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B−History
History · Melrose Park

Melrose Park’s post office opened in 1893, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 45% of U.S. towns · #430 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Below: 30 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1880.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
30old photos & papers
19famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Melrose Park’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Melrose Park began

When was Melrose Park founded?

1893

The Melrose Park post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 200 in 18802020 census: 24,796133 years

How historic is Melrose Park?

B−

More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Melrose Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Melrose Park’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Melrose Park is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #430 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Melrose Park’s overall grade.
Founding era1893, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194024.5% of homes (±2.6) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 45%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 44%

Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Melrose Park’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Melrose Park’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos30 old photos, postcards and papers, 1920–1942.On the map since 18917 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1993. Watch Melrose Park change.Famous sons and daughtersMichael Finley, Corey Maggette and 17 more were born here.Old housesHalf of Melrose Park’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · By decade

Melrose Park, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1930s21 items
Melrose Park tornado damge, March 28, 19201920Melrose Park tornado damge, March 28, 1920Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill.; C & NW RR [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad]; Roy Nelin, a box packer in the …1939Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill.; C & NW RR [i.e. Ch…Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill; C & NW RR [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad]; L. Logan, of West Chicago, boile…1939Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill; C & NW RR [i.e. Chi…Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill, C&NWRR [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad]. William London has been a railroad …1939Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill, C&NWRR [i.e. Chicag…C&NWRR [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad], towerman R.W. Mayberry of Elmhurst, Ill., at the Proviso yard. He ope…1939C&NWRR [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad], tow…Looking toward the Chicago and Northwestern [i.e. North Western] railroad classification yard. The trestle runs from th…1939Looking toward the Chicago and Northwestern [i.e. Nor…Truck trailers loading and unloading at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad's] Proviso yard, Chicago, …1939Truck trailers loading and unloading at C & NW RR's […A train (or "cut") being pushed out of a receiving yard toward the hump. A brakeman rides each train to signal the engi…1939A train (or "cut") being pushed out of a receiving ya…View of a classification yard at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad's] Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill1939View of a classification yard at C & NW RR's [i.e. Ch…A train being pushed over the hump at the Proviso yard, C & NW RR., Chicago, Ill1939A train being pushed over the hump at the Proviso yar…Train going over the hump at the C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad's] Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill1939Train going over the hump at the C & NW RR's [i.e. Ch…Tracks leading into the freight house at Proviso yard. This is said to be the largest covered freight house in the worl…1939Tracks leading into the freight house at Proviso yard…Repair tracks of the Chicago and Northwestern [i.e. North Western] R.R1939Repair tracks of the Chicago and Northwestern [i.e. N…General view of the hump, Chicago and Northwestern [i.e. North Western] railroad classification yard, Chicago, Ill1939General view of the hump, Chicago and Northwestern [i…Work goes on 24 hours a day at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad's] Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill1939Work goes on 24 hours a day at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chic…The yardmaster's office at the receiving yard, North Proviso(?), C & NW RR, Chicago, Ill1939The yardmaster's office at the receiving yard, North …A general view of a classification yard at C & NW RR's Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill1939A general view of a classification yard at C & NW RR'…View in a departure yard at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad's] Proviso (?) yard at twilight, Chica…1939View in a departure yard at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago…General view of part of the rip tracks at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad's] Proviso yard, Chicago…1939General view of part of the rip tracks at C & NW RR's…General view of part of classification yard at C & NW RR's [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad's] Proviso yard, Ch…1939General view of part of classification yard at C & NW…General view of part of the Proviso yard of the Chicago and Northwestern [i.e. North Western] railroad, Chicago, Ill. I…1939General view of part of the Proviso yard of the Chica…
1940s9 items
Production. Aircraft engines. A young Negro worker stands ready to wash or "degrease" this airplane motor prior to its …1942Production. Aircraft engines. A young Negro worker st…Production. Aircraft engines. Ready for inspection, this line-up of cylinder barrels for airplane engines makes a formi…1942Production. Aircraft engines. Ready for inspection, t…Production. Aircraft engines. Two of the nation's millions of war workers attach cylinder barrels to one of the "green"…1942Production. Aircraft engines. Two of the nation's mil…Production. Aircraft engines. Negro women with no previous industrial experience are reconditioning used spark plugs in…1942Production. Aircraft engines. Negro women with no pre…Production. Aircraft engines. Negro women with no previous industrial experience are reconditioning used spark plugs in…1942Production. Aircraft engines. Negro women with no pre…Production. Aircraft engines. On the other side of that plate glass window, a huge engine roars in response to the youn…1942Production. Aircraft engines. On the other side of th…Production. Aircraft engines. Woman's place is on the inspection line in this Midwest aircraft plant where increasing n…1942Production. Aircraft engines. Woman's place is on the…Production. Aircraft engines. A veteran of the assembly bench, twenty-two-year-old Anne Weinmen, employee of a large Mi…1942Production. Aircraft engines. A veteran of the assemb…Production. Aircraft engines. A veteran of the assembly bench, twenty-two-year-old Anne Weinmen, employee of a large Mi…1942Production. Aircraft engines. A veteran of the assemb…
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Melrose Park on the map, 1891 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Melrose Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Melrose Park on the 1891 USGS mapMelrose Park on the 1900 USGS mapMelrose Park on the 1928 USGS mapMelrose Park on the 1953 USGS mapMelrose Park on the 1963 USGS mapMelrose Park on the 1972 USGS mapMelrose Park on the 1993 USGS map1891Riverside sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Melrose Park.

