Ford Heights, IL

Ford Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, on a rise of land along Deer Creek south of Chicago. The 2020 census counted 1,813 residents. The village sits at the edge of the Tinley Moraine, with Chicago Heights, Glenwood, and other south suburban communities close by. Ford Heights School District 169 serves younger students, while Bloom Trail High School serves the high-school grades through Bloom Township High School District 206. The village remains predominantly Black, reflecting the families who built the community before and after incorporation.

The settlement’s history reaches back to the late 1840s, when African American residents established homes and farms in the area. Local accounts place the community on the Underground Railroad route, part of the longer movement toward freedom in northern Illinois. The village incorporated in 1949 as East Chicago Heights and later took the Ford Heights name. Attempts at urban renewal and the arrival of suburban industry changed the map without solving every local challenge. Ford Heights is a small Cook County village with a Black history, a distinct rise above the surrounding plain, and school and road ties to the south suburbs.