Arlington's Track Record

1926
The American National Jockey Club, formed by Californian Curley Brown, purchases 1,001 acres of land near the Village of Arlington Heights. Arlington Park race track opens the next year.

1969
The village annexes the track property, but allows the track to keep its dorms for five years, even though some do not comply with building codes.

1971
The Illinois Racing Board threatens to revoke Arlington's license unless backstretch conditions are improved.

1974
The track and the village sign a five-year agreement setting health and building standards.

1979
The village amends its building code but exempts the old dorms from some building codes, while the Racing Board orders the track to build 100 new double rooms.

1982
The track bars children under age 14 from the backstretch and the Illinois Department of Human Rights files suit. A court ruling allows them to return.

1982
Workers successfully sue the Racing Board and the Illinois Department of Law Enforcement for searching rooms without warrants.

1983
Richard Duchossois and a group of investors buy the track from Madison Square Gardens Corp.

1985
Fire destroys the track grandstand, but racing continues with temporary stands.

1986
Duchossois buys out his partners, and gets state incentives to rebuild. The Illinois General Assembly reduces state taxes on the racing industry and authorizes off-track-betting for all tracks. The village freezes the track's property taxes at pre-fire levels until 1996.

1989
The track reopens, changing its name to Arlington International Racecourse. Track officials bar children from the backstretch by limiting access to licensed workers.

1990
The Illinois Human Rights Commission rules that the track discriminated against the families of workers by barring them from living on the backstretch.

1992
The track bars anyone without an Racing Board license from living at the track. Workers file a lawsuit challenging the ban, and later win a settlement that allows children to return.

1994
August A dysentery outbreak afflicts 17 people, 15 of them under 6 years old.

1994
December After threatening to close, Duchossois agrees to operate in 1995 with a reduced schedule.