The Cabbageheads
C onfusion existed (and apparently still exists) about the location of the western boundary of Rogers Park. The original plat marked the boundary line at Ridge Avenue. And, Ridge Avenue was the western boundary on Monday, April 29, 1878, when the Village of Rogers Park was chartered by the State of Illinois. Note, it did NOT include the area that became known as West Ridge. Disputes between residents of these adjacent areas over local improvements and the legality of taverns within the 4-mile, alcohol-free limit established by the original charter of Northwestern University led to the incorporation of the Village of West Ridge on Friday, November 28, 1890. There was a scattering of farms west of Ridge Avenue. In 1885 there were 44 frame houses. Two-thirds of the 300 residents in 1891 were farmers. The people of West Ridge, even after incorporation, depended on Rogers Park for public transportation and for many commercial, business and social needs.
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 June 2010 15:30
Read more...
|
An Early History of Real Estate in Rogers Park: or How it All Began
N amed after Philip McGregor Rogers, Rogers Ridge, as it was called for a time, was originally 600 acres of land located along the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad's right-of-way (today Metra). A lakeshore road was planned to run in front of the village and this land lay 22 feet above Lake Michigan and was being drained by tile sewers put in at a cost of $7,000. Mr. Rogers, by the time of his death in 1856, had acquired alomost 1,600 acres in what would become Rogers Park, West Ridge, and Ravenswood. The price was $1.25 an acre, when he first began to purchase this land from the U.S. Government in the mid-1830s.
Last Updated on Sunday, 07 February 2010 16:12
Read more...
The Question of East and West Rogers Park
P eople are frequently confusing Rogers Park as East Rogers Park and West Ridge as West Rogers Park. There is some basis in fact for these names. But, it's not what you may think. There actually WAS an East Rogers Park and West Rogers Park and both were in Rogers Park. Neither were in West Ridge.
 When Rogers Park was a village, Clark Street was the main center of commerce. The village hall was on Clark Street. Clark Street divided Rogers Park in two segments, east and west. Hence the names "East Rogers Park" and "West Rogers Park." It was just that simple.
Sometime after annexation, the image in the minds of various people moved the dividing line West from Clark Street to Ridge Blvd. and started calling the area to the west of Ridge Blvd. "West Rogers Park" and east of Ridge "East Rogers Park." And so it began ...
This confusion may never be resolved, but there's comfort in the fact that these names were once correctly applied.
Last Updated on Friday, 07 August 2009 14:31
|
The Rogers Park Library
T he first Rogers Park Library was a private one established in 1874 in the Old Doland block on Clark Street. It was opened by the Rogers Park Woman's Club, who worked as librarians and books were donated until 1917.
In 1905, the Chicago Public Library took over the Rogers Park collection and provided a deposit station with additional books from the Central Library. Service continued on this basis until 1917.
In December 1917, a circulating branch was opened on Clark Street near Morse Avenue in a rented store. By 1922, it had outgrown its home and moved to 1731 W. Greenleaf Avenue, just east of Clark Street. It served the community at this location during the Roaring Twenties, the Depression Years and into the the Post War era. At this location for nearly thirty years, it was a familiar sites to a generation of adults and children in Rogers Park.
Last Updated on Friday, 21 August 2009 16:17
Read more...
Between Ancient Shorelines
T he area of Rogers Park known locally by the name of its block club, "Lunt Avenue Neighbors" lies in a low pocket of land between the prehistoric lakeshores marked by Ridge Avenue on the west and Clark Street on the east, from Pratt Avenue on the south to Touhy Avenue on the north. Although often swampy, the land attracted early settlers who wanted to be close to Clark Street, the main road north from Chicago.
The pace of residential and commercial development rose dramatically after the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad (then Chicago & North Western Railway, now Metra) came through, and in 1873 established a depot near Greenleaf and Ravenswood Avenues. The growth helped Rogers Park gain incorporation as a village in 1878. More construction followed. The numerous Victorian-style homes, paraticularly in the Ialianate and Queen Anne styles that graced the neighborhood today came from this period.
Last Updated on Friday, 07 August 2009 14:32
Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 1 of 3 |
