Arlington Heights history

The earliest recorded history we have of Arlington Heights is the area's first land purchases, which took place in 1835, made mainly by eastern settlers. Like most Chicago suburbs, settlement and development were relatively slow until commuter trains connected Arlington Heights with the rest of the world. In 1853 a local resident named William Dunton managed to convince the Illinois & Wisconsin Railroad to make a stop in the town, which for convenience sake (and for no self-serving purpose whatsoever) he named Dunton. The Civil War era saw a general rise in the region's German population and by the late 1860s most of the area was inhabited by German farmers.

Arlington Heights was incorporated in 1887 with a population of roughly 1,000 people. The town was still an agrarian community, but after its incorporation it started to attract craftsmen and people that worked in Chicago. Over the next several decades the building of the Arlington Park horse racetrack created quite a stir for the small town settlement. The track, for which the town became nationally and internationally known, opened in 1927 with 20,000 spectators in attendance for the first race. The track set the standard for modern horse racing on many fronts, including its PA system, photo finish camera and closed circuit TV system. Arlington was even host to the world's first million-dollar race in 1981.

Arlington Heights experienced its biggest growth in the 1950s and '60s when American suburbs had their rise with the popularization of passenger cars, which had recently become an affordable and fashionable means of transportation. The size of Arlington Heights in square miles swelled several times between 1950 and 1970, and the town's population increased proportionately. Even after its borders ceased to expand, the city's population continued to climb, nearly tripling from around 28,000 in 1960 to more than 76,000 in 2000.

Now, Arlington Heights is one of the most desirable and popular Chicago suburbs. The village recently experienced a boom in condo development, which resulted both from the success enjoyed by the Arlington Heights central business district and from the recent boom in home and condo construction. It is the largest community in the far northwest suburbs.