The village is also home to the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, which has one of the largest collections of books in the state.

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 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 descendants of the Potawatomi who once inhabited the land that is now Arlington Heights currently live on a reservation in Mayette, Kansas.

William Dunton persuaded the Illinois & Wisconsin Railroad company to build track through his property.

The construction of the railroad helped to expand the population of Dunton, as it was easier for settlers to reach the village.

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.

[5] Dunton slowly grew after the Civil War, acquiring a blacksmith, a cheese factory, a hardware store, and a hotel.

By the start of the 20th century Arlington Heights had about 1,400 inhabitants, and it continued to grow slowly with a good many farms and greenhouses after World War II.

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.

[11] 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.

[12] 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.

[13] A population explosion took place in the 1950s and 1960s, when the spread 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 Arlington Heights—expanded by a series of annexations—up to 64,884 by 1970.

By then virtually all the available land had been taken up, and the formerly isolated depot stop found itself part of a continuous built-up area stretching from Lake Michigan to the Fox River.

According to the Village's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[24] the top employers in the city are: From 1964 to 1970, Arlington Heights served as the home to The Cellar.

Founded by local record store owner Paul Sampson, The Cellar offered live rock and blues bands for its mostly teenage audience to listen and to dance.

It hosted a wealth of regional bands and repeat performers, such as The Shadows of Knight, The Mauds, H. P. Lovecraft, and Ted Nugent.

It also hosted a significant array of national and international rock bands as well, including The Who, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Cream, and The Spencer Davis Group.

[25] Entertainment venues include the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in downtown Arlington Heights, which opened in 1999.

Other District 214 high schools serving sections of the city are: Buffalo Grove, Prospect, Rolling Meadows, and Wheeling.

Ten summer volunteer squads attracted more than 250 students in 7th through 12th grade to learn life skills and teamwork.

The literacy office at the library has eight computers with software to improve English skills, conversation programs and adult basic reading books.

The library also offers free literacy and ESL classes in cooperation with Township High School District 214.

Pace provides bus service on multiple routes connecting Arlington Heights to destinations across the region.

Running to the south it passes through Elk Grove Village, and its southern terminus is in Itasca of DuPage County.

Northwest Highway (U.S. Route 14) runs northwest–southeast through central Arlington Heights, from Chicago to Crystal Lake of McHenry County.