Chicago Avenue

For other uses, see Chicago Avenue (disambiguation).

Chicago Avenue
800 North
Length:	12.2 mi[1] (19.6 km)
West end:	17th Avenue in Melrose Park
East end:	US-41 (Lake Shore Drive) in Chicago

In the City of Chicago, Chicago Avenue is a major east–west arterial that runs from 385 east to 5968 west at 800 north in the Chicago street address system.^[2] It originates at the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive (U.S. Route 41) in the Gold Coast neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and runs west to 17th Avenue, where it terminates a few feet north of Lake Street in Melrose Park. This is a distance of approximately 12.2 miles (19.6 km).^[1]

Route description

1st Cavalry Illinois National Guard new armory building

from right (1919)

from left (1919)

The National Guard armory preceded the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago on Chicago Avenue near Lake Shore Drive

Chicago Avenue has two lanes west of Austin Avenue, and the Chicago city limits, and roughly four lanes east of Austin Avenue. Like most streets in Chicago, the number and width of lanes varies block by block.

Chicago Avenue runs just to the north of Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park. It then runs through Maywood and over the Des Plaines River before entering River Forest. Chicago Avenue is largely residential through River Forest and Oak Park, with a few small commercial strip malls and developments.

At Austin Avenue, Chicago Avenue becomes part of the addressing system for Chicago as 800 North, or 8 blocks (one mile) north of Madison Street. Chicago Avenue runs through the largely impoverished Austin and Humboldt Park neighborhoods.In the late 1940s and early 1950s at Chicago and Clark Streets,it was home to the first Puerto Rican immigrants to Chicago.They called the area:"La Clark." East of about Kedzie Avenue, Chicago Avenue runs through the West Town and Near North Side areas.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Google Maps estimate.
2. ^ Hayner, Don and Tom McNamee, Streetwise Chicago, "Chicago Avenue", p. 22., Loyola University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-8294-0597-6