Prior to the 1960s, the land that now makes up Bolingbrook consisted entirely of unincorporated farmland, Native American trails, and open prairie. The modern history of the village began in the early 1960s when homebuilders constructed the first residential subdivision, known as Colonial Village.
To secure essential services like municipal water and sewer, the residents voted to incorporate as the Village of Bolingbrook in 1965. Throughout the 1970s, the village experienced explosive population growth as families flocked to the expanding Chicago suburbs.
A second massive wave of development occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s, pushing the village boundaries further west and south. This era brought major corporate investments, large retail centers, and the development of new, upscale residential subdivisions, transitioning Bolingbrook from a bedroom community into a major regional employment and commercial center.