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Rogers Park or more appropriately East Rogers Park is the northernmost of the Chicago community areas in Chicago, Illinois. It is bound by the City of Evanston at Juneway/Howard Street to the north, Ridge Boulevard to the west, Devon Avenue to the south and the shores of Lake Michigan to the east. The neighborhood just to the west is often called Rogers Park or 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 Granada Theatre.
Native American roots 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. 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. Becoming part of Chicago 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. 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. Cultural diversity 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 American 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 (http://www.woodstockinst.org), a nonprofit advocacy and research organization. Rogers Park contains many houses of prayer of different religions and denominations. Current Issues Rogers Park is currently going through a period of gentrification. The population is divided on the issue. The elected officials as well as Loyola University favor gentrification, while many residents and numerous community organizations are opposed. 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. Schools Transportation Rogers Park has several elevated Red Line stations as well as its own Metra Rogers Park station, where travel times to downtown Chicago are 20 to 23 minutes. 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. Shoenberg (D) Representative 9th Illinois District Jan Schakowsky (D) Senate Richard "Dick" Durbin (D) Barack Obama (D) | ||||||||
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