Western Springs

Western Springs takes its name from mineral springs that once drew attention to the area, and like most of the communities along this corridor it developed because of the railroad. The village was platted in the 1860s along the line that is now Metra’s BNSF route, and it incorporated in 1886.

The village’s defining structure dates from that early period. The limestone water tower built in 1892 served as the community’s standpipe and remains standing on Tower Green, where it now functions as a local landmark and historical museum rather than infrastructure. The blocks around it, known as Old Town, hold the village’s oldest surviving houses.

Growth through the early twentieth century filled in the streets near the station, and postwar subdivisions expanded the village outward in the 1950s and 1960s. Because Western Springs remained geographically small and almost entirely residential, it never developed a large commercial corridor — a characteristic that still distinguishes it from larger neighbors along the same rail line.

Most of Western Springs is served by Western Springs School District 101 for elementary and middle grades. The district runs elementary schools including Field Park, Forest Hills, and John Laidlaw, feeding McClure Junior High School for grades 6 through 8. A portion of the village instead falls within LaGrange Highlands School District 106, which is why Highlands Elementary School and Highlands Middle School also appear in local school listings.

High school falls under Lyons Township High School District 204, which operates two campuses rather than one building. The district’s South Campus is located in Western Springs itself, while the North Campus is in La Grange, and students attend different campuses by grade level. Because district boundaries do not follow village limits exactly, confirm the assigned schools and campus for a specific address with the districts before making an offer.

Western Springs is almost entirely detached single-family housing, with very little multifamily inventory. The Old Town blocks surrounding the water tower hold the oldest stock, including late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Victorians and Craftsman-influenced houses, often on smaller original lots near the station.

Outward from that core, the village is dominated by 1920s through 1960s construction — Colonial Revival, Cape Cod, ranch, and split-level homes — on more uniform subdivision lots. Recent decades have brought teardown-and-rebuild activity, particularly on blocks closest to the station and the schools. For buyers comparing listings, walking distance to the Metra platform, lot size, and whether a house has been rebuilt or substantially expanded generally account for most of the price variation.