Chicago Heights, city in Cook County, northeastern Illinois, on Thorn Creek, a residential and industrial suburb of Chicago. Major manufactures include steel, chemicals, textiles, motor-vehicle parts, paint, and electrical equipment. Prairie State College (1957) is in Chicago Heights. Originating at the intersection of trails used by Native Americans and early white immigrants and traders, Chicago Heights was settled by whites in the 1830s. The community was first called Thorn Grove, renamed Bloom in 1849, and received its present name in 1901, when it was incorporated. Population 37,026 (1980); 33,072 (1990); 32,776 (2000).
