Community areas of Chicago

Community areas of Chicago

The city of Chicago is divided into seventy-seven community areas. Census data are tied to the community areas, and they serve as the basis for a variety of urban planning initiatives on both the local and regional levels.

The University of Chicago defined seventy-five community areas during the late 1920s, which at that time corresponded roughly to neighborhoods within the city. In the 1950s, with the city's annexations for O'Hare airport, a seventy-sixth community area was added. Other than the creation of the seventy-seventh community area in 1980 (by separating #77 Edgewater from #3 Uptown), boundaries have never been revised to reflect change but instead have been kept relatively stable to allow comparisons of these areas over time.
Today many of the community areas no longer correspond to any single neighborhood, and some community area names have fallen out of colloquial use. In many cases, the actual character of the community area is quite independent of that of the individual neighborhoods which comprise it.

Community Area designations are useful more than merely as a historical curiosity because they are considered more durable than the names of neighborhoods, which can change over time due to urban redevelopment, gentrification and the constant shuffle and absorption of the immigrant population.

Alternate geographic breakdowns

Parishes

Another method of neighborhood nomenclature in heavily Catholic neighborhoods of Chicago has been to refer to communities in terms of parishes. For example, one might say, "I live in St. Gertrude's, but he's from Saint Ita's."

Wards

Since 1923 Chicago has been divided into 50 City Council Aldermanic wards.[1] Each of the 50 areas is represented on the City council by one Alderman and in many social, political and economic contexts, it is reasonable to describe what part of Chicago one is from by who one's alderman is or what ward one lives in. However, using wards as the basis for comparing areas of the city over time has limited utility, due to the fact that the wards need to be redistricted every ten years. The current ward boundaries are mapped here

External links

City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development
Community Area Demographics
Community Area Maps
Chicago Area Geographic Information Study (CAGIS)
Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission
Census 2000 Chicago Community Area Profiles
MCIC (Metro Chicago Information Center)
Metro Chicago Facts Online

Rogers Park - wikipedia

Rogers Park: The Wikipedia information.

Rogers Park or often incorrectly East Rogers Park is the northernmost of the Chicago community areas in Chicago, Illinois. It is bounded by the City of Evanston at Juneway Terrace and Howard Street to the north, Ridge Boulevard to the west, Devon Avenue to the south and Lake Michigan to the east. The neighborhood just to the west is often called West Rogers Park, although its formal name is West Ridge. Rogers Park is anchored by Loyola University Chicago and the Jesuit religious order. Historic places of interest include Madonna Della Strada and the site of the former palatial Granada Theatre.

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, pre-dating modern metropolitan Chicago. The Potawatomi 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.

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.

From 1830 and 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/km²), and the dominant crops were hay and 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 the City of Chicago. Successive generations brought about vast cultural changes to the village. Elite Chicagoans began to move to new planned communities in the suburbs by the 1930s, which ushered in the migration of Germans, English and Irish and Jewish families to Rogers Park. With the settlement of these migrants, their cultural traditions flourished

Rogers Park continued to see massive changes in its demographics into the twenty first century. The 2000 census data showed it to be one of the most diverse communities in the country, with a robust mix of ethnic backgrounds, languages, age diversity, and a wide range of family incomes. This diversity has been affected by the gentrification of the community. Much of the rental housing converted to condominiums since 2000 housed racial and ethnic minority households, while more than 90% of the new homeowners are white households, according to the Woodstock Institute [1], a nonprofit advocacy and research organization.
Rogers Park contains many houses of prayer of different religions and denominations.

Rogers Park is currently going through a period of gentrification. The population is divided on the issue.
Both alderman, Loyola University, and many property owners in Rogers Park support the gentrification currently going on in Rogers Park. Among those actively organizing against gentrification are the Rogers Park Community Action Network, Organization of the Northeast, the North of Howard Leadership Forum, and many individual block clubs and community groups.

Those in favor of gentrification point out that property values increase, that it brings investment to the community, increases property ownership and reduces crime in general.[1][2]

Those opposed point out that gentrification causes displacement of low-income families and the elderly in favor of younger, more affluent singles and couples, loss of diversity and does not establish long term residence. [3] [4]


Schools


Chicago Waldorf School
Field Elementary School
Gale School
Hayt Elementary School
Kilmer Elementary School
Loyola University Chicago
North Shore School
PACTT Learning Center
St. Margaret Mary School
St. Scholastica Academy
Sullivan High School
Swift Elementary Speciality School


Rogers Park has several elevated Red Line stations. Travel times to The Loop are at least 45 minutes due to the general disrepair of the tracks as well as reconstruction of the Belmont and Fullerton stations.[citation needed] There is also the Metra Rogers Park station, where travel times to downtown Chicago are 20 to 23 minutes.


Notable residents


Edward Gorey (childhood)
Phil Foglio (no longer resident)
Shecky Greene (former Sullivan High School student)
Elizabeth Bloomer, better known as Betty Ford


Elected officials

Aldermen
40th Ward Patrick O'Connor (D)
49th Ward Joe Moore (D)

County
10th District Mike Quigley (D)

Senate
7th District Carol Ronen (D) 8th District Ira Silverstein (D) 9th District Jeffery M. Schoenberg (D)

Representative
14th District Harry Osterman (D)

Federal

Representative
9th District Jan Schakowsky (D)

Senate
Richard "Dick" Durbin (D) Barack Obama (D)


External links

Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce
Official City of Chicago Rogers Park Community Map
History of Rogers Park on Encyclopedia of Chicago


References


^ Studies: Gentrification a boost for everyone.
^ What is Gentrification?.
^ What is Gentrification?.
^ Fighting Gentrification Chicago Style.

Rogers Park ... Well, what can I say ?

I just finished my walk around Rogers Park. I do it twice a day, once in the afternoon, and once at night. I bring my camera along to take pictures of Rogers Park. Eventually, with all of the tear downs of the beautiful buildings that I used to take pictures of, the gangs took over the vacant, fenced in lots. Graffiti appeared and soon I noticed that it was no longer contained within the tear downs. It was everywhere.

Witnessing this outbreak opened my eyes to other Rogers Park decay such as the prostitution, drug deals, corruption, brutality and violence. It happens every day in Rogers Park, and I'm going to show you the photographic evidence here.


...Because a photo doesn't lie.

Quest Network Services in Rogers Park

Quest Network Services
7301 N. Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL. 60626

Diablo II Tournament at Quest Network Services

Final Show of Independent Video Alliance