Plumbing in Matteson, IL

The area encompassed by modern Matteson was settled in the late 1800s, primarily by people of German descent. Platted in 1855, Matteson had nearly 500 residents when it incorporated as a village in 1889. The village’s namesake is Joel Aldrich Matteson, who served as Illinois’ tenth governor from 1853 to 1857. The 20th century saw improvements in plumbing, the electrification of the Illinois Central Railroad, and the construction of today’s school district, resulting in significant population growth to more than 3,000 residents by the end of the 1960s. By 2000, Matteson was home to Lincoln Mall (opened 1973) and annexed 195 acres of land for the village. Today, Matteson is home to nearly 20,000 residents, hundreds of businesses, and the close proximity of two major hospitals.

By 1995, African-Americans made up a significant portion of Matteson’s residential population. The village launched a program to encourage potential homeowners identifying as European-American to move to the village. Instead by 2011 the community had attracted many well-to-do African-Americans, many of whom had been previously based in Chicago. The village simultaneously recorded increases in the average household incomes in several census tracts. Between 2000-2010, Matteson’s African-American population increased by roughly 85% while its European-American population declined by about 1,200.