prekindergarten grade 8 school of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Waukegan.

The Waukegan Fire Department provides fire protection and paramedic services for city, with five fire stations. Firefighters, lieutenants, and captains are represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Pace provides bus service on numerous routes throughout the city with a hub in downtown Waukegan. Separated from downtown by the Amstutz Expressway, the Waukegan station provides Metra commuter rail service along the Union Pacific North Line. Trains travel south to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, and north to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Ray Bradbury spent his childhood in Waukegan and used it as the basis for Green Town, the setting of three of his books: Dandelion Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), and Farewell Summer (2006). In his essay "Just This Side of Byzantium" and poem "Byzantium, I come not from," Bradbury explains the relationship between Green Town and his memories of Waukegan. In her poem 'Twee visschers', written in Dutch by the Surinam writer Rudie van Lier two men, a white and a black are fishing together near Waukegan. They are described as the new future. Eleanor Taylor Bland is an author of crime fiction taking place in "Lincoln Prairie" an amalgam of Waukegan, North Chicago, and Zion. The character Johnny Blaze from the Marvel comic book Ghost Rider is described as having been born in Waukegan. Waukegan's Amstutz Expressway, locally known as the "Expressway to Nowhere", has been used as a shooting location for such films as Groundhog Day, The Ice Harvest, The Blues Brothers, Contagion and Batman Begins. The music video "In Love with a Thug" sung by Sharissa featuring R. Kelly was filmed in Waukegan predominantly on the corner of Water Street and Genesee Street. In 2005 Ringo Starr and the Round heads recorded a concert for an episode of Soundstage at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan. In their 1979 novel Stardance, Spider & Jeanne Robinson refer to Waukegan as if it were a prototypical Earth location, as identified by gravity vs. free fall. The hip hop group Atmosphere namechecks the city in live performances of the song "You." Tom Waits mentions Waukegan in the song "Gun Street Girl" from his album Rain Dogs (1985): "He left Waukegan at the slamming' of the door". The band The Ike Reilly Assassination mentions Waukegan in the song "The Ex Americans" from the 2004 album Sparkle in the Finish. The band Eddie From Ohio has a song titled "HoJo's in Waukegan" on the album Actually Not.