Morse Avenue District
The History of the Morse Avenue District
The history of Morse Avenue and the surrounding area is integrally tied to the broader development of Rogers Park. Perhaps the year 1856 was the juncture marking the end of the early settling of the area and the beginning of organized development. That year Philip MacGregor Rogers, the leading early land owner in the area, died. His son-in-law, Patrick Leonard Touhy, took over the family land holdings and began development of what he christened “Rogers Park” (and which had been sometimes referred to as “Rogers Ridge,” “Rogers Retreat,” or “Rogers Rendezvous”).
On September 10, 1872, a group of developers formed the Rogers Park Land Company after purchasing 225 acres from Touhy. The founding members of the Rogers Park Land Company may not be familiar to us today, but their names will certainly ring a bell: Luther L. Greenleaf, George Estes, Stephen Purrington Lunt, Charles H. Morse, John V. Farwell, and Paul and George Pratt. Of course, their names are immortalized in the street names of the area.
The very next year, 1873, the Chicago and North Western Railroad (the predecessor of today’s Metra) laid its tracks and built a stop in Rogers Park, connecting the area with downtown Chicago by rail for the first time. The same year, the Rogers Park Land Company built sidewalks on Greenleaf from Clark to Paulina, as well as a small, twelve-inch tile sewer line on Touhy from Paulina to Lake Michigan. Throughout the 1870s, the area steadily transformed into a suburban bedroom community.
By the late 1870s, approximately 90% of men living in Rogers Park commuted to Chicago for work. In 1878, the Village of Rogers Park was incorporated in a push to improve the streets, manage the storm water, build sewerage, and establish a water supply through the Rogers Park Water Company. Also with incorporation, the sale of intoxicating liquors was banned, and a village policeman was hired.
In 1885 the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul railroad line (the predecessor of today’s L tracks) was completed – at ground level – from Wilson Avenue to Evanston, providing more transportation to the area. By 1893 the population of Rogers Park was approximately 3,500, and Rogers Park and West Ridge were incorporated into the City of Chicago.
Around 1900 the area still had scattered groves of oak and birch trees. The photograph of the birch forest often featured by the Society in its publications was taken circa 1900 at the corner of Lunt and Ashland. However, the push for modernization continued. In 1901 Touhy Avenue, Ashland Avenue, and Sheridan Road were paved, and in 1902 Sheridan Road was illuminated with incandescent lights.
In the ensuing years, more houses, two-story apartment buildings, and stores were built on Pratt, Morse, Touhy and Sheridan. In 1919, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul railroad line (today’s L) was elevated. The Morse L stop – originally called the Rogers Park stop – opened in 1921 at 1358 W. Morse.
The 1920s saw a major building boom throughout Rogers Park, more than doubling the population from 26,857 to 57,094. The presence of the L station, as well as the vastly expanding population in the area, made Morse Avenue a major commercial strip. Perhaps the most celebrated business on Morse was the Ashkenaz restaurant and delicatessen, which operated from 1940 through the late 70s.
Today, Morse Avenue is a reviving commercial strip boasting a mix of restaurants, performance venues, grocery and convenience stores, banks, professional offices, and cafes.
