Rogers Park is the northernmost of Chicago community areas in the far North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and is also the name of the Chicago neighborhood that constitutes most of the community area. It is bounded by the city of Evanston along Juneway Terrace and Howard Street to the north, Ridge Boulevard to the west, Devon Avenue and the Edgewater neighborhood to the south, and Lake Michigan to the east. The neighborhood just to the west, West Ridge, was part of Rogers Park until the 1890s. Some Chicagoans use the phrase "East Rogers Park" to refer to any area east of Ridge, but usually East Rogers Park refers only to the portion of Rogers Park east of Clark Street.
| North Boundary: |
7600 N |
Howard |
| South Boundary: |
6400 N |
Devon |
| East Boundary: |
~800 W |
Lake Michigan |
| West Boundary: |
3200 W |
Kedzie |
Native American roots
The Rogers Park area was developed on what once was the convergence of two Native American trails, now known as Rogers Avenue and Ridge Boulevard, predating modern metropolitan Chicago. The Pottawatomi and various other regional tribes often settled in Rogers Park from season to season. The name of Indian Boundary Park in Rogers Park reflects this history as does Pottawattomie Park near Clark Street and Rogers Avenue.
Rogers Park was named after a pioneer settler and developer, Phillip Rogers. Rogers often traded and worked with the local tribes. Envisioning a future settlement, Rogers eventually purchased the land from the tribes for later development.
Becoming part of Chicago
From 1830 to 1850, waves of immigrants from Luxembourg and Germany came to Rogers Park, where farming was the main industry. The average price of land at the time was $1.25 an acre ($309/kmē), and the dominant crops were hay, cucumbers for pickles, and onions[citation needed]. On April 29, 1878, Rogers Park was incorporated as a village of Illinois governed by six trustees. In 1893, the village was annexed to Chicago. Successive generations brought about vast cultural changes to the former village. Elite Chicagoans began to move to new planned communities in the suburbs by the 1930s, which ushered in the migration of German, English, Irish, and Jewish families to Rogers Park. With the settlement of these migrants, their cultural traditions flourished[citation needed]. With the devastation in Europe following World War II, many additional immigrants found their way to Chicago and Rogers Park. Also, a growing and vibrant Hispanic community has grown along Clark Street.
Most of the neighborhood has for decades been within the 49th Ward of the city of Chicago, and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but, because of gerrymandering, parts of Rogers Park are now within the 48th and 40th wards as well.
- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
