Highland is the district's preschool for children aged three and four; Garfield, Grant, Greenbriar, Jefferson, Kennedy, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington-McKinley, and Wilson are neighborhood schools that serve students from kindergarten through fifth grade.

After Serena, students attend Parker Jr. High School—also a part of Flossmoor School District 161.

Parts of Chicago Heights are also served by Park Forest – Chicago Heights School District 163,[11] and Beacon Hill Primary Center is located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood.

On May 20, 1901, many Chicago Heights residents signed a petition asking for the mayor and aldermen to select a board of directors that would be responsible for founding and running a free public library in Chicago Heights.

On June 28, 1901, the first library board members were sworn in, including Sam W. Lea, F.W.

In July, the board was notified that Carnegie had proposed $15,000 toward the cost of a library building as long as the city could provide a free site for the building and if the council could promise $1,500 a year to keep the library running.

The library was located at 1627 Halsted Street and opened on September 11, 1903, with a staff of two and 1,643 volumes.

A bigger library was eventually needed, and on August 5, 1972, the present building at 15th Street and Chicago Road was opened.

The Chicago Heights Free Public Library was a million-dollar building that opened with 60,000 books, records, and other materials.

Chicago Heights was once home to several major industrial concerns, including the Thrall Car Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of freight cars, run for many years by chief executive officer Richard L. Duchossois.

Ford Motor Company operates a metal stamping plant located along Lincoln Highway in Chicago Heights.

[13] Chicago Heights will be served by Metra’s SouthEast Service on a Corridor which has not seen Commuter rail since 1935.