Past Events

If you aren't taking our Gangsters of West Ridge Tour on July 13, stop by the Edgewater Branch Library to hear the story of how immigrants from one of the smallest countries in Europe shaped the early history of Chicago's Far North Side. Kevin Wester, retired Executive Director of the Luxembourger American Cultural Society will give a wide-ranging overview of how this small group brought their farming skills to our city, creating a network of farms and greenhouses that arced…

Last time sold out quickly. Register now to reserve your ticket for the walking tour that takes you back to a fascinating look at a sometimes glamorized, sometime buried era of Chicago history, with links to our own community.  Tony Soprano wasn't the first mobster drawn to quiet suburban-style living. In the Roaring 20's, the new bungalows of West Ridge provided an idyllic refuge on the northern edge of the city for organized crime figures involved in the gambling, rum-running,…

Tony Soprano wasn't the first mobster drawn to quiet suburban-style living. In the Roaring 20's, the new bungalows of West Ridge provided an idyllic refuge on the northern edge of the city for organized crime figures involved in the gambling, rum-running, vice and gangland struggles for power that defined the Prohibition era in Chicago. Join Neighborhood Historian Glenna Eaves on a walk through the Rogers Park Manor and Talman West-Ridge Historic Bungalow Districts to enjoy the story of the notorious…

Neighborhood Historian Glenna Eaves will once again lead her popular tour "The Spirits of Rogers Park and West Ridge at Rosehill Cemetery." Join Glenna to honor the early leaders of Rogers Park and West Ridge by visiting the graves and monuments of men and women who helped build our neighborhood. Farmers, soldiers, business owners, artists and a host of others all played a role in our history. Glenna will tell the stories of local residents whose vision, enterprise and dedication…

While most Chicagoans know about Daniel Burnham and "the City Beautiful" movement, few recall that in the same year the 1909 Plan of Chicago was published, Chicago also regularized its street address system, beginning a long (and still unfinished) effort to make street names and numbering consistent across town.  Edward P. Brennan, an early  Rogers Park resident, was the freelance urban planner and political gadfly who made State and Madison Streets the East-West and North-South axes of our grid and…

Join the Ranks of Our Digital History Detectives.   Over the years, we've accumulated many photographs of homes, commercial buildings and other places in the neighborhood with limited information as to their location, date or subject matter. We're filling in the details for as many as we can, and you can help. Join Rob Case, our Ace Photo Archivist, for a Great Chicago House Hunt session, where he'll show you how to use digital resources like Google Streetview, old phone books…