Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago,14 miles by road. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 25,411. Melrose Park had long been home to a large Italian-American population, but is now overwhelmingly Hispanic, based on US Census data.The suburb was the home of Kiddieland Amusement Park from 1929 until 2010 (it closed in September 2009 before it was demolished), the Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and Stern Pinball, Inc., which is now the world's last manufacturer of coin-operated pinball machines.There is a Metra railroad station in Melrose Park with daily service to Chicago. Melrose Park is home to two hospitals, Westlake Hospital and Gottlieb Memorial Hospital.HistoryAccording to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, in 1882 residents of a then-unincorporated portion of Proviso Township voted to establish their own municipality—called simply "Melrose" until 1893, when the "Park" was added—and population in the area began to steadily increase. The first Italian-Americans arrived in 1888. On April 19, 1920, the F4 Palm Sunday tornado cut a 328ft path over 1094yd through the village and killed ten people. It destroyed the Sacred Heart Church and attached convent.
