Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Hazel Crest, IL

Hazel Crest is a village in southern Cook County, about 25 miles south of the Chicago Loop, and one of the anchor communities of the Chicago Southland.

Hazel Crest was first settled in 1870 as a farming community known as South Harvey, and its growth was spurred by newspaper editor William McClintock, who arrived from Ohio in 1890 and bought 80 acres from farmer Fred Puhrman.

McClintock built a depot for the milk train that doubled as the area's first real estate office, public meeting place, Sunday school, day school, and post office.

Hazel Crest took its modern name around 1900, chosen for the hazelnut bushes that grew thick on a rise of land just south of town, and the village was incorporated in 1911.

Hazel Crest had 13,382 residents at the 2020 census, down from a peak of 14,816 in 2000, and about 85.5 percent of its residents are African American, making it a majority-Black suburb.

Hazel Crest had 4,815 households at the 2020 census, spread across 3.42 square miles that unusually straddle three different townships: Bremen, Rich, and Thornton.

Hazel Crest sits on the Tinley Moraine, a ridge of glacial debris, and is the point where Interstate 80 merges with the Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294).

Hazel Crest commuters ride the Metra Electric District from the village's own station north to Millennium Station in downtown Chicago or south to University Park, the end of the line.

Hazel Crest's major employers include Advocate South Suburban Hospital and Mi-Jack Products, with the Palmer Lake Corporate Business Park at 175th Street and Governors Highway adding office and industrial jobs.

Hazel Crest has no high school of its own, and most of its teenagers attend Hillcrest High School in neighboring Country Club Hills, a school whose name literally blends 'Hill' from Country Club Hills with 'Crest' from Hazel Crest.