The village is on the site of Sleepy Hollow Farm, which was owned by owned by the late J. H. McNabb, board chairman of Böwe Bell & Howell Bell and Howell Company. McNabb's heirs, sold the farm to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Polivka, who sold it in turn to Floyd T. Falese in 1953. To retain the rural charm and natural contour of the location, Falese retained the services of a prominent planner and landscape architect, Raymond W. Hazekamp, who laid out a pattern of meandering roads, without curbs or sidewalks, that wound into curvilinear cul-de-sacs, avoiding the destruction of a single tree. Falese developed lakes in Sleepy Hollow from existing springs and stocked them with fish. Lake Paula and Lake Sharon were first ones completed with Lake Ichabod dug in 1962. Falese created Lake Legend and Lake Jacqueline in 1967. Those lakes are still a focal point, and the village owns and maintains several of them. Falese was also a horse lover and viewed horse ownership as an element of country living. Early residents of the village could keep horses on their property with outlots used as bridle paths. The designs were carefully selected to enhance what Falese called "the Sleepy Hollow concept of good living." Unlike other subdivision where the developer was also the exclusive builder of homes, Falese encouraged multiple builders and custom-built homes. However, in the 1960's many of the homes were Prefabricated housing pre-fabricated Scholz Design Homes constructed by the Mark 60 Corporation. Falese marketed lots in the unincorporated subdivision called "Sleepy Hollow Manor." In 1958, the residents voted to incorporate Sleepy Hollow as a separate village rather than being annexed to West Dundee, Illinois. In 1958, the Faleses purchased the Petitti farm, and in 1961 the Winmoor and Whitney farms added to the family holdings. Later, the Sleepy Hollow Elementary School was opened adjacent to the pool. Sleepy Hollow population continues to increase as the remaining lots in Falese's original subdivision are developed and as three other adjacent subdivisions were annexed: Hickory Hollow, Saddle Club Estates, and Surrey Ridge and the Bluff. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Hollow%2C_Illinois