Local History Book: Rogers Park

Occasionally, we feature books that might be of interest to far north siders. Here's a great photo history of Rogers Park.

Rogers Park bears the name of Philip McGregor Rogers, an intrepid and enterprising Irish immigrant who purchased the first tract of land in the area in the 1830s, a time when it was prairie and woodland, populated by Native Americans and white birch trees. As the federal government forced the Native Americans west, European immigrants arrived in greater numbers, forming a community of woodcutters and farmers. The Great Chicago Fire ushered in an era of economic development, and in 1878, Rogers Park incorporated as a village. In 1893, the town was annexed to Chicago, becoming the city’s northernmost neighborhood along Lake Michigan. During the Roaring Twenties, Howard Street’s grand theaters, jumping nightclubs, and glitzy fashion shops drew adventure seekers by the thousands. The onset of the Depression saw the rise of an art deco skyscraper housing Mundelein College for women. In the coming decades, local movers and shakers made great strides in social justice and racial equality. Today Rogers Park is one of the most ethnically and socially diverse neighborhoods in the country.

About the Author

Jacque Day Archer is a producer, journalist, editor, award-winning writer, and current resident of Rogers Park. She is museum director for the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society. Jamie Wirsbinski Santoro is a social and cultural ethnographer and award-winning writer. She has lived in Rogers Park for more than two decades.

1892 Descriptions of the Uptown/Edgewater Area

One of the books I have in my collection is The Artistic Guide to Chicago and the World Columbian Exposition. Published in 1892, it is more or less a travel guide on what to see and do in Chicago while attending the world's fair.

There is a brief section on the best "suburban towns" to visit, most of which were later annexed to the city. I live at Winthrop and Argyle, part of a village that was once known as Argyle Park. From what I've heard, Argyle Park had many large, beautiful homes and mansions that were later torn down for the six-flat apartments of the twenties (which I also love) and apartment hotels. The brief description from the book reads: "Situated on the Evanston division of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul R.R. It is is distant from the City Hall five and a half miles. It is a beautiful suburb with wide avenues and macadamized streets."

I had to look up what macadamized meant. It sounded fancy. The American Heritage Dictionary defined it as "to construct or pave (a road) with macadam." Not very helpful, that. I finally had to look it up on Wikipedia, which describes the entire process. Skip ahead if this is more than you want to know: "Macadam is a type of road construction pioneered by the Scotsman John Loudon McAdam in around 1820. It consisted of creating three layers of stones laid on a crowned subgrade with side ditches for drainage. The first two layers consisted of angular hand-broken aggregate, maximum size three inches, to a total depth of about 8 inches. The third layer was about 2 inches thick with a maximum aggregate size of 1 inch. Each layer would be compacted with a heavy roller, causing the angular stones to lock together with their neighbors."

The description of Edgewater in the Aristic Guide was a little more detailed: "Situated on the Evanston division of the Chicago, Milwauke & St. Paul Railroad, seven and a half miles from the City Hall. It is charmingly situated just north of the city limits, on a gently sloping eminence overlooking Lake Michigan. The town was originally laid out in a natural forest of beech, birch, and maple. Only enough of these were removed to allow space for avenues and building, leaving the town itself buried in a wilderness of foliage. It is the most charming suburb of Chicago. The residences are all of modern architecture, elegant in design, solid in construction, and rich in furnishings. Between the spreading branches of the trees a fine view of the lake is presented. In short distance from the city, together with its many natural charms, makes it a favorite residence for the wealthiest citizens."

Sounds idyllic, doesn't it?