GETTING TO KNOW ROGERS PARK

What’s the Appeal? Rogers Park has long been one of Chicago’s most distinctive communities, with a highly diverse population, a great lakefront location, an active arts scene and the cultural and athletic activities at Loyola University. It also offers a wide selection of relatively affordable housing options, especially condos and rental apartments, but also, and especially west of Clark Street, a wonderful array of well-preserved Victorian single-family homes. Plus, the area has strong public transit links to downtown Chicago via the Red Line and Metra.

Where Is It? As Chicago’s northeastern most community, Rogers Park is bounded on the north by Evanston, with Howard Street and Calvary Cemetery marking the border. From Lake Michigan the community extends west to Ridge Avenue, while on the south, Devon Avenue separates it from Edgewater.

What’s in the Name? As you might surmise, Rogers Park was founded by Mr. Rogers. No, not that one! The community’s founder was Philip Rogers, an Irish immigrant who settled near what is now the intersection of Ridge and Lunt avenues in the 1830s and eventually acquired 1,600 acres of land in the area, which was then right at the border between lands still owned by Native American tribes and the area around Chicago that had been acquired by the United States via an 1816 treaty.  In fact, today’s Rogers Avenue marks what was then known as the Indian Boundary Line and extended all the way to the Des Plaines River. Rogers’ real estate development plans were eventually carried on by his son-in-law Patrick Touhy, who subdivided Rogers’ holdings and helped incorporate the Village of Roger Park in 1878. 

Who Were the Earliest Residents? The area was sparsely settled by immigrant farmers from Germany and Luxembourg until two railroads arrived in the 1860s, and Touhy began selling housing lots, mainly in the area between Clark Street and Ridge, the land to the east being marshy and less desirable. Major changes followed in the 1890s, with the area’s incorporation into Chicago and the arrival of the Northwest Elevated Railway, a precursor to today’s CTA Red Line, adding its terminal at Howard Street.  Apartment development boomed, and Rogers Park became primarily a community of renters, a character it largely retains though a fair number of rental buildings converted to condominium ownership after 1970.

Claims to Fame? It’s location along the lake and between Loyola University and Northwestern University in Evanston has given Rogers Park an atmosphere similar to that found in Hyde Park around the University of Chicago – active liberal politics, lots of young adults and academics and a vibrant arts community. Famous folks who once called Rogers Park home include Olympian Shani Davis, NFL Hall of Fame member Fritz Pollard, film director/actor/writer Harold Ramis, author and LGBT activist Dan Savage, puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, actresses Lara Flynn Boyle, Tina Fey and Marisol Nichols, comedian Shecky Greene and former First Lady Betty Ford.