Elmwood Park was incorporated as a village in early April 1914 in order to prevent annexation by the greater city of Chicago.

Today one can still see evidence of a minority of landowners, or share farmers who voted for annexation to the city in 1915 by the odd chunk taken out of Elmwood Park's northeast corner, which kept the community from achieving a full square rectangular border.

[3] At the turn of the century, urban dwellers would take a train on the Milwaukee Road, (which is now Canadian Pacific) westward out of the harsh concrete city for family picnics at the "Elm-Wood-Park," which was an ancient "Grove of majestic 180 year old Elms" found near 72nd Ave/Harlem and Irving Park Road.

During the pressure era of incorporation a decade later, the village's founding representatives thought it most ideal to legally title the community after the stop, and after the namesake elm, which is a native, locally evolved, riparian prairie "bottomland" tree species.

[5] According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Elmwood Park has a total area of 1.91 square miles (4.95 km2), all land.

Pace and CTA provide bus service on multiple routes connecting Elmwood Park to destinations across the region.