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Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs: A Historical Guide
“Which neighborhood?” It’s one of the first questions you’re asked when you move to Chicago. And the answer you give—be it Bucktown, Bronzeville, or Bridgeport—can give your inquisitor a good idea of who you are, especially in a metropolis with 230 very different neighborhoods and suburbs to choose from.
Many of us, in fact, know little of the neighborhoods beyond those where we work, play, and live. This is especially true in Chicagoland, a region that spans over 4,400 square miles and is home to more than 9.5 million residents. In Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs, historian Ann Durkin Keating sheds new light on twenty-first-century Chicago by providing a captivating yet compact guide to the Midwest’s largest city. Keating charts Chicago’s evolution with comprehensive, cross-referenced entries on all seventy-seven community areas, along with many suburbs and neighborhoods both extant and long forgotten, from Albany Park to Zion. Thoughtful interpretive essays by urban historians Michael Ebner, Henry Binford, Janice Reiff, Susan Hirsch, and Robert Bruegmann explore how the city’s communities have changed and grown throughout the years, and sixty historic and contemporary photographs and additional maps add depth to each entry.
From the South Side to the West Side to the North Side, just about every local knows how distinctive Chicago’s neighborhoods are. Few of us, however, know exactly how they came to be. Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs brings the city—its inimitable neighborhoods, industries, and individuals—to life, making it the perfect guidebook for anyone with an interest in Chicago and its history.
Many of us, in fact, know little of the neighborhoods beyond those where we work, play, and live. This is especially true in Chicagoland, a region that spans over 4,400 square miles and is home to more than 9.5 million residents. In Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs, historian Ann Durkin Keating sheds new light on twenty-first-century Chicago by providing a captivating yet compact guide to the Midwest’s largest city. Keating charts Chicago’s evolution with comprehensive, cross-referenced entries on all seventy-seven community areas, along with many suburbs and neighborhoods both extant and long forgotten, from Albany Park to Zion. Thoughtful interpretive essays by urban historians Michael Ebner, Henry Binford, Janice Reiff, Susan Hirsch, and Robert Bruegmann explore how the city’s communities have changed and grown throughout the years, and sixty historic and contemporary photographs and additional maps add depth to each entry.
From the South Side to the West Side to the North Side, just about every local knows how distinctive Chicago’s neighborhoods are. Few of us, however, know exactly how they came to be. Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs brings the city—its inimitable neighborhoods, industries, and individuals—to life, making it the perfect guidebook for anyone with an interest in Chicago and its history.
- GenresHistory
329 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 24, 2025
Well done. Fun.
Brief overview of Chicago and the suburbs (Suburbs and Cities as Dual Metropolis). Some good maps to give a good overview of the metro area. And then short histories of the suburbs and their reason to exist relative to Chicago.
Brief overview of Chicago and the suburbs (Suburbs and Cities as Dual Metropolis). Some good maps to give a good overview of the metro area. And then short histories of the suburbs and their reason to exist relative to Chicago.
June 29, 2021
This book starts with five basic essays on different topics related to the development of Chicago, its neighborhoods and the suburbs and then launches into over 200 pages of alphabetical listings on the various neighborhoods and the suburbs. While no entry in the A-Z section is really long, there are still plenty of tidbits in each entry that help to place each town or neighborhood in context. The book also contains older and unused neighborhood names and references the new ones or how they were absorbed into each other.
The book is a bit odd in the way it is pieced together. The first part, with the essays, is like a PhD thesis. The second part is just an encyclopedic listing of information. I'm not quite sure what the goal of the book was, because it winds-up feeling like two incomplete halves that are just thrown together with no relationship to each other. The pictures are probably the best part of the book and might have been a better way to organize it and draw a reader into actually wanting to read about a "story" instead of a dictionary of random information.
The book is a bit odd in the way it is pieced together. The first part, with the essays, is like a PhD thesis. The second part is just an encyclopedic listing of information. I'm not quite sure what the goal of the book was, because it winds-up feeling like two incomplete halves that are just thrown together with no relationship to each other. The pictures are probably the best part of the book and might have been a better way to organize it and draw a reader into actually wanting to read about a "story" instead of a dictionary of random information.
Want to Read
October 14, 2008Trying not to buy many books these days, but this is definitely at the top of my wish list!
July 7, 2009
Starts with several good articles on Chicago in general. Then the rest os excerpts from the Encyclopedia of Chicago, the entries on suburbs and towns.
October 8, 2011
Several good essays then most of the book are encyclopia like entries, not unlike http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistor..., which Keating also edited.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews