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C−History
History · Mount Prospect

Half of Mount Prospect’s homes were built after 1969

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #687 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Most of Mount Prospect was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1920.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
10famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Mount Prospect’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Mount Prospect’s history

How historic is Mount Prospect?

C−

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Mount Prospect’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Prospect is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #687 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Prospect’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19403.3% of homes (±0.9) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%C−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 15%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 11%

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 Mount Prospect’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: our sources. 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 Mount Prospect’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19007 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1993. Watch Mount Prospect change.Famous sons and daughtersJohn Ratcliffe, Ian Brennan and 8 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mount Prospect’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mount Prospect’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewFlag of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Mount Prospect on the map, 1900 to 1993

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

Mount Prospect on the 1900 USGS mapMount Prospect on the 1927 USGS mapMount Prospect on the 1953 USGS mapMount Prospect on the 1963 USGS mapMount Prospect on the 1972 USGS mapMount Prospect on the 1980 USGS mapMount Prospect on the 1993 USGS map1900Highwood 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 Mount Prospect.

Famous people

10 famous people were born in Mount Prospect

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

See all →
John RatcliffeAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1965
Ian BrennanAmerican screenwriter, producer, director and a… · b. 1978
Lee DeWyzeSinger · b. 1986
S
Sue PriceAmerican actress · b. 1965
Matt MurphyAmerican politician · b. 1970
Brian GregoryAmerican basketball player · b. 1966
The story so far

Mount Prospect, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mount Prospect yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Mount Prospect is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is part of Elk Grove and Wheeling townships, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of downtown Chicago and approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north of O'Hare International Airport. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total population of 56,852.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 54,167 to 56,852 (+5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Mount Prospect, 1885 to 1986

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Mount Procpect post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1957In the archiveFlag of
  6. 1965Born hereJohn Ratcliffe is born here
  7. 1965Born hereSue Price is born here
  8. 1978Born hereIan Brennan is born here
  9. 1986Born hereLee DeWyze is born here
By decade

Mount Prospect, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s2 items
Flag of1957Flag ofSeal of1957Seal of
1960s–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
Date unknown1 to date
Prospect High School, ILDate?Prospect High School, IL
Today10 recent
Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 72025Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 7Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 62025Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 6Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 52025Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 5Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 42025Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 4Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 32025Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 3Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 22025Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 2Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 12025Euclid ave burning bush ln 1979iii 1Menards (Mount Prospect, Illinois) 12024Menards (Mount Prospect, Illinois) 1Companystore2018CompanystoreMount Prospect Illinois2008Mount Prospect Illinois
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.

Flag of
Retake this viewFlag of, 1957

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Mount Prospect, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,00019201940196019802000202056,852

Grew from 349 people in 1920 to 56,852 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Busse SchoolschoolElk Grove SchoolschoolFeehanville Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Mount Prospect
Saint Paul Lutheran

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Arlington Heights3 historic placesC+Des Plaines2 historic placesA−Prospect HeightsIts storyD

Questions about Mount Prospect’s history

How does Mount Prospect rank for history?

Mount Prospect is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #687 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 Mount Prospect?

3% of Mount Prospect’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1969.

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 (13), 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.