Famous people

19 famous people were born in Melrose Park

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Michael FinleyAmerican basketball player · b. 1973
Corey MaggetteAmerican basketball player · b. 1979
Carol LawrenceActor, singer, and dancer (b. 1932) · b. 1932
G
Gail MancusoAmerican television director · b. 1958
Robert NardellaItalian ice hockey player · b. 1968
P
Phillip C. HeemstraIchthyologist · b. 1941
The story

How Melrose Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Melrose Park.

Read it all →

According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, in 1882 residents of a then-unincorporated portion of Proviso Township voted to establish their own municipality—called simply "Melrose" until 11 years later, in 1893, when the "Park" was added and population in the area began to steadily increase. The first Italian-Americans arrived in 1888.

On March 28, 1920, the F4 Palm Sunday tornado cut a 328-foot-wide (100 m) path over 1,094 yards (1,000 m) through the village and killed ten people. It destroyed the Sacred Heart Church and attached convent.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Melrose Park, 1891 to 1979

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1893Post officeThe Melrose Park post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1920In the archiveMelrose Park tornado damge, March 28, 1920
  6. 1932Born hereCarol Lawrence is born here
  7. 1939In the archiveMelrose Park (near Chicago), Ill.; C & NW RR [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad]; R…
  8. 1942In the archiveProduction. Aircraft engines. A young Negro worker stands ready to wash or "degrease" thi…
  9. 1958Born hereGail Mancuso is born here
  10. 1973Born hereMichael Finley is born here
  11. 1979Born hereCorey Maggette is born here
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Melrose Park tornado damge, March 28, 1920
Retake this viewMelrose Park tornado damge, March 28, 1920, 1920

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Melrose Park’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Melrose Park, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 25,411

Between 200 and 25,411 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Melrose Park’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Melrose Park’s post office has been open since 1893.

Gone or out of use
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Schoolschool

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Melrose Park’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMelrose Park tornado damge, March 28, 1…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Stone ParkIts storyCNorthlakeIts storyDRiver Grove1 historic placeBFranklin ParkIts storyCMaywood17 historic placesA−BellwoodIts storyC−River Forest5 historic placesARiver Forest Township5 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townProviso Township20 historic placesA−BerkeleyIts storyC+

Questions about Melrose Park’s history

What year was Melrose Park founded?

The Melrose Park post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Melrose Park rank for history?

Melrose Park is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #430 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Melrose Park?

25% of Melrose Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1956.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (29), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.