Author: lbchicago1@hotmail.com

The Villa District is a U.S. Historic District and Chicago Landmark District located on the Northwest side of Chicago within the Irving Park community area. It’s bordered by Pulaski Road on the west, the Union Pacific/Northwest rail line on the north, Hamlin Avenue on the east, and Addison Street on the south. For transportation, it is serviced by the CTA Blue Line Addison Street station.

The district was built in 1902 by a few various architects that were heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie Style of architecture. Many of the bungalows were designed by Hatzfeld and Knox. Hatzfeld also designed the Portage Park field house. The area contains mainly Craftsman and Prairie Style homes on boulevard streets. Large planters/markers with Villa shown on them designate the Villa District streets.

The industrial Village of Pennock Illinois was founded by Homer Pennock in 1881 and was annexed by the City of Chicago in 1889. It was centered on Wrightwood Avenue (which was originally called Pennock Boulevard) and bounded by Diversey and St. Louis and Fullerton and Pulaski. The original name of the Healy Metra Station was Pennock Station.

The building of houses and businesses/ stores started and the establishment of the Osgood Manufacturing Company brought as many as 500 jobs to the area. These workers mostly lived in the industrial Village of Pennock. However, good times didn’t last long because a formerly profitable mine that Pennock owned in Colorado was no longer profitable and a fire destroyed the manufacturing plant in Chicago. Thus, the Village of Pennock could no longer survive and was annexed by the City of Chicago in 1889. It is now parts of the Avondale and Logan Square neighborhoods.

I took a walk through the former Village of Pennock last week along Wrightwood Avenue. In some locations it seemed time had stopped and I could see the outline of what it must have been like to stroll down Pennock Boulevard in the 1880s!

The Polish in Chicago have traditionally settled in and around the West Town Area since the 1800s. Since an important part of the Polish culture is their Catholic religion, they built/established many Polish Catholic churches in their neighborhoods. Some of the neighborhoods are Pulaski Park, Logan Square, Bucktown and River West. Here are photos of just a few of these beautiful churches.

St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Pulaski Park/Noble Square – 1867

St. Hyacinth’s Church, Logan Square – 1927

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Bucktown – 1920

St. John Cantius Church, River West – 1893

Holy Trinity Church, Pulaski Park/Noble Square – 1872

St. Hedwig Church, Bucktown – 1888

The City of Chicago has 77 community areas. West Town is a community area of Chicago that includes these neighborhoods: Noble Square, Ukranian Village, Wicker Park, River West, Logan Square, Bucktown, Humboldt Park, Goose Island, Smith Park and Pulaski Park. It is an area of many beautiful murals and street art!

Did you ever wonder why Downtown Chicago is also called The Loop? The Loop is the name for the elevated rail system that forms the downtown hub of the Chicago CTA “L” system. It services about 75,000 riders a day and was historically called The Union Loop. It is 1.79 miles long and loops around a rectangle comprised of Lake Street (north side), Wabash Avenue (east), Van Buren Street (south) and Wells Street (west). It was constructed by Charles Yerkes in 1897. It includes these stations: Clark/Lake, State/Lake, Washington/Wabash, Adams/Wabash, Harold Washington Library – State/Van Buren, Lasalle/Van Buren, Quincy, Washington/Wells and Clinton. Five train lines run through The Loop “L”: Orange, Green, Purple Express, Brown and Pink.

The Ogden Union Station is a train station in Ogden Utah near Historic 25th Street. It is also near the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center. It was formerly the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads. The first station was built in 1869 and a new more functional station was built in 1889 in the Romanesque Revival Style, with a large clock tower in the center. It had 33 hotel rooms, a restaurant, barbershop and other stores. That building was destroyed by fire and the current structure was completed in 1924 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style

The building is no longer a railway hub (train activity stopped in 1997), but rather a cultural hub that houses museums and stores such as the Utah State Railroad Museum, the Eccles Rail Center, the Browning Firearms Museum, Utah Cowboy and Western Museum and the Browning-Kimball Classic Car Museum.

I recently traveled to Utah for work. I was fortunate to be able to take in some sights in Salt Lake City, Utah. I saw some beautiful artwork at Salt Lake City International Airport, beautiful historical homes, downtown malls and shopping district and of course the Mormon Temple (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and Temple Square.

The Fulton-Randolph Market District (commonly known as Fulton Market) is a district on Chicago’s West Side. It was originally a meat-packing and food processing district. But today it is highly gentrified with tech industry headquarters, hotels, bars and restaurants. The main East and West streets are Randolph Street and Lake Street, and Halsted Street is the main North-South street. It is named after Robert Fulton, who was an American inventor. Just to the East is the Fulton River District.

It received City of Chicago Landmark District status in 2015. It’s 74 acres and is served by CTA Green and Pink “L” lines at Morgan Station.

It is currently home to to many corporate headquarters, such as McDonald’s, Google, Dyson, Herman Miller and Mondelez.

Water Street Mall is located at 11 – 13 South Water Street in downtown Aurora Illinois near Aurora City Hall. The North end is at Galena and there’s also an entryway at Downer Place. There’s an adjoining park called Mundy Park. It is a city park (and pedestrian mall) that hosts various downtown events and markets. The mall is newly renovated. Renovation was just completed in June, just in time for the Downtown Magic Festival. It will also be hosting the Alley Art Festival August 31, 2019, which is a grassroots art festival showcasing the talent of more than 60 artists!

Along with Aurora City Hall, businesses at Water Street Mall include the Riverfront Playhouse and The Venue.

It is a beautiful park that symbolizes the increasing beauty that is the City of Aurora!

The Chicago French Market is located at 131 North Clinton Street (between Washington and Randolph) right next to Ogilvie Transportation Center. This West Loop Market has over 30 local vendors that offer a variety of foods from different cultures. There’s Chinese, Korean, Belgian, French, Ethiopian, Kosher, Vietnamese and much more!

It was opened in 2009 by the Bensidoun Family. It has the look of a European Market but offers all locally made Chicago products. It has a nice eating area/cafe in the back with beautiful murals of Paris, such as the Eiffel Tower. I went last week and had delicious and spicy authentic Korean soup with pork dumplings and bought a Walnut Strudel to take home. It is conveniently located in the downtown area right next to Ogilvie Station and within walking distance of Union Station and most of downtown. It’s definitely worth the trip. I already know it’ll be one of my regular lunch spots!