AIA Guide to Chicago

West Town/Wicker Park/Bucktown/Logan Square/Irving Park

north and northwest 264 West toWn/Wicker Park/BucktoWn/ Logan square/irving Park In order to view this proof accurately, the Overprint Preview Option must be checked in Acrobat Professional or Adobe Reader. Please contact your Customer Service Representative if you have questions about finding the option. Job Name: -- /359560t north and northwest w e st tow n/w i cke r par k/b ucktow n / lo ga n sq uar e /i r v i n g par k 265 In order to view this proof accurately, the Overprint Preview Option must be checked in Acrobat Professional or Adobe Reader. Please contact your Customer Service Representative if you have questions about finding the option. Job Name: -- /359560t north and northwest 266 The Northwest Side comprises disparate neighborhoods united by the important artery of Milwaukee Ave. Like many of Chicago’s diagonal streets, it began as an Indian trail, was developed as a plank road and streetcar route, and remains a heavily traveled commercial thoroughfare. The many changes in neighborhood names and boundaries along the Milwaukee Ave. corridor reflect the area’s shifting populations and their various motives of ethnic pride, historical interest, and real estate promotion. The major community areas, which extend west from the north branch of the Chicago River for about two miles, are West Town, from Kinzie St. to about Bloomingdale Ave.; Logan Square, from Bloomingdale to Diversey Aves.; Avondale, from Diversey Ave. to Addison St.; and Irving Park, from Addison St. to Montrose Ave. West Town includes the neighborhood of Wicker Park; the section of Logan Square east of Western Ave. is known as Bucktown. In 1851, Chicago’s boundaries were extended to Western and North Aves. The earliest housing in West Town was built by German Catholics who came after the 1848 revolutions in Europe and settled around Milwaukee Ave. and Division St. By the mid-1860s, they were joined by large numbers of Polish immigrants, and animosities between nationalities caused conflicts. Both Germans and Poles emphasized the establishment of “national” parishes and built large churches that served as community and religious centers. The boulevard system radiating from Humboldt Park is a major feature of the area. An 1869 act of the state legislature established the West Park Commission , one of three municipal bodies responsible for creating a system of peripheral boulevards and pleasure grounds intended to ring the city. William Le Baron Jenney, better known as the Father of the Skyscraper, was hired in 1870 to design the West Side parks and boulevards. Conceived as an ensemble and originally named Upper, Central, and Lower Parks, these landscapes are now known as Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglas Parks and are linked by broad boulevards lined with stately houses and apartments. The creation of Humboldt Park attracted real estate speculators, and the 1871 fire was another impetus to population growth, driving many workers from damaged areas to this expanding industrial and residential corridor. Much of what is now the Northwest Side lay beyond the city limits, with the housing stock consisting of inexpensive wooden buildings free from the ban on frame construction enacted within Chicago itself. In 1868, a public park, Wicker Park, was established on a small triangle of land and named for two brothers, Charles G. and Joel H. Wicker, who were major local real estate developers. By the late 1880s and early 1890s, the surrounding area had developed as fashionably middle and upper class. The construction of streetcar lines and the extension of the elevated line to Logan Square in 1895 fostered growth north along the boulevards. Many of the successful immigrants who ran businesses on Milwaukee Ave. and had lived there in “flats above the store” built elegant graystones, brick town houses, and two- and three-flats emulating single-family homes on Kedzie and Logan Blvds. In the great annexation of 1889, Chicago added 125 square miles, and the extension of the city’s north and west boundaries placed the boulevard system in the center of the city rather than on its periphery. North along Milwaukee Ave. the annexation of part of Jefferson Township added the suburb of Irving Park. Evidence of this nineteenth-century community is still visible in the cluster of fine Victorian homes in the area of Irving Park Rd. and the Kennedy West toWn/Wicker Park/BucktoWn/ Logan square/irving Park In order to view this proof accurately, the Overprint Preview Option must be checked...