Chicago Heights

City in Cook County, northeastern Illinois, USA, just west of the Indiana state line; population (1990) 33,100. Chicago Heights is a suburb of Chicago 43 km/27 mi south of the Loop. Though grain, soybeans, corn, and vegetables are grown in the vicinity, the local economy centres around factories producing steel, car components, chemicals, alloys, asphalt roofing, freight cars and railroad equipment, and glass, among other items.

Originally a junction of two important Indian trails, the site was settled in the 1830s. A flood of German immigrants came here in the mid 19th century. In 1890 the Chicago Heights Land Association was able to persuade manufacturers to set up factories here, making it the earliest, and at first the most important, steel town in the Chicago area. Prairie State College (1957) is here.