Erastus Gary, of Pomfret, Connecticut, homesteaded 760 acres (310 ha) on the banks of the DuPage River, just south of West Chicago's present day city limits in the 1830s.

[6][7][8] Because of the number of trains passing through town, water and fuel facilities for locomotives and a roundhouse were built here, as well as an early eating-house and hotel for travelers.

The original settlers were primarily English and Irish, with Germans arriving in the 1860s and Mexican immigrants by the 1910s.

John B. Turner, president of the G&CU and a resident of Chicago, owned several acres of land in what is now the center of town.

As more people settled in Junction, Turner recognized the chance to make a profit by platting his land and selling off lots.

As part of the effort to attract industry, the community changed its name in 1896 to the Village of West Chicago.

Area businessmen, particularly Charles Bolles, reasoned that the new name sounded more cosmopolitan, and would help draw prospective factory owners.

At the turn of the century, West Chicago was number two in population in DuPage County, behind Hinsdale.

The Chicago, Wheaton and Western Railway, a lightly built interurban electric railway, came in from the east, running down the middle of Junction and Depot (now both Main) streets, then curved back west toward Geneva.

Soon bought by the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, the “country trolley” was lightly used, and abandoned in 1937.

Harmful waste from the Rare Earths Facility had been spread around the community since the 1930s, when the Lindsay Light and Chemical Company built a plant.

The movie Reach the Rock, written by John Hughes, was filmed in downtown West Chicago in 1998.

[32] This prairie was discovered by then-mayor Richard Truitt in 1976 during one of his frequent walks in the open land west of the city.

[33] as well as the West Chicago City Museum, located in a historic building that once served as Town Hall.

[34] The National Transportation Safety Board operates the Chicago Aviation Field Office in West Chicago, on the grounds of the airport; it is the regional headquarters of the NTSB Aviation Central Region.