Midlothian

History

Like many southwest suburbs of Chicago in the 1800s and early 1900s, the area now known as the Village of Midlothian consisted of a few area farmers being surrounded by large and small endeavors alike as the industrial age began its exponential expansion process in the Bremen Township in Cook County, Illinois community. By 1854, the sprawling landscape comprising the township of Bremen had a trail of railroad track carrying both passengers and commodities between Chicago and Joliet on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. It had been a somewhat brutal battle for the Illinois Central Railroad over the decades, with Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln working hard to establish the presence of the Illinois Central Railroad on a State level until Douglas moved to the federal level. By 1850, Douglas was busy working on federally mandated development of transportation plans into law at a federal level for the benefit of the Illinois Central Railroad. Explosions were not uncommon in gunpowder factories and storage facilities and 12 years later in 1906, an explosion leveled the DuPont facility. Although there is currently no clear evidence as to the precise location of the facility, apparently the shock-waves from the explosion traveled a decent enough distance in which the windows of the Midlothian Country Club were shattered, according to a report on November 8, 1906, in the Charlotte News. It also appears the Associated Press distributed the geographical location of the facility to be situated in Tinley Park, however a 1900 Homesteader's Map shows the DuPont property to be closer to what would become Oak Forest in 1947 rather than Tinley Park. Eventually the northern portion of the DuPont Farm and Ammunition Storage property was eventually annexed by the…

Geography

For genealogical purposes, historical government records frequently reference Midlothian property as Township 36 north, Range 13, East of 3rd Principal Meridian. Midlothian is home to the Cook County Forest Preserve of Midlothian Meadows, and home to Belly Button Hill, a sledding hill at 150th & Kilbourn. It is also home to Natalie Creek and the Midlothian Creek. Midlothian is part of the South Suburbs of Chicago and is in the Bremen Township. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Midlothian has a total area of , all land. Like most of Cook County, Midlothian can be expected to be very warm in the summer, but very cold in the winter.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  35,118
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  30,300
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  29,246
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  26,700
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  25,538
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  24,999
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  23,925
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  22,849

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2026-07-08
  21 km ENE of Kenilworth, Illinois
• M 2.6 — 2025-03-15
  6 km W of Dwight, Illinois
• M 3.1 — 2024-07-15
  2 km WNW of Somonauk, Illinois
• M 2.9 — 2015-03-25
  3 km WNW of Lake in the Hills, Illinois
• M 3.2 — 2013-11-04
  1 km SSW of Lyons, Illinois
• M 2.6 — 2013-06-10
  4 km NNE of Virgil, Illinois