Near North Side, Chicago


The Near North Side is the eighth of Chicago's 77 community areas. It is the northernmost of the three areas that constitute central Chicago, the others being the Loop and the Near South Side. The community area is located north and east of the Chicago River. To its east is Lake Michigan, and its northern boundary is the early 19th-century city limit of Chicago, North Avenue. Of the downtown community areas, the Near North Side has the second-largest total area after the Near West Side, the highest number of skyscrapers, and the largest population. With the exception of Goose Island and the remnants of Cabrini–Green, to the west, the Near North Side is known for its extreme affluence, typified by the Magnificent Mile, Gold Coast, Navy Pier, and its world-famous skyscrapers.
The Near North Side is the oldest part of Chicago. In the 1780s, in what is now the Near North Side, on the northern banks of the Chicago River near today's Michigan Avenue Bridge, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable built the first known permanent settlement in "Eschecagou." Today this is marked by Pioneer Court.
Especially in the vicinity of Rush and Erie streets, the Near North Side was once known as McCormickville; so named because it is here where many branches of the famous McCormick family of mechanical reaper fame built their mansions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Neighborhoods

Gold Coast

The Gold Coast consists mostly of high-rise apartment buildings and stone mansions throughout. As with many neighborhoods, its exact borders are subject to dispute; but, generally, they are North Avenue, to the north, Chicago Avenue, to the south, and Clark Street, to the west.
The Gold Coast became the home of the super-rich in 1885, when Potter Palmer, former dry goods merchant and owner of the Palmer House hotel, built a fanciful castle on Lake Shore Drive. Over the next few decades, Chicago's elite gradually migrated from Prairie Avenue to their new homes north of the Loop.
Along almost every boulevard of the Gold Coast, upscale boutiques and shops have opened up. Giorgio Armani, Barney's, Brioni, Brunello Cucinelli, Bulgari, Tory Burch, Cartier SA, Chanel, Jimmy Choo, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Escada, Tom Ford, Gucci, Hermès, Lanvin, Christian Louboutin, Marc Jacobs, Max Mara, Moncler, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Paul Stuart, Van Cleef & Arpels, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Vera Wang, and Harry Winston are just a few of the dozens of designers that have locations in the exclusive neighborhood. Also, Aston Martin, BMW, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, and Tesla all have dealerships in the Gold Coast.
Many of Chicago's best known restaurants are located here as well. Lou Malnati's Pizzeria, the original Morton's, and the Pump Room are in the area.
The "Gold Coast Historic District" was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 30, 1978.
The Gold Coast is zoned to the following Chicago Public Schools schools: and the prestigious Latin School of Chicago.

Old Town

is a Chicago neighborhood bounded by North Avenue on the north, Larrabee Street on the northwest, Division Street on the south, Clybourn Avenue on the southwest, and LaSalle Street on the east. It crosses portions of the community areas of southern Lincoln Park, as well as the northern Near North Side, and is part of Chicago's 43rd ward.
Old Town includes the Old Town Triangle Historic District which is bounded on its northwest side by the former Ogden Avenue right-of-way, its northeast side by Lincoln Avenue and Wells Street, and on its south side by North Avenue. This historic district sits within the Old Town Triangle Association, a Lincoln Park neighborhood bounded by the former Ogden Avenue right-of-way, Clark Street, and North Avenue. It sits inside the community area of Lincoln Park and is part of Chicago's 43rd ward. Old Town north of North Avenue is in Lincoln Park, and south of North Avenue is part of the Near North Side. It is now an affluent gentrified neighborhood. Old Town south of North Avenue has become a mixture of rich and poor with new luxury homes near the remaining CHA Marshall Field Apartments and many planned new developments slated for the area which formerly housed the now demolished public housing projects in this recently gentrified area of the neighborhood.
Old Town is now considered an affluent and historic neighborhood, home to many of Chicago's older Victorian-era buildings. However, in the 1950s, most of this area was an enclave to the first emigrants from Puerto Rico to Chicago, who referred to it as part of "La Clark" until commercialization decorated late 1960s shop signs with the name of Old Town. The neighborhood is home to St. Michael's Church, originally built to serve German immigrants, and one of only 7 to survive the great Chicago fire. St. Michael's, Holy Name Cathedral, Immaculate Conception, and St. Joseph's Catholic churches all catered to Latinos with a Mass in Spanish.
Many of the streets and alleys, particularly in the Old Town Triangle section, predate the Great Chicago Fire and do not all adhere to the typical Chicago grid pattern. In 1927, sculptors Sol Kogen and Edgar Miller purchased and subsequently rehabilitated a house on Burton Place, near Wells Street, into the Carl Street Studios. Through the 1930s, an art colony emerged in the neighborhood as artists moved from the Towertown neighborhood near Washington Square Park.
Old Town was home to many gays and lesbians from the 1950s through the 1980s. This was the first "gay ghetto" in Chicago, predating the current Lake View neighborhood. There were numerous gay bars, now mostly closed, along Wells Street, and the neighborhood was home to the longstanding Bijou Theater until it closed in September 2015. As the area gentrified, the LGBT population moved north to Lincoln Park and to the Lake View and Andersonville neighborhoods.
The neighborhood is home to The Second City improvisational comedy troupe.
Old Town has three "L" stations: North/Clybourn, Sedgwick and Clark/Division.

