Homes for sale in
Dolton.

Dolton traces its roots to the mid-1800s, when the Dolton family settled at a crossing of the Little Calumet River and operated an early ferry that helped open the area to settlers. A post office has been in operation in Dolton since 1854, and the village was named for that family of early settlers. Dolton and neighboring Riverdale were effectively one community until each incorporated separately in 1892. Railroad development through the region in the second half of the 19th century made Dolton a junction point and set up the post-World War II building boom that pushed its population past 13,000 by the late 1950s.

Over the following decades Dolton transformed into a predominantly African American, working- and middle-class suburb, and as of the 2020 census it was about 90 percent Black. In recent years the village became nationally visible for two very different reasons. Beginning in late 2023, local news reported on alleged misspending under then-mayor Tiffany Henyard, and in 2024 it was reported that the FBI had opened a probe into alleged misconduct; Henyard left office in 2025 when Jason House was sworn in as mayor. Then in May 2025, Dolton native Robert Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope; he grew up in Dolton, and the village bought and later landmarked his childhood home at 212 East 141st Place.