Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern portion of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about 25 miles (40 km) north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located upon the North Shore of the Chicago metropolitan area.

A opportunist in the Place in 1833 described visiting a village of bark-covered structures where he ate roasted corn as soon as a chief named Nic-sa-mah at a site likely located south of present-day Clavey Road and east of the Edens Expressway.

In 1847, two German immigrants, John Hettinger and John Peterman founded a town along Lake Michigan, which they called St. John’s. Soon, the town was abandoned, due to questions regarding ownership of the land. Three years later, another German Immigrant, Jacob Clinton Bloom, founded Port Clinton, which happened to be just south of St. John’s. Port Clinton was described by Elijah Middlebrook Haines as “one of the most promising villages in the city”. In 1854, a lighthouse was built in Port Clinton, thanks to funding by the US Congress and sponsorships from Illinois representatives. Despite having a in force lighthouse later a keeper, a pier, sawmill, and a plank road, Port Clinton did not have a train station in 1855. In 1860, Port Clinton stopped growing as a town, and the lighthouse was shut down.

In 1867, ten men purchased Highland Park for $39,198.70. They were the native stockholders of the Highland Park Building Company. Following construction of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, a depot was expected at Highland Park and a plat, extending south to Central Avenue, was laid out in 1856. At that point, Highland Park was settled on mostly scattered farms and undeveloped forested land. Highland Park was conventional as a city on March 11, 1869, with a population of 500, and evolved from the two settlements of St. John and Port Clinton; St. John’s Avenue and Port Clinton Square are named after the settlements. Highland Park was named from its parklike environment at a lofty height above sea level relative to the lake, and was unchangeable its herald from Walter S. Gurnee. The town annexed the village of Ravinia in 1899.