Goose Island

Goose Island is the only island on the Chicago River. It is separated from the mainland by the North Branch of the Chicago River on the west and by the North Branch Canal on the east. The canal was dug in 1853 by former Chicago mayor William Butler Ogden for industrial purposes, thus forming the island. Because he formed the island, at times, it has been known as William B. Ogden Island. After Irish immigrants moved to the island, it took on the name Goose Island as well as that of Kilgubbin, which was the immigrants' original home in Ireland. The Goose Island Brewery makes Kilgubbin Red Ale, in honor of this name.
The large facility on the north end of the island is the Wrigley Global Innovation Center, a facility, which opened in September 2005 and was designed by Gyo Obata of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum. While cars are only able to approach from the south, trains, bicycles, and pedestrians can reach the site via the rail/pedestrian Cherry Avenue Bridge, spanning from North Avenue to Goose Island. Additionally, there is seasonal access from the north via a Chicago Water Taxi service dock at the south end of the Cherry Avenue Bridge.
On the south end of the island is Kendall College's Riverworks campus.

River North

River North is a dynamic and growing technology-driven neighborhood known for its fine dining, galleries, nightlife, and riverwalk amenities. It is home to the world headquarters of ConAgra, Groupon, Motorola Mobility, and the regional offices of Yelp. It is bounded by Michigan Avenue to the east, Chicago Avenue to the north, and the Chicago River to the south and west. Its famous structures include the Wrigley Building, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Holy Name Cathedral, the Marina City towers, and the House of Blues.

Smokey Hollow

River North was previously named Smokey Hollow, at the turn of the 20th century, due to the many factories and forges in the area. Smoke from the factories was often so thick that it blocked the sunlight. At the time, Smokey Hollow was a major transportation hub, with railroad tracks linking the ports along the Chicago River to the surrounding areas. The now mixed-use Merchandise Mart was once a major storage warehouse for goods, and it still has railroad tracks underneath its sprawling structure. Former major retailer Montgomery Ward also had a major transportation and storage facility in River North. Massive coal bins were formerly located throughout the neighborhood, for storage of coal transported by ship.

Little Sicily

Little Sicily in Chicago was also located in River North. The first Italian Roman Catholic Church in Chicago was Assumption, on Illinois Street, with a mandate to be the parish church for all Italians from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. Later, Sicilians began to move north from the immediate vicinity of Assumption and began to form their own parishes. Italians whose family roots were from other parts of Italy tended to move west along Grand Street and form parishes west of Assumption.
Cabrini–Green
The Near North Side formerly included the now nearly demolished Cabrini–Green, which was a public housing project that became a haven for crime, gangs, violence, synonymous with poverty, and which once housed 15,000 federally subsidized tenants. A small fragment of it is still located within the Near North Side, but most of the project was demolished between 1997 and 2010. It was made up primarily of mid- and high-rise apartment buildings. The apartment buildings opened in 1958 and 1962, while the shuttered rowhouses had opened in 1942. Cabrini–Green stood in what once was the former Italian enclave called the Little Sicily neighborhood, and the former site of St Dominic's Church. In the 1920s, Little Sicily also developed a reputation for poverty and crime. As gentrification began to take hold in the 1990s, the buildings made way for new development. The final Cabrini-Green tower was demolished in 2011. Following the conclusion of a long-standing civil lawsuit, this Near North Side area is now in the process of being transformed and revitalized by urban redevelopment spurred by the growth of Old Town to the north and River North to the south.

River North

The River North neighborhood got its name from Chicago real estate developer Albert Friedman, who in 1974 started to buy, restore, and build commercial property in the southeast sector. Much of the area was a shabby urban neighborhood. In an effort to attract tenants Friedman began calling the area "River North". Within a few years, Friedman found photographers, ad agencies, and art galleries willing to rent the low-cost space and to coalesce into what is now the River North Gallery District, which has the largest concentration of art galleries in the United States outside of Manhattan. Along with hundreds of art galleries, the area has many taverns, rooftop bars, dance clubs, popular restaurants, and entertainment venues. Between the years 2000 and 2010, the population in the four census tracts covering River North increased by an average of nearly 82%, boosting population from 9,835 in 2000 to 17,892 in 2010.
Districts of River North include:
River North is serviced by four "L" train stations: the above-ground Chicago-Brown and Merchandise Mart-Brown stations and the below-ground Chicago-Red and Grand-Red subway stations.

