Early local farmers supplemented their income by producing "black salt," a mixture of lye and potash made from burned timber that proved more profitable than grain.
Real-estate developers began promoting the area as a residential community in the 1920s, and the population jumped from 2,530 in 1920 to 15,589 by 1930.
Many of the earliest residents were German; residential immigration after 1920 brought working-class Polish, other Slavic, and Italian families to the city.