| The following year, Hill Cottage Tavern opened where St. Charles
Road and Cottage Hill Avenue presently intersect. In 1845, the community
was officially named Cottage Hill when a post office was established.
Four years later the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was given right-of-way
through Cottage Hill giving farmers easier access to Chicago. The community
changed its name to Elmhurst in 1869.
Elmhurst was incorporated as a
village in 1882, with a population of 1,050, and legal boundaries of
St. Charles Road to North Avenue, and one half mile west and one quarter
mile east of York Street. Elmhurst Memorial Hospital was founded in 1926
as the first hospital in DuPage County. The Memorial Parade has run every
Memorial Day since 1918. The Keebler Company's corporate headquarters
were in Elmhurst until 2001, when the Kellogg Company purchased the company.
The city is home to the headquarters of Sunshine Biscuits and McMaster-Carr
Supply Co.
Elmhurst is served by Pace buses, and there is also a commuter railroad
station with service to downtown Chicago. The Union Pacific Railroad has
freight service on the Metra line and Canadian National Railway serves
the train line south of the Metra line. All these trains go through a park
in Elmhurst, the Union Pacific Railroad and Metra go through Golden Meadows
Park, while the Canadian National Railway goes through Pioneer Park. O'Hare
International Airport is eighteen minutes from Elmhurst and is also 33
minutes from Chicago Midway International Airport. |
