Portage Park, Chicago

Portage Park is located on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois and is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Portage Park is bordered by the community areas of Jefferson Park and Forest Glen to the north, Dunning and the suburb of Harwood Heights to the west, Irving Park to the east and Belmont-Cragin to the south.

The area is notable for its Six Corners outdoor shopping district, centered at the intersection of Irving Park Road, Cicero Avenue and the diagonal Milwaukee Avenue, the Portage Theater and for its namesake - Portage Park. The name of the park was taken from the major portage linking Des Plaines and the Chicago River along what is today Irving Park Road. The area was so swampy that Native Americans and trappers were easily able to paddle through the area without leaving their canoes.

Portage Park has the largest Polish community in the Chicago Metropolitan Area according to the 2000 census. Portage Park is home to the Polish American Association, the Polish Jesuit Millennium Center, the Polish Army Veterans Association in the beautiful building of the former Irving State bank, in addition to the multitude of Polish shops and businesses throughout the district. One of the area's park's is named Chopin Park after Frederic Chopin, Poland's most famous pianist and composer of the Funeral March.

History

In 1850, along with construction of the Northwest Plank Road (present Milwaukee Avenue), Jefferson Township was incorporated at the legendary Dickinson Tavern. Jefferson Township was part of a large swath of land annexed to the city in 1889 in advance of the World's Columbian Exposition. Much of the area was still largely rural in the early 20th century until the extension of streetcar lines into the area along Milwaukee, Irving, and Cicero lured in immigrants from the overcrowded tenements of the city's ethnic enclaves. Soon Scandinavian, German, Polish and Irish families from the industrial areas by the Chicago River such as "Polish Downtown" and Goose Island were buying lots in the vicinity to build their homes. Area developers such as Szajkowski, Schorsch as well as Koester and Zander subdivided what had been farmland into subdivisions of what became part of Chicago's infamous "bungalow belt". A book devoted to Portage Park's history titled "Portage Park" was released in 2008 by Arcadia Press as part of their series on Chicago neighborhoods.

Transportation

The Portage Park neighborhood is accessible via mass transit through the CTA's Blue Line. The Montrose station is located on Portage Park's northeastern edge next to the Kennedy Expressway. Metra's Milwaukee District North Line Mayfair stop is located just to the west of the CTA station.

Neighborhood

The neighborhood of Portage Park is a primarily residential area. The area's building stock is composed primarily of bungalows and two-flats. There are two large business districts in Portage Park, the first is Six Corners at the intersection of Irving, Cicero and Milwaukee and the second is at Belmont and Central extending south into Belmont-Cragin.The area was home to a number of movie palaces, among which were the Portage, Patio, and Belpark theaters. While the last two are now closed, the Portage Theater has been magnificently renovated and is now home to a full-fledged performing arts center showing a wide variety of arthouse and silent films.

Portage Park is also home to a cluster of architecturally significant churches, and is one of the few neighborhoods on the city's North Side highlighted in Marilyn Chiat's Spiritual Traveler's Guide to Chicago and Illinois. The spires and steeples of these monumental edifices such as St. Pascal's, St. Ladislaus, St. John of Rila the Wonderworker, St. Bartholomew and Our Lady of Victory tower over the neighborhood, giving the area much of its charm.

Portage Park (Chicago Park District)

Portage Park served as the focus that brought together the different communities in the area and created the neighborhood.

The fieldhouse at Portage Park was designed by Clarence Hatzfeld. Hatzfeld's architectural firm of Hatzfeld and Knox would later design many of the Prairie and Craftsman-style bungalows just east in the Villa District in Irving Park by historic St Wenceslaus.

The park in Portage park originally had a dirt bottom pond that blended into a cement bottom pool. The hill to the east of the pool that exists now, was the dirt that was removed when the pool was first created when the park was first established. The pond portion of the pool extended to the western edge of this 'hill'. The earliest building in the park is the gymnasium, followed by the field house. The staircase to the field house was a circular affair, supported by several cement posts under the platform that was created by a large landing at the second floor.

The WPA was very involved in the creation of the long gone Rock House at the south end of the Park. This Rock House had a small pond area that had goldfish and flower basins. Until the polio epidemic, the water was kept at a substantial depth to support the fish over winter. The flower planters to the north and east of the main entrance off Central at Irving Park Road will give an idea of just what the Rock House looked like. There were seats throughout the half circle structure of flagstone. Except for the overhead wooden canopy, every where you looked there was white flagstone - walls, seats, floor, support pillars. The Chicago Park District has WPA photos of the structure. The park predates all of the buildings that surround it.

The swimming events of the Pan-American Games were held here in 1959 in the second pool constructed in the park, as were the US swimming trials for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Education

Portage Park residents are served by Chicago Public Schools, which includes neighborhood and city-wide options for students. There are also a number of private parochial schools run by Roman Catholic and Lutheran congregations in the area.

Public libraries

Chicago Public Library operates three branches located in the Portage Park community area: Portage-Cragin, Austin-Irving and Jefferson Park.

Culture

Portage Park is the home of the Portage Park Center for the Arts.

External links

* [http://egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_ATTACH/Community_Areas_PORTAGE_PARK.pdf Official City of Chicago Portage Park Community Map]
* [http://www.chicagobungalow.org/filebin/pdf/portageparkledermann.pdf PDF file on Portage Park Bungalows from the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association]
* Chicago Landmarks
** [http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/P/PeoplesGasIrving.html Peoples Gas Irving Park Neighborhood Store]
* Chicago Park District
** [http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/parks.detail/object_id/90552B23-A19C-4D42-9B8D-098549F5BC3F.cfm Chopin Park]
** [http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/parks.detail/object_id/9D0F78B6-6AFC-45B5-B43F-F29360E66D8A.cfm Dunham Park]
** [http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/parks.detail/object_id/E75518E2-E6C5-4DB5-A955-39A6AEF400AD.cfm Portage Park]
** [http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/parks.detail/object_id/BCBA9F02-9073-462D-8CB8-0CD89734A0A1.cfm Wilson Park]

Geographic Location
Center = Portage Park, Chicago
North = Jefferson Park, Chicago
Northeast = Forest Glen, Chicago
East = Irving Park, Chicago
Southeast = Hermosa, Chicago
South = Belmont Cragin, Chicago
Southwest = Dunning, Chicago
West = Harwood Heights, Illinois
Northwest = Norwood Park, Chicago