West Ridge, Chicago

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West Ridge
Community area
Community Area 02 - West Ridge
Location within the city of Chicago
Location within the city of Chicago
Streetmap
Streetmap
Location within the city of Chicago
Location within the city of Chicago
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Country United States
State Illinois
County Cook
City Chicago
Neighborhoods
Area
 • Total 3.53 sq mi (9.14 km2)
Population (2010)
 • Total 71,942
 • Density 20,000/sq mi (7,900/km2)
Demographics 2010 [1]
 • White 42.68%
 • Black 11.14%
 • Hispanic 20.43%
 • Asian 22.5%
 • Other 3.25%
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP Codes 60645 and parts of 60659
Median Household income[2] $47,323
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

West Ridge is one of 77 Chicago community 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. Also 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 separated in the 1890s over a conflict concerning park districts (known as the Cabbage War.)

File:Westridge1.jpg
Devon Avenue

Today West Ridge is one of Chicago's better off communities, filled with thriving 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. 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[3] and now represents the 50th Ward, which encompasses West Ridge.

It is home to the Midwest's largest Hasidic community, as well as other Jewish, Irish American, German-American, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Assyrian, Russian, and Korean immigrant communities.

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. 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, told from the perspective of the second-generation residents during their middle school and teenage years.

Schools

Public schools

Chicago Public Schools operates public schools.

  • Clinton Elementary School
  • Jamieson Elementary School
  • Daniel Boone Elementary School
  • Stephen Decatur Classical School
  • George Armstrong Elementary School
  • Philip Rogers Elementary School
  • Stone Scholastic Academy
  • West Ridge Elementary School
  • Mather High School

Private schools

  • ABC Academy
  • Bethesda Evangelical Lutheran School
  • Bnos Rabbeinu High School
  • Cheder Lubavitch Girls High School
  • Hanna Sacks Bais Yaakov High School
  • Ida Crown Jewish Academy[4]
  • Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov High School
  • Keshet High School
  • NAES College
  • Victor C. Neumann School[5]
  • St. Hilary Elementary School
  • St. Margaret Mary School
  • St. Philips Evangelical Lutheran School
  • Tzemach Tzedek Elementary School (Opened 2002)[6]
  • Yeshivas Brisk
  • Yeshiva Migdal Torah School
  • Yeshiva Ohr Baruch-Veitzner Chedder

Historical population

Historical population
Census Pop.
1930 39,759
1940 43,553 9.5%
1950 47,930 10.0%
1960 63,884 33.3%
1970 65,477 2.5%
1980 61,129 −6.6%
1990 65,374 6.9%
2000 73,199 12.0%
2010 71,942 −1.7%

Source:[7]

References

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  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. "Home." Ida Crown Jewish Academy. Retrieved on February 5, 2011. "2828 West Pratt Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60645."
  5. 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,[...]"
  6. "General Information." Tzemach Tzedek Elementary School. Retrieved on February 5, 2011.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links