West Ridge
The West Ridge neighborhood is within MLS area 8002. It is located on the far north side of Chicago. It is bordered on the north by Howard Street, on the east by Ridge Boulevard, Western Avenue, and Ravenswood Avenue, the south by Bryn Mawr Avenue and Peterson Avenue, and on the west by Kedzie Avenue and the North Shore channel of the Chicago River.
The area, which is also historically known as Northtown, was first inhabited by a large Jewish community in what is known today as “The Golden Ghetto.” Most members of this community began to drift away to the suburbs and new ethnic groups, such as Irish American, German-American, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Assyrian, Russian, and Korean, settled in the area. It is also home to the Midwest’s largest Hasidic community and the neighborhood was once joined to Rogers Park but separated due to a conflict of park districts.
Today, West Ridge is one of Chicago’s better off communities, filled with thriving multi-ethnic culture of Devon Avenue, beautiful historic mansions along Ridge and Lunt Avenues, cultural institutions such as St. Scholastica Academy, outstanding public and private schools and one of the highest per capita incomes on the North Side of Chicago. It is divided into several neighborhoods such as the Golden Ghetto, Nortown, Peterson Park, Rosehill, West Ride, and West Rogers Park.
