Niles

Village in Cook County, northeastern Illinois; population (1990) 28,300. Niles, a suburb on the northwestern outskirts of Chicago, is situated on the North Branch of the Chicago River, 23 km/14 mi northwest of the Loop (Chicago city centre). It is an affluent dormitory town.

Niles

City in Berrien County, southwestern Michigan; population (1990) 12,500. It lies on the St Joseph River, 16 km/10 mi north of South Bend, Indiana.

Settled in 1828 and named after Hezekiah Niles, editor of a Baltimore newspaper, the settlement had once been the site of a Jesuit mission (founded in 1690). In the 19th century, Niles developed as a stagecoach stop between Chicago and Detroit. It is now an agricultural market centre for the many dairy and berry farms, orchards, and vineyards of the St Joseph River valley. Manufactured goods from here include wire and cable, refrigeration equipment, paper products, and processed foods. Writer Ring Lardner was born here in 1885.

Niles

City in Trumbull County, northeastern Ohio, on the Mahoning River, 13 km/8 mi northwest of Youngstown; population (1990) 21,100.

Niles is situated in a predominantly agricultural region that is also rich in coal, iron ore, and limestone. The main products manufactured in the locality are structural steel, sheet steel products, boilers, chemicals, lathes, tools and dies, and building materials. The city was the birthplace, in 1843, of President William McKinley.