From Hartford To Thornton Station To Homewood
The first European settlers reached the Homewood area in the 1830s and '40s. James and Sally Hart, from New England, arrived in 1834 — by 1839 they had been joined by Dutch and German families farming the prairie south of Chicago. The settlement grew along an Indian trail running from Vincennes, Indiana to the mouth of the Chicago River, an early route that became the Vincennes Road and later Dixie Highway. In 1853, James Hart platted the original village under the name "Hartford." The Illinois Central Railroad laid tracks through the Hart subdivision the same year — the first IC depot was built east of the tracks just south of Ridge Road in 1853, with an apartment upstairs for the stationmaster and his family.
The IC, however, named its stop "Thornton Station" after the more established settlement nearby on Thorn Creek. Three years later, the Thornton Steam Flour Mill was built by popular subscription at 18216 Harwood Avenue — its original stone foundation walls still stand under the current building's stucco facades. Then Thorn Creek's water level dropped, the village of Thornton's growth slowed, and Thornton Station became the more important community by the late 1860s. In 1869 the United States Post Office Department officially renamed the village Homewood. Steam-powered suburban train service terminated at Homewood through the 1890s. By the early 1900s as many as 10 trains daily made the round trip from Chicago, bringing Chicago's wealthy out to play golf at the country clubs around town. Some of the more affluent golfers built summer homes near Ravisloe Country Club — those homes form the bones of the historic neighborhood still standing today.
Homewood was officially incorporated as a municipality in 1893. A volunteer fire department followed in 1901, a police department in 1904. Telephone and electric service arrived in 1901-02. The Great Depression slowed expansion but didn't stop it; by 1940 the population had passed 3,000. After World War II, growth was explosive — population reached 18,000 by 1970. In 2007, Forbes magazine rated Homewood as one of the three most "livable" suburbs in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Modern Homewood reflects the layered history: the 19th-century rail-village footprint preserved at the Dixie Highway / Ridge Road intersection, plus a 21st-century arts and festival programming layered on top. Population is 19,463 (2020 census), down slightly from 2010 — Homewood is a mature, built-out community. The racial mix is one of the most balanced in the south suburbs: roughly 45% White, 43-50% Black, with smaller Hispanic and Asian populations. Median household income runs in the $77K-$96K range; median home value is approximately $210K — significantly more affordable than the wealthier western suburbs while offering Metra Electric service comparable to anywhere on the line. Homewood-Flossmoor High School is a three-time U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon recipient, an IB World School since 2013, and home to a 17-time Illinois state drama championship program. Its visual arts department was named Best School Art Program in Illinois in 2025.
The arts identity is real, not a marketing claim. The village's Art & Garden Street Fair draws 80+ artisans to Martin Avenue every June. Homewood Fall Fest brings the downtown alive in October. The Trail Mix outdoor concert series runs at Izaak Walton Preserve through summer. The Homewood Outdoor Farmers Market, Pride Fest, summer block parties, and Holiday Lights celebrations round out a calendar the village markets as 20+ outdoor festivals annually. Anchoring the downtown is La Banque Hotel at 2034 Ridge Road — Homewood's 18-room boutique hotel opened in 2015 inside the 1925 Homewood State Bank building, with La Voûte Bistro + Bar serving French-inspired cuisine in what used to be the bank vault (the original pneumatic door, signed by J. Edgar Hoover, still hangs at the entrance to the private dining room). The newest addition is Homewood Brewing Company at 18225 Dixie Highway — opened in October 2024 by Carmela Wallace as a tribute to her son Jarad "Juice WRLD" Higgins, the rapper and 2017 H-F graduate who died of an accidental overdose in 2019. The brewery donates proceeds from its "Wishing Well" benefit beer to Live Free 999, the mental-health foundation Carmela founded in his memory; the H-F Marching Band performed at the ribbon cutting. Other notable Homewood residents and natives include Eugene Parker (theorist of the supersonic solar wind, who lived in Homewood while a professor at the University of Chicago), Steve Sarowitz (founder of Paylocity, born and raised here), Sophia Danenberg (the first African American woman to summit Mount Everest, H-F class of 1990), Quintin E. Primo III (co-founder of Capri Capital Partners), and Jermaine Stewart (R&B singer, "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off").
Lincoln Limo Inc serves Homewood because the village's mix matches the kind of service we're built to provide. A historic rail village where Metra Electric and Amtrak both stop, with a festival downtown and Homewood-Flossmoor families who travel for weddings, college visits, and concerts — this is a community that values quality and consistency without chasing the elite west-suburb price points. Same driver, same Escalade ESV, every booking, year after year.