West Ridge is one of 77 Chicagocommunity areas. It is a middle-class neighborhood located on the far North Side of the City of Chicago. It is located in the 50th ward and the 40th ward.
Today West Ridge is one of Chicago's better off communities, filled with multi-ethnic culture lining Devon Avenue, historic mansions lining Ridge and Lunt Avenues, cultural institutions such as St. Scholastica Academy and one of the highest per capita incomes on the North Side of Chicago.
Historically called "North Town", and frequently referred to as "West Rogers Park", it is bordered on the north by Howard Street, on the east by Ridge Boulevard, Western Avenue, and Ravenswood Avenue, the south by Bryn Mawr Avenue and Peterson Avenue, and on the west by Kedzie Avenue and the North Shore channel of the Chicago River. At one time joined with neighboring Rogers Park, it seceded to become its own village in 1890 over a conflict concerning park districts (known as the Cabbage War).[3] West Ridge was annexed to Chicago on April 4, 1893, along with Rogers Park.[4]
Geography
Neighborhoods and sub-areas
Golden Ghetto
The Golden Ghetto is bounded on the north by Warren Park and Pratt Avenue and on the south by Peterson Avenue. It acquired its name from the thriving Jewish community there from about 1930 to the mid-1970s. The Jewish community peaked at over 47,000 in the 1960s.[5] That community began to drift into the suburbs in the 1960s, and the neighborhood began to be home to South Asians and Russian Jews from about that time.
The heyday of the area is the topic of Adam Langer's Crossing California,[6] told from the perspective of the second-generation residents during their middle school and teenage years. There has been a recent resurgence in Jewish residents, up from a nadir of 20,000 to around 25,000 in the late 2010s, due to increased Orthodox residents.[5]
Rogers Park Manor Bungalow Historic District
The Rogers Park Manor Bungalow Historic District is a residential historic district in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The district includes 329 buildings, 247 of which are Chicago bungalows built in the 1920s. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 2005.[7]
Talman West Ridge Bungalow Historic District
The Talman West Ridge Bungalow Historic District is a residential historic district in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. 181 of the district's 272 buildings are either brick Chicago bungalows or older stucco bungalows built from 1919 to 1930.
It had been represented in the Chicago City Council by Alderman Bernard Stone from 1973 until May 2011. On April 5, 2011, Alderman Debra Silverstein defeated Stone in a runoff election[12] and now represents the 50th Ward, which encompasses West Ridge.
Howard W. Carroll (1942–2021), member of the Illinois Senate from 1973 to 1999. He resided at 6014 North Francisco Avenue during his political career.[16]
Philip H. Corboy (1924–2012), trial lawyer. He was a childhood resident of West Rogers Park, living at 2836 West Lunt Street.[17][18]
^Banas, Casey. "SCHOOL MAY REOPEN TO EASE CROWDING." Chicago Tribune. July 17, 1985. Chicagoland 4. Retrieved on February 5, 2011. "Neumann School, a private school for emotionally disturbed children,[...]"
^"General Information." Tzemach Tzedek Elementary School. Retrieved on February 5, 2011.
^"STREET SMARTS ; A FUTURE WHITE HOUSE ADVISER GETS HIS POLITICAL EDUCATION, CHICAGO- STYLE". Chicago Tribune. May 25, 2003 – via ProQuest.
