New Englanders established the first farms in the area, followed in the 1840s by Melchior Raupp and other Germans. Farmers carried their harvest in wagons along 34 miles of dirt roads to Chicago. Mainly Roman Catholics, these German settlers raised $300 and donated seven acres of land to build St. Mary’s Church in 1852.
Around the turn of the century dairy farming was extensive, prompting J. B. Weidner to build a cheese factory. When the price of milk rose, the cheese factory closed. In 1899 Little Mike’s Place was located across from St. Mary’s Church and had a bar, dining room, dance hall, sleeping rooms, and a place for horses. A century later the establishment remained in operation with its original bar intact as Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria.
In the 1930s Dundee Road became the first state concrete road in northern Illinois, improving automobile access. Development began in earnest in 1957 when builder Al Frank purchased one hundred acres of farmland and began building ranch-style houses, generally without basements. Following incorporation in 1958 the village grew from 164 to 1,492 residents within two years. In the 1970s Jewish families flocked to the area, and by the early 1990s there were six synagogues in Buffalo Grove. At the end of the twentieth century Jews constituted approximately 30 percent of the village’s population.
By the end of the twentieth century the village had grown from 67 acres at incorporation to approximately 5,000. Population in 2000 stood at 42,909.
Encyclopedia of Chicago
