Our History

The First Inhabitants of Chicago

Before any Europeans settled in the Chicago region, it was a vast swampland on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Primarily Potawatomi Indians inhabited it. The name Chicago originates from "Checagou" (Chick-Ah-Goo-Ah), which in the Potawatomi language means 'wild onions' or 'skunk'. The area was so named because of the smell of marshland wild leeks or wild garlic that used to cover it.

1700s

The first non-native settler in Chicago was Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable, of French and African descent, who settled at the mouth of the Chicago River in the 1770s and married a local Potawatomi woman. In 1795, following the Northwest Indian War, the area of Chicago was ceded by the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United States for a military post.

1800s

In 1803, Fort Dearborn was built. The Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi ceded the land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. A group of merchants, trappers, and traders incorporated the City of Chicago in 1833 and chartered it in 1837. At that time, Chicago was a much smaller parcel in the area directly around the Loop. In these early years, John Kinzie Clark built a cabin on the Chicago River near what historians believe is now Addison Street and became Jefferson Township’s earliest resident.   He arrived with only a few personal items and a team of horses most likely by way of an Indian trail that would become Clybourn Avenue.

In 1830, Elijah Wentworth Sr. was the proprietor of a tavern located on the west side of the Chicago River a little north of Wolf Point near present-day Kinzie Street. Less than a quarter of a mile away was an Indian trail that led Northwest.  This trail eventually became Milwaukee Avenue.

Elijah traveled this trail eight miles northwest of Chicago, to a place called Sand Ridge, just south of the Northern Indian Boundary Line, to build his new tavern. This was a perfect spot for an inn, located near the junction of three well-traveled Indian Trails (Milwaukee, Higgins, and Northwest Highway).  This large 2-story log tavern, “The Wentworth Tavern” later called “The Jefferson Hotel,” was located on the land now occupied by the Jefferson Park Bus Terminal.  Elijah Wentworth became the first resident and business owner in what is now the Jefferson Park neighborhood.

Except for a short stay at Fort Dearborn during the Black Hawk War, Elijah Wentworth continued to operate his inn until he sold the property, tavern, and farm, to David L. Roberts in the early 1850’s.  Before he left, others came to join him in the business district.

Abram Gale (for whom Gale Street is named) came to Jefferson Township soon after this and built the first frame house in the Township.  It was 18 x 34 feet and reportedly cost the sum of $75.00. This house was located in the Galewood neighborhood (also named for him) south of Grand Avenue.

The Founding of Jefferson Township

It should be noted that Jefferson Township and Jefferson Park can’t be interchangeable.  In the beginning, the township was a large tract of land that was north of North Avenue to Devon Avenue and west of Western Avenue to Harlem Avenue (Norwood Park township broke away from Jefferson Township taking a small chunk of land at its northwest side). The Township was a form of government the residents picked with “villages” like Irving, Dunning, and Cragin within Jefferson Township. The Town of Jefferson or Jefferson Park is mostly centered around Milwaukee and Higgins Avenues.

Early settlers first wanted the township to be named for President James Monroe. However, they soon learned that another community in Illinois was known as Monroe, so they decided to honor President Thomas Jefferson instead. The State formed Jefferson Township in 1850 and by 1855, the village had 50 buildings. The Town of Jefferson was officially incorporated in 1872.

During the 1860s, the population of the Town of Jefferson grew to about 800 persons and nearly all the trades and professions were represented. The area had two taverns, two dry goods stores, a drug store, markets, and other businesses.  The first township high school was established in 1870 in the Town Hall at Irving Park and Milwaukee.  Eventually, a more permanent 3-story structure was erected in 1883 and called “Jefferson High School.”  (The Irish Heritage Center on Wilson and Knox stands at this site today).

The Gateway to Chicago

Around this time, Jefferson Park started to become known as the “Gateway to Chicago” or the “Garden Gateway” because of the truck farms throughout the area. Farmers would truck their produce to Jefferson Park to sell to the residents.  They would also truck products to Chicago by way of Milwaukee Ave. The trucks would come in on Higgins or Northwest Highway, both dead-ending in Jefferson Park. This ideal location made for a successful business district with a large community to support this commerce.

The site where Higgins and Long Avenues meet today was initially a house owned by the Henry Esdohr family.  During those early years, most Jefferson Park area residents obtained their water at an artesian well located on the property. This well was 2,200 feet deep with a flow rate of 200 gallons per minute. The well was in operation until 1895. There were also other pumps located along Milwaukee Avenue but not with the same quality of water from the Esdohr house. This gave tremendous impetus to population growth in the area and helped to attract immigrants from Poland, Germany, and other European countries through the next several decades.

In addition to the Esdohr family’s importance to the neighborhood through providing fresh water, they played prominent roles in the community in numerous other ways.  Henry served as the Knight Templar for the Masons (and his brother Herman was the Master of the Lodge.)  Henry was appointed as the community’s first postmaster and the treasurer of the school board (for one of the state’s earliest public high schools).  In 1881, he was elected as City Clerk of the Town of Jefferson.

