Images: Icons of Hoffman Estates
Hoffman Estates is a quintessential Northwest suburb whose entire history from barns and still undeveloped land to state-of-the-art corporate campuses, arenas and medical centers can be seen on a drive through the sprawling community in 2016.
Today's village is about 19 square miles in area, with nearly 10 miles separating the easternmost point of Conant High School to Sears Holdings' national headquarters to the west.
This one-time farming area's transformation into Hoffman Estates began in 1954, when a 160-acre farm was sold to Sam and Jack Hoffman of the Father and Son Construction Company for a subdivision east of Roselle Road between Golf and Higgins roads.
When early residents voted to incorporate the village in 1959, it was still under 3 square miles in size and home to about 8,000 people. The population has since grown to approximately 52,000.
Hoffman Estates embarked on rapid growth in the early 1960s, with the start of land annexations north of the tollway.
Office building developments in the 1980s paved the way for the arrival of Ameritech's 1.2 million-square-foot headquarters in 1991 and Sears Holdings' 1.9 million-square-foot headquarters in 1992.
The adjacent 780-acre Prairie Stone Business Park was founded with office and research uses in mind. It has since been augmented by such entertainment and retail uses as the Sears Centre Arena — soon home to the Chicago Bulls' Development League franchise, the Windy City Bulls — as well as Cabela's and the forthcoming Main Event family entertainment center and a Duluth Trading Co. store.
The village is home to two high schools and several of the buildings in Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 — the largest elementary-only school district in Illinois.
Take a look around and let us know which icons of Hoffman Estates are special to you. Which ones stir a memory for you? Where do you love to go in town?
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