|
LOCATION:
Jefferson Park is a neighborhood located 10 miles northwest of the Loop and is
nicknamed "Gateway to Chicago". It was founded as an independent township in 1850, then annexed by Chicago
in 1889. Today it is a predominantly middle-class neighborhood with a thriving Polish-American community.
NAMED AFTER:
President Thomas Jefferson
ORIGINAL SETTLERS/PROMINENT PEOPLE/IMPORTANT DATES:
Indian trails were already well traveled by traders and hunters when John Kinzie
Clark built his cabin in the early