The Annexation of Jefferson Park

During the late 19th century, Chicago was growing rapidly.  Not only was the population growing, but the geography was growing through the annexation of suburban communities at its boundaries. Some residents of Jefferson Township petitioned for annexation in 1886. Three years later, Jefferson Park was annexed to Chicago along with Lake View, Lake, and Hyde Park Townships. Interestingly, only 24 votes in total were cast for annexation. They were write-in votes and not on the printed ballot. The 24 votes were unanimous. This 1889 initiative proved to be the city’s largest single annexation with the addition of 125 square miles of property and 225,000 additional people.  This made Chicago the nation’s largest city by area and second in population at the time.

By the year of annexation, Jefferson had become active and prosperous. The Jefferson settlement was linked to the City of Chicago by the Milwaukee and Elston Plank Roads, both of which had been in operation since the 1850’s. These roads had initially been Native American Trails, and they were later called the “Upper Plank” (Milwaukee) and “Lower Plank” (Elston) roads.  Elston got its name from Dan Elston, a former alderman and bricklayer who graded, maintained, and principally used the road.

Both Milwaukee and Elston became toll roads with Jefferson Park having a tollgate at Milwaukee and Leland Avenues.  Milwaukee Avenue being a diagonal street, cut across many plots of land and some of the owners put up tollgates, one of the principal owners was Amos J. Snell.  Mr. Snell was a large landowner and made considerable money selling wood to the railroads for their steam-powered locomotives and collecting tolls. On February 8, 1888, the 64-year-old millionaire, Amos Snell was found shot to death in his mansion on Washington and Ada Streets. At the time, his unsolved murder did not affect the collection of the tolls. Early morning on April 30, 1890, a group of 200 angry tollpayers dressed up as Indians and burned the tollgate and gatehouse at Fullerton Avenue to the ground.  In the next few days, other gates were torn down. On May 14, 1890, the Illinois Supreme Court declared that the gates were illegal and that Amos Snell’s heirs could not rebuild the toll gates and collect tolls within Chicago City limits.

1900s

At the time of annexation, the Northwest Railroad was the only reliable way to get in and out of the neighborhood.  The plank roads were often rutted and muddy and difficult to navigate.  As Jefferson Park was now part of Chicago, new methods of transportation and ease of travel were soon to arrive.  Streetcar tracks were laid on Lawrence Avenue in 1909, and in 1911 the tracks on Elston were extended to Lawrence Avenue.  In 1927, the railroad tracks were all elevated eliminating dangerous grade crossings and opening up important thoroughfares such as Montrose.

The transportation opportunities and new city services helped attract new residents to the area.  During this period, many first and second-generation immigrants from Poland, Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Sweden settled here.  As neighborhoods of frame cottages and brick bungalows emerged in the 1910s and 1920s, many of the new residents desired a park.  Residents of the Jefferson Park neighborhood filed a petition in the County Court on May 24, 1920, requesting the creation of a park district to serve their area.  The community election was held on June 22, 1920, and the majority voted for a park district for Jefferson Park.   The park (Jefferson Park) first opened to the public in 1921 and took its moniker from the surrounding community.  When it opened, there was an earlier Jefferson Park located on the west side of Chicago. Because of this, the site was long known as Jefferson Park #2. (The original Jefferson Park is now Skinner Park.) In 1999, the Chicago Park District changed the Park’s name to Jefferson Memorial Park (Thomas Jefferson Memorial Park).

Development of Jefferson Park slowed in the mid-1950s when residents of Chicago began to migrate to the suburbs.  This was due to evolving tastes and new ease of commuting from the suburbs to the city due to the construction of major interstate highways directly to the Loop.  The Kennedy Expressway was one of these new highways. When it was built, it cut the neighborhood in half.  At that time, it was a devastating blow to the area as hundreds of people lost their homes and businesses.  Today, most residents have become accustomed to the Kennedy and it offers quick transportation to downtown and the Northwest suburbs.

In 1970, the Chicago Transit Authority opened the Jefferson Park Transit Station, which now serves approximately 10,000 commuters rail passengers per day and operates at the starting or ending point for over 800 buses per day. The CTA station, along with the Kennedy Expressway and the METRA Railroad, now provides the community with a varied transportation network.

Today

Jefferson Park has grown to a population of almost 44,000 residents within a one-mile radius of the Milwaukee/Lawrence intersection. Today, this community is the home of one of the largest first and second-generation Polish communities in Chicago.  More than 25% of the neighborhood has first or second-generation ties to Poland.  In 1979, the Copernicus Foundation established Chicago’s very own Polish Cultural Center in the heart of Jefferson Park.  The Foundation broke ground on what was once the Gateway Theater on Lawrence Avenue, which had originally been designed to show the first “talkies” in Chicago.  The building and all of its programs are referred to as “The Copernicus Center,” and the theater seats 2000. In 1985, the "Solidarity Tower," with its matching facade, was erected atop the building. The exterior of the building was modified to resemble the historic Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. The tower is a replica of the clock tower adorning the castle - it can be seen from the Kennedy Expressway.