Roseland was first settled in 1849, when Dutch migrants took residence along the road not far from Lake Calumet. They called the area “de Hooge Prairie”, the High Prairie, because it was built on higher, drier ground than the earlier Dutch settlement several miles further south of the Little Calumet River, which was called “de Laage Prairie”, the Low Prairie, which is now modern day South Holland.
As the area of Pullman modernized with factories, railway coaches and electricity, many settlers came to nearby Roseland to live.
In 1880, the Calumet and Chicago Canal and Dock Company to the Pullman Land Association for the Pullman Car Works. The community grew, and with additional settlers, some coming in from other areas of the city.
The neighborhood was incorporated into Chicago in 1892. The following decades were marked by further settlement and more enterprises, as well as a shift in land use from farming to commerce and residential use.
There are several neighborhoods in Roseland: Fernwood, Lilydale, Princeton Park and West Chesterfield.
Fernwood, which is sometimes referred to as West Roseland, with its garden like parkways became an upscale area of Roseland.
The area is serviced by the Metra, along with the I-90 where it splits with the I-57.
