Homes for sale in
Des Plaines.

Des Plaines grew up around a rail line and a river. French explorers and missionaries who arrived in the 1600s named the waterway La Riviere des Plaines, or Plains River, because the trees along it reminded them of European plane trees. The community took its modern name in 1859 when the Chicago and North Western Railway gave its local station the name Des Plaines. The Rand subdivision was renamed Des Plaines in 1869, the village was incorporated and then reincorporated in 1873, and in 1925 village residents voted to convert to a city form of government, annexing the village of Riverview to the south.

The single event that put Des Plaines on the national map came on April 15, 1955, when Ray Kroc opened his first franchised McDonald's restaurant at 400 North Lee Street. McDonald's long referred to it as The Original, though it was technically the ninth McDonald's restaurant. A replica later operated as the McDonald's No. 1 Store Museum, displaying original fry vats, Multimixers, and 1950s-uniformed mannequins. Today the city blends that mid-century commercial heritage with modern draws like Rivers Casino, a riverfront park system, and a downtown commuter core, all while remaining a practical, transit-connected place to live next to O'Hare.