Rosemont: The Mud Hole That Became a Destination
Near Chicago Lake Michigan, Illinois
In nineteen fifty-six a young local man named Donald Stephens looked at a muddy, flood-prone stretch of land near Chicago's new O'Hare International Airport and saw a future no neighboring suburb wanted. When nearby towns refused to annex the area, Stephens read the Illinois Municipal Code, convinced his neighbors to incorporate their own village, and, as the story goes, they picked the name Rosemont out of a hat. Stephens was elected mayor that same year and held the office for fifty-one years until his death in two thousand seven.
His gamble was on O'Hare. He pushed the village to court conventions, hotels, and entertainment venues, turning the former mud hole into one of Illinois' busiest destinations. Today Rosemont draws huge crowds to its arena, theaters, restaurants, and convention center, all packed into a village of fewer than four thousand permanent residents.
