Arlington Heights is an affluent village in Cook County, Illinois Cook County, Illinois and a northwestern suburb of Chicago. It is located about 25 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. A 2003 Census recount gave the village a population of 76,031, the largest for a village in the United States, with neighboring Schaumburg, Illinois not far behind in second place. It is also the twelfth largest municipality in the state of Illinois.

Arlington Heights is known for Arlington Park Arlington Park Race Track, home of the Arlington Million, a Breeders Cup qualifying event; also hosted the Breeders Cup Classic in 2002. It is also home to...

Arlington Heights is an affluent village in Cook County, Illinois Cook County, Illinois and a northwestern suburb of Chicago. It is located about 25 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. A 2003 Census recount gave the village a population of 76,031, the largest for a village in the United States, with neighboring Schaumburg, Illinois not far behind in second place. It is also the twelfth largest municipality in the state of Illinois.

Arlington Heights is known for Arlington Park Arlington Park Race Track, home of the Arlington Million, a Breeders Cup qualifying event; also hosted the Breeders Cup Classic in 2002. It is also home to the Arlington Heights Memorial Library (AHML) Arlington Heights Memorial Library, which has one of the largest collections in the state, as well as the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre], Saint Viator High School, John Hersey High School, South Middle School and Thomas Middle School.

History
Arlington Heights lies in the southwest corner of Wheeling Township, in an area originally notable for the absence of groves and trees. When the General Land Office began selling land here in 1835, most of the buyers were Yankees. In 1853 William Dunton, originally from Oswego, New York, persuaded the Union Pacific Railroad Illinois - Wisconsin Railroad to make a stop here, and laid out a town called Dunton.

By then the area had largely changed its ethnic composition, as many German farmers from Saxony had arrived during the 1840s. John Klehm might serve as an example; he was at first a potato farmer, supplying the Chicago market, and in 1856 began a nursery for cherry, apple, and pear trees, later moving into spruce, maple, and elm, and then flowers. By the late 1850s the area had become noted for its truck farms, sending dairy products as well as vegetables to Chicago on the railroad.


The town developed religious institutions that reflected the origins of its citizens; the first churches were Presbyterian (1856) and Methodist (1858), with a German Lutheran church following in 1860; Catholics had no church here until 1905.