Rolling Meadows is located at 42°4′34″N 88°1′33″W / 42.07611°N 88.02583°W / 42.07611; -88.02583 (42.076209, -88.025911), 24 miles (39 km) northwest of the Chicago Loop. According to the 2010 census, Rolling Meadows has a total area of 5.635 square miles (14.59 km²), of which 5.63 square miles (14.58 km²) (or 99.91%) is land and 0.005 square miles (0.01 km²) (or 0.09%) is water.

In 1836, Orrin Ford became the first landowner in the area that is now Rolling Meadows, staking his claim of 160 acres (0.65 km²) in an area known as Plum Grove. Other farm families followed, many traveling from Vermont. By the early 1840s, settlers had built a dam across Salt Creek and had laid claim to the entire Plum Grove area.

The community became part of the newly formed Palatine Township in 1850 as German immigrants arrived. In 1862, the Salem Evangelical Church was built, and the church's 40-foot-square (12 m) cemetery still exists at the corner of Kirchoff and Plum Grove roads.

In 1927, H.D. "Curly" Brown bought 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) of land in the area with the intention of building a golf course, along with land adjacent to it for a racetrack. In the early 1950s, Kimball Hill purchased the land intended for the golf course, and began home sales by advertising a floor plan of his basic house in the Chicago Tribune. Although the response was positive, officials in neighboring Arlington Heights protested, hoping to buy the land themselves for estate homes. However, prospective buyers of the Kimball Hill homes persuaded the Cook County Board for zoning changes to allow Hill to proceed.

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