[2] A suburb of Chicago, many of the area's first settlers were African American and since its incorporation in 1949 the village has remained predominantly Black.

[3] According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Ford Heights has a total area of 1.95 square miles (5.05 km2), all land.

[6][7] By the early 20th century, the area had developed into an agricultural community of farms operated mostly by Poles, Lithuanians, and Italians.

After World War I, African Americans from the Southern U.S. migrated to the area and worked on the farms.

A new subdivision known as the "Park Addition" was created on a farm road from Chicago Heights to Indiana, and it attracted residents to the area during the early 1920s.

[5] During the 1940s, Alberta Armstrong and others organized both black and white women in the community to raise funds for a new fire truck.

The company offered minorities an equal opportunity for well-paying jobs, and East Chicago Heights developed into a blue-collar community inhabited mostly by middle-class black families whose housing choices in suburban Chicago were severely limited at that time.

That growth continued throughout the decade, with one of the biggest successes being the Sunnyfield subdivision, which opened in 1964 and became one of the most popular neighborhoods in East Chicago Heights.

These developments attracted lower income residents to East Chicago Heights, which strained the village's resources, already limited by little commercial activity and a small tax base.

The move was unsuccessful, and the land eventually was annexed by the neighboring city of Chicago Heights.

[20] Public education in the village of Ford Heights is provided by Ford Heights School District 169 and Bloom Township High School District 206: Ford Heights School District 169 operates two campuses: Medgar Evers Primary Academic Center (grades PK-4) and Cottage Grove Upper Grade Center (grades 5-8).