Streeterville

Streeterville is the easternmost neighborhood in Chicago north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, Michigan Avenue on the west, and Lake Michigan on the north and east.
Streeterville houses some of Chicago's tallest skyscrapers ; many upscale stores, hotels, restaurants; and Northwestern University's Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Feinberg School of Medicine, School of Professional Studies, Kellogg School of Management's downtown campus, and School of Law.
The Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue is part of Streeterville, as is the number one tourist attraction in Chicago, Navy Pier. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago is also located here.

Magnificent Mile

The Magnificent Mile is a stretch of North Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and Oak Street, in Streeterville. Although actually about three-quarters of a mile, the name "Magnificent Mile" has stuck.
Along this street is a mixture of luxury stores, restaurants, office buildings, and hotels. The area has a high concentration of the city's major media firms and advertising agencies, including the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
The street is the home of Chicago's famous Water Tower landmark, Water Tower Park with its historic clock, and the eight-level Water Tower Place shopping center which grew up next door to, and overshadowed, the comparatively diminutive landmark. The shopping center is anchored by Macy's North Michigan store and The American Girl specialty store. North of the shopping center can be found the famous John Hancock Center, the Art Deco Palmolive Building, and the lavish Drake Hotel.

Attractions

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;Museums
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's Chicago offices are in the Dearborn Plaza building. Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways have offices in the John Hancock Center. The Wrigley Company had its headquarters in the Wrigley Building before moving to Goose Island, also within the community area, in 2012.
After American Airlines acquired Simmons Airlines, and before Simmons was dissolved, Simmons had its headquarters on the Near North Side. At one point Indigo Airlines was headquartered on the Near North Side. The Tribune Company had its headquarters in the eponymous Tribune Tower before moving to One Prudential Plaza in the Loop in 2017. Potbelly Sandwich Works likewise was located in the Merchandise Mart complex before moving to the West Loop in 2015.

Politics

Local

The Near North Side is currently part of the 2nd, 27th, 42nd, and 43rd wards of the Chicago City Council, which are respectively represented by Democratic aldermen Brian Hopkins, Walter Burnett Jr., Brendan Reilly, and Michele Smith.
Period42nd Ward43rd Ward27th Ward2nd Ward32nd Ward
1923–1927Dorsey Crowe, DemocraticArthur F. Albert, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1927–1929Dorsey Crowe, DemocraticTitus A. Haffa, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1929–1931Dorsey Crowe, DemocraticArthur F. Albert, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1931–1933Dorsey Crowe, DemocraticJames B. Waller, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1933–1943Dorsey Crowe, DemocraticPaddy Bauler, DemocraticNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1943–1947Dorsey Crowe, DemocraticJames B. Waller, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1947–1962Dorsey Crowe, DemocraticPaddy Bauler, DemocraticNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1962–1963VacantPaddy Bauler, DemocraticNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1963–1967Mayer Goldberg, DemocraticPaddy Bauler, DemocraticNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1967–1968Mayer Goldberg, DemocraticGeorge McCutcheon, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1968–1969VacantGeorge McCutcheon, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1969–1970Raymond K. Fried, DemocraticGeorge McCutcheon, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1970–1971VacantGeorge McCutcheon, RepublicanNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1971–1975Burton Natarus, DemocraticWilliam Singer, DemocraticNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1975–1987Burton Natarus, DemocraticMartin J. Oberman, DemocraticNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1987–1992Burton Natarus, DemocraticEdwin Eisendrath, DemocraticNot in wardNot in wardNot in ward
1992–1993Burton Natarus, DemocraticEdwin Eisendrath, DemocraticRickey R. Hendon, DemocraticNot in wardTerry Gabinski, Democratic
1993–1995Burton Natarus, DemocraticCharles Bernardini, DemocraticRickey R. Hendon, DemocraticNot in wardTerry Gabinski, Democratic
1995–1998Burton Natarus, DemocraticCharles Bernardini, DemocraticWalter Burnett Jr., DemocraticNot in wardTerry Gabinski, Democratic
1998–1999Burton Natarus, DemocraticCharles Bernardini, DemocraticWalter Burnett Jr., DemocraticNot in wardTheodore Matlak, Democratic
1999–2007Burton Natarus, DemocraticVi Daley, DemocraticWalter Burnett Jr., DemocraticNot in wardTheodore Matlak, Democratic
2007–2011Brendan Reilly, DemocraticVi Daley, DemocraticWalter Burnett Jr., DemocraticNot in wardScott Waguespack, Democratic
2011–2015Brendan Reilly, DemocraticMichele Smith, DemocraticWalter Burnett Jr., DemocraticNot in wardScott Waguespack, Democratic
2015–presentBrendan Reilly, DemocraticMichele Smith, DemocraticWalter Burnett Jr., DemocraticBrian Hopkins, DemocraticNot in ward
---Walter Burnett Jr., Democratic--

In the Cook County Board of Commissioners the majority of the area is in the 3rd district, represented by Democrat Bill Lowry. The westernmost part, including the majority of Goose Island, and much of the southwestern part, including the majority of River North, is in the 12th District, represented by Democrat John Fritchey. Two parts of the area in the extreme south—the respective vicinities of Wolf Point and the Wabash Avenue Bridge—are part of the 2nd District, represented by Democrat Dennis Deer.

State

In the Illinois House of Representatives the community area is roughly evenly split lengthwise between, from east to west, Districts 26, 5, 9, and 10, represented respectively by Democrats Christian Mitchell, Juliana Stratton, Art Turner, and Melissa Conyears. The southwest portion of the area—the western half of River North—is within District 6 represented by Democrat Sonya Harper, and the northeastern part—the eastern half of Old Town and the northern half of the Gold Coast—is within District 12, represented by Democrat Sara Feigenholtz.
YearsDistrict 5District 6District 9District 10District 12District 26
2001–2002Lovana Jones, DemocraticNot in districtArthur Turner, DemocraticAnnazette Collins, DemocraticSara Feigenholtz, DemocraticCharles G. Morrow III, Democratic
2002–2003Kenneth Dunkin, DemocraticNot in district----
2003–2006Lovana Jones, DemocraticNot in district----
2006–2009Elga L. Jefferies, DemocraticNot in district----
2009–2010William D. Burns, DemocraticNot in district----
2010–2011Art Turner, DemocraticNot in district----
2011–2012Esther Golar, DemocraticDerrick Smith, DemocraticKimberly du Buclet, Democratic---
2012–2013Eddie Winters, Democratic-----
2013–2014Derrick Smith, DemocraticChristian Mitchell, Democratic----
2014–2015Vacant-----
2015–2017Sonya Harper, DemocraticPamela Reaves-Harris, Democratic----
2017–presentJuliana Stratton, DemocraticMelissa Conyears, Democratic----

In the Illinois Senate the biggest portion of the community area is in District 3, represented by Democrat Mattie Hunter, while Streeterville and the southern half of the Gold Coast is in District 13, represented by Democrat Kwame Raoul, Cabrini–Green, Goose Island, and the western half of Old Town is in District 5, represented by Democrat Patricia Van Pelt, and the eastern part of Old Town and the northern half of the Gold Coast is in District 6, represented by Democrat and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.
YearsDistrict 3District 5District 6District 13
2001–2003Margaret Smith, DemocraticRickey R. Hendon, DemocraticJohn Cullerton, DemocraticBarack Obama, Democratic
2003–2004Mattie Hunter, Democratic---
2004–2011Kwame Raoul, Democratic---
2011–2013Annazette Collins, Democratic---
2013–presentPatricia Van Pelt, Democratic---

Federal

In the US House of Representatives, the area is mostly within Illinois's 7th congressional district, which is the most Democratic-leaning district in the State of Illinois according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index with a score of D+38 and represented by Democrat Danny K. Davis. Small parts in the north are within Illinois's 5th congressional district, which is represented by Democrat Mike Quigley.
The Near North Side community area has supported the Democratic Party in the past two presidential elections. In the 2016 presidential election, the Near North Side cast 32,150 votes for Hillary Clinton and cast 8,778 votes for Donald Trump. In the 2012 presidential election, the Near North Side cast 24,592 votes for Barack Obama and cast 12,939 votes for Mitt Romney.

Diplomatic missions

Several consulates are located on the Near North Side. The main building and visa office of the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China are here. Other countries with missions here include Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.
Three trade missions have offices at 500 North Michigan Avenue: the Austrian Trade Commission is located in Suite 1950, the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce Midwest is located in Suite 506, and the Trade Commission of Spain is here.

Education

Colleges and universities

serves residents of the Near North Side.
Magnet schools:
Charter schools:
Private schools:

Libraries

Near North Branch
Chicago Public Library Water Works Branch

Notable residents