McKinley Park, one of the 77 official community areas of Chicago, Illinois, is located on the city's southwest side.

Settlement began around 1836 when Irish immigrants working on the Illinois and Michigan Canal took squatter's rights to small tracts of land in the area.

The completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848 and the arrival of the Chicago and Alton Railroad in 1857 spurred further subdivision of the area.

The rails amplified the transportation advantages of the area, and during the Civil War, industries grew along the waterways and the railroad.

The Union Rolling Mill was founded in 1863 along the south fork of the Chicago River and produced 50 tons of rail per day.

The Rolling Mill employed many newly arrived Welsh immigrants, who lived in nearby homes on Ashland and Archer Avenue's.

Some landowners desperate to elevate their holdings invited scavengers to dump ashes and thereby fill low areas.

The beginning of the twentieth century led, after years of complaints by residents, to the creation of a park, which was named for President McKinley after his assassination.

Two stops on the Orange Line rapid transit have boosted property values and spurred development of a shopping mall on Archer and Ashland Avenue.