1958: The First Neighborhood Is Built
Al Frank Builds The First Neighborhood
By the late 1950s, the population boom had started to reach Buffalo Grove. Buffalo Grove wasn’t even officially a village yet! After World War II, people needed affordable places to live, and preferably not in the barn or your parents basement. Local builder Al Frank had an idea for the first neighborhood.
Al Frank was president of Buffalo Grove Home Builders Inc. during the post-World War II housing boom in the late 1950s. He responded to the housing need in Buffalo Grove by building a series of starter, single family one-story homes along Bernard Drive. Most of the homes didn’t even have a basement.
In 1958, the village was incorporated and officially became the Village of Buffalo Grove. The population was only 164, and there were 42 homes in the entire village.
