Before white settlers arrived in this area, it was home to various Native American tribes such as the Illini Confederation, the Sac, the Fox, and the Potawatomi. There was abundant game and Thorn Creek provided drinking water. Two important native trails crossed near the future location of Chicago Heights: the north-south Vincennes Trace (originally a bison seasonal migration route; currently Chicago Road/Dixie Highway), and the east-west Sauk Trail.

The first white settler in Chicago Heights was Absolem Wells, who built a cabin where Chicago Road crossed Thorn Creek in 1833. By most accounts Wells, and several other early settlers, got along peacefully with the local Potawatomi. In fact, local lore states that Wells married a Potawatomi woman and moved west with her family when the native Americans were forced to lands west of the Mississippi River by acts of the federal government.

Emboldened by the removal of the native populations, more white people arrived to the settlement, which had taken on the name of Thorn Grove. In 1850, townships were enacted by the state government and the area was given the name of Bloom. Bloom maintained a mostly agricultural and rural environment for several years.

By 1890, three railroads crossed in the area, including a main line to Chicago. The railroads brought transformative industrial development to the location. In 1892, Chicago Heights was incorporated. The Chicago developer Charles Wacker–whom Wacker Drive was named after downtown–established the Chicago Heights Land Association which acquired land to develop and market. This would be the birth of Chicago Heights as an industrial city.

Growth was rapid, as factory after factory opened up and residential construction boomed. Soon, an active commercial district developed along Chicago Road, Illinois Street, and Halsted. Public services were also established. In the year of incorporation, a police department and volunteer fire department were established. In 1900, Bloom High School opened in its original location on 14th Street. In 1902, industrialist Andrew Carnegie donated funds to build the Chicago Heights Free Public Library, which opened the following year. In 1911, St. James Hospital opened on Chicago Road.

Factory work in Chicago Heights often drew the newest Americans to the area. Immigrants from Italy, Poland, Ireland, Czechoslovakia and other European countries settled here throughout the early twentieth century. In addition, many African Americans who had left the rural south during the Great Migration (1910-1970) found their way to the Heights. From 1900 to 1930 the population grew from 5000 to 22,000.

In the 1940s, Chicago Heights factories helped fuel the war effort and business was booming. Likewise, the national prosperity of the 1950s benefitted the Heights as more “suburban-like” housing developments were built on the north and west edges of town. The population peaked in 1970 at 40,900 people.

In the 1970s and 1980s, nationwide economic conditions adversely affected the heavy industry in Chicago Heights. In addition, the new retail concept of the “shopping mall,” examples of which opened in Park Forest and Matteson, drew shoppers away from the city’s older commercial district. The city’s fortunes declined from their mid-century peak.

By 2020, the population of Chicago Heights was 27,480. The population is diverse, with 42% being African-American, 39% Hispanic or Latino, and 16% White. Since the deindustrialization era, city leaders have worked on diversifying the economic base and rehabilitating blighted properties. In 2033, Chicago Heights will observe the bicentennial of its settlement. In 2028, the library will celebrate its 125th anniversary of service.

Should you be interested in more details about the long and storied past of Chicago Heights, the books in the bibliography below are available for checkout at the library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Candelero, Dominic. n.d. “Chicago Heights, IL.” Chicagohistory.org. Accessed
8/11/2024. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/251.html.
Candeloro, Dominic, and Barbara Paul. 1998. Chicago Heights. Arcadia Publishing.
———. 2000. Chicago Heights Revisited. Arcadia Publishing.
———. 2004. Chicago Heights: At the Crossroads of the Nation. Arcadia Publishing