Rolling Meadows, Illinois

Rolling Meadows is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 24,099 at the 2010 census.GeographyRolling Meadows is located at, 24mi northwest of the Chicago Loop. According to the 2010 census, Rolling Meadows has a total area of 5.635sqmi, of which 5.63sqmi is land and 0.005sqmi is water.HistoryIn 1836, Orrin Ford became the first landowner in the area that is now Rolling Meadows, staking his claim of 160acre in an area known as Plum Grove. Other farm families followed, many traveling from Vermont. By the early 1840s, settlers had built a dam across Salt Creek and had laid claim to the entire Plum Grove area.The community became part of the newly formed Palatine Township in 1850 as German immigrants arrived. In 1862, the Salem Evangelical Church was built, and the church's 40ft cemetery still exists at the corner of Kirchoff and Plum Grove roads.In 1927, H.D. "Curly" Brown bought 1000acre of land in the area with the intention of building a golf course, along with land adjacent to it for a racetrack. In the early 1950s, Kimball Hill purchased the land intended for the golf course, and began home sales by advertising a floor plan of his basic house in the Chicago Tribune. Although the response was positive, officials in neighboring Arlington Heights protested, hoping to buy the land themselves for estate homes. However, prospective buyers of the Kimball Hill homes persuaded the Cook County Board for zoning changes to allow Hill to proceed.