Arlington Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. A northwestern suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. As of the 2020 census, the village's population was 77,676, making it the 15th-most populous municipality in Illinois.
Arlington Heights is known for the former Arlington Park Race Track, home of the Arlington Million, a Breeders' Cup qualifying event; it also hosted the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships in 2002.
History
Arlington Heights lies mostly in the western part of Wheeling Township, with territory in adjacent Elk Grove and Palatine townships, in an area originally notable for the absence of groves and trees.
Pre-settlement history
The land that is now the Village of Arlington Heights was controlled by the Miami Confederacy (which contained the Illini and Kickapoo tribes) starting in the early 1680s. The Confederacy was driven from the area by the Iroquois and Meskwaki in the early 1700s.
The French-allied Potawatomi began to raid and take possession of Northern Illinois in the 1700s. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Potawatomi expanded southwards from their territory in Green Bay and westward from their holdings near Detroit, until they controlled in an L-shaped swath of territory from Green Bay to the Illinois River, and from the Mississippi River to the Maumee River.
Throughout the 1830s, the Potawatomi maintained a camp in modern-day Arlington Heights that was used for six weeks out of the year as the Potawatomi migrated from their summer encampments to their winter encampments.
In 1833, the Potawatomi signed the 1833 Treaty of Chicago with the United States Government. As a result of the Treaty, the United States was granted control of all land west of Lake Michigan and east of Lake Winnebago in exchange for a tract of land west of the Mississippi. The land that is now Arlington Heights was ceded to the U.S. in this treaty, which sparked mass white immigration to the Northern Illinois area. The U.S. Government purchased the land for about 15 cents per acre, and then resold it to white settlers for 1.25 dollars per acre.
The Potawatomi would occasionally return to their holdings in Northern Illinois to honor their buried ancestors, but these return visits ended as old villages and burial sites were destroyed by white settlers to make way for farming.
Descendants of the Potawatomi who once inhabited the land that is now Arlington Heights currently live on a reservation in Mayetta, Kansas.
West Wheeling
Many prominent roads in the Arlington Heights area were built on top of Native American trails: Rand Road was built on top of a Native trail which passed by the property of Socrates Rand, who built a tavern near a crossing on the Des Plaines River. Arlington Heights Road was developed from a Native trail that ran from what was once called Naper Settlement (now Naperville) to what was once called Indian Creek (now Half Day).
Around the same time, a trading post was established in the Southwest corner of the township by Frederick T. Miner, the cabins established near Miner's trading post came to be known as West Wheeling.
Dunton
In 1837, Asa Dunton, a settler who built one of the first cabins in what was then known as Deer Grove, registered three land claims for himself and two sons in the land in the west of Wheeling Township.
In 1845, Asa's eldest son, William Dunton, married Almeda Wood and brought her to the house he built beside the Potawatomi trail which then became known as Dunton's Road (and is now known as Arlington Heights Road). West Wheeling then became known as Dunton. The town's name changed several times before it officially became known as Arlington Heights in 1874.
The Civil War and aftermath
Several Dunton residents served in the American Civil War, however only three of those residents who left for the war returned. One of the survivors, a recently naturalized Alsatian named Charles Sigwalt (namesake of Sigwalt Street), fought at the Battle of Chickamauga and the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Warren Kennicott (namesake of Kennicott Avenue) was killed in action at the Battle of Gettysburg.
During the 1860s, Arlington Heights was a stop for many Union soldiers travelling South to fight the Confederacy or traveling North to fight in the Dakota War of 1862.
Arlington Heights
In 1874, Dunton's name was officially changed to Arlington Heights.
In 1878, Civil War veteran Charles Sigwalt and his brother John founded the Sigwalt Sewing Machine Company, which made 40,000 machines from the period of 1878 to 1883. The company was destroyed by a fire in 1895.
Arlington Heights was an early commuter suburb.
Religious heritage
The town developed religious institutions that reflected the origins of its citizens. The first churches were Presbyterian (1855) and Methodist (1858), with St. Peter Lutheran Church, a German Lutheran church, following in 1860. Today, the village has many Roman Catholics, boasting three very large churches: St. James (founded 1902—now home to 4,600 registered families), St. Edna (2,800 registered families), and Our Lady of the Wayside (3,100 registered households). In addition, there are several Lutheran and evangelical churches, along with congregations that are members of the United Churches of Christ, Episcopal Church, and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Arlington Park Racetrack
thumb|left|Grandstand at Arlington Park Race Track
By the start of the 20th century, Arlington Heights had about 1,400 inhabitants. The village continued to grow slowly with the area primarily being farms and greenhouses until after World War II. By then Arlington Heights was also known for Arlington Park, a racetrack founded in 1927 by the California millionaire Harry D. "Curly" Brown upon land formerly consisting of 12 farms. Camp McDonald and two country clubs were founded in the 1930s. On July 31, 1985, a fire burned down the grandstand. A six-story grandstand was completed and opened for use June 28, 1989.
In February 2021, the track's owners, Churchill Downs Inc., announced that they would sell the site for redevelopment, which would draw in many new developers. In June 2021, the Chicago Bears of the National Football League emerged as prospective buyers of Arlington Park, raising speculation that they would leave Soldier Field (their current home stadium in downtown Chicago) and build a new stadium on the site, either alongside or directly atop the track. On September 29, 2021, the Bears and Churchill Downs reached a $197.2 million purchase and sell agreement for the property where the new stadium would be built. In September 2025, the Bears confirmed that their new stadium is planned for Arlington Heights.
Population increase
A population explosion took place in Arlington Heights in the 1950s and 1960s. The growth of automobile ownership, together with the expansion of the Chicago-area economy, the baby boom, and white flight from the city, drove the number of people in the suburb (geographically expanded by a series of annexations) up to 64,884 by 1970. By then virtually all the available land had been taken up by urban sprawl, and the formerly isolated depot stop found itself part of a continuous built-up area stretching from Lake Michigan to the Fox River.
Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp
Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252 (1977), was a United States Supreme Court case about housing discrimination. The case involved an Arlington Heights zoning board decision denying a zoning variance to build a multi-family housing complex on property owned by the Clerics of St. Viator near Saint Viator High School. The Village argued that the zoning board blocked construction to "protect property values and the integrity of the Village's zoning plan," which only allowed single-family homes in the neighborhood. The developer argued that the intent and practical effect of preventing the development was to maintain racial segregation. The Court held that the ordinance was constitutional because there was no proof that "discriminatory purpose was a motivating factor in the Village's decision."
Geography
thumb|Aerial shot of downtown Arlington Heights
thumb|Harmony Park in downtown Arlington Heights
thumb|Lake Arlington at sunset
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Arlington Heights has a total area of , of which (or 99.81%) is land and (or 0.19%) is water. Located primarily in Cook County, a portion extends into neighboring Lake County.
Climate
Arlington Heights is in the Hot-summer humid continental climate, or Köppen Dfa zone. The zone includes four distinct seasons. Winter is cold with snow. Spring warms up with precipitation and storms. Summer has high precipitation and storms. Fall cools down.