a short history of Rogers Park

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Upcoming Events

The next Rogers Park Builders Group meeting will be held on September 28, 2010 on the lower level of Devon Bank, 6445 N. Western Ave. The meeting will begin at 6:30. This is an open meeting - all members are encouraged to attend, and bring a guest. A light meal will be served.

Our next open meeting will be held on Oct. 26, same time and place (Devon Bank). The November 23 meeting will be for Directors only, and there will be no meeting in December.

History | Diversity | Investing in Rogers Park

Named for Philip M. Rogers, an Irishman who first settled this area of sand flats, scrub oaks, prairies and stands of timber in 1834, Rogers Park remained rural until the years following the Chicago Fire of 1871, when the need for more housing and completion for the railroad stimulated construction of the large, gracious homes that made the Village of Rogers Park an attractive place to live. The addition of other rail lines and a land boom in the 1880s enticed real estate developers to build the roads and sidewalks and plant the trees that—to this day—give Rogers Park its unique residential character. Rogers Park became part of Chicago in the 1890s to obtain better water, schools and police and fire protection. The extension of the elevate train and street car lines throughout Rogers Park in the 1910s led to an apartment, restaurant and theatre boom in the 1920s and 1930s. The well-appointed three-story courtyard buildings and apartment hotels that still grace east Rogers Park attracted new residents to a resort-like lakefront, perfect for a summer’s coolness and recreation, just a short distance from downtown Chicago.