Rogers Park/West Ridge Community Collection

Rogers Park and West Ridge, two of Chicago’s seventy-seven community areas, are located nine miles north of the Loop on the city’s far North Side. Both are located on Chicago’s northern border, just south of the City of Evanston. Native American people, including the Potawatomi, lived, traveled, and traded in the area for many generations prior to the arrival of European settlers. Chicago continues to be home to a large Native American population.

Rogers Park runs from Howard Street and Juneway Terrace south to Devon Avenue and Sheridan Road, and from Ridge Boulevard east to Lake Michigan. The Village of Rogers Park was incorporated in 1878 and annexed to the City of Chicago in 1893. A small amount of additional land north of Howard Street was annexed in 1915.

West Ridge, located just west of Rogers Park, is also known as West Rogers Park. It encompasses the area from Howard Street south to Bryn Mawr and Peterson Avenues, and from Kedzie Avenue and the Chicago River east to Ridge Boulevard. West Ridge was incorporated as a village in 1890 and annexed to Chicago just three years later, in 1893.

According to their mission statement, the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society “collects, preserves and shares the story of the diverse community of Chicago’s far north side. Established by local residents who believed their part of Chicago was a place with much to celebrate, the Society today serves the community through its publications, neighborhood tours, Living History programs and other educational and outreach efforts.” The group began meeting informally at the Rogers Park Library in 1973 and formally established itself as the Rogers Park Historical Society on July 28, 1975. They were granted a charter from the State of Illinois on March 17, 1976. In 1994, they formally changed their name to the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society to recognize their interests in and work with both community areas.

Their work encompasses educational programs, exhibitions, publications, and an annual historic house tour. Just a few of their many accomplishments include publishing a newsletter (1986-2017); organizing programming and celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of Rogers Park and West Ridge's annexations to the City of Chicago (1992-1993); publishing two books, “Chicago’s Far North Side: An Illustrated History of Rogers Park and West Ridge” (2000) and “Neighborhoods Within Neighborhoods: Twentieth Century Life on Chicago’s Far North Side” (2002); establishing a lecture series, the Living History Speaker Program (2016); and creating a community cookbook, “The World in One Neighborhood: The Varied Cuisines of Chicago’s Far North Side” (2017).

From 1994-2003, the society maintained a Museum and Educational Research Center at 6424 N. Western Avenue. After a few temporary sites, they moved to their current space at 7363 N. Greenview Avenue in August 2015. In 2019, they began the process of transferring their paper archives to Chicago Public Library's Northside Neighborhood History Collection, while maintaining ownership of their photographic archvie. As of 2023, the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society remains active through their programs, collections, community partnerships, and service to the Rogers Park and West Ridge communities.

Source:

Rogers Park West Ridge Historical Society, “Mission and History,” https://rpwrhs.org/history/, accessed May 20, 2023.