A century ago, the Spanish Flu raged across the world, but we know very little about how it affected the people of Rogers Park and West Ridge. Today, the Covid-19 Pandemic is changing life as we know it, and we want to collect and preserve the experiences we’re all going through. Sending your story is as simple as sending an email. Click here for details.
Larry Shure is a preservation planner who has lived in Rogers Park for 20 years. Since 2006 he has shared his neighborhood observations, sketches, diagrams and maps on his blog, Ultra Local Geography, with a unique artistic flair. His Illustrated presentation, Historic Architecture and Development in Rogers Park/West Ridge: Selected Entries from the Ultra Local […]
Join Rob Case, our Ace Photo Archivist, for the last Great Chicago House Hunt session of the year, where he’ll show you how to use digital resources like Google Streetview, old phone books and other internet resources to search for clues in unidentified photos. No experience necessary, but it helps if you’re comfortable with using Google for searches and have basic internet skills.
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 […]
Part of Andrew Clayman’s collection of vintage Chicago-made products has been on display at our office, but Andrew himself will be our Living History Speaker on October 17 at the Northtown Branch Library, 6801 N. Western Ave, when he will discuss the collection with a special emphasis on the sometimes-overlooked manufacturing legacy of the North […]
Around the turn of the 20th Century, the new residential development called Birchwood Beach attracted prosperous Chicago residents with its clean air, proximity to Lake Michigan and easy access to downtown Chicago via a train station near what is now the Red Line stop at Jarvis Square. On open lands once covered by a thick […]
Artists of the Wall has been an important part of Rogers Park for a quarter of a century. Learn the story behind this enduring Loyola Park Advisory Council project that adds art to our lake shore and involves hundreds of local residents and artists from around the city. Mary Bao, long-time RPWRHS member and one of the founders of the event, will talk about how the festival began, how it has evolved over more than two decades, and plans for where it’s going in the future.
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 […]
Mike Zimmerman grew up in West Ridge in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Now retired, he recently sent us this memoir about his childhood adventures.
What could be more Chicago than elections and hot dogs? Join us for our annual meeting and election of board members, plus a talk by popular food historian Bruce Kraig on Hot Dog History and Why Chicago’s Are the Best. We’ll also have an update regarding stewardship of the extensive RPWRHS collection archive. Only current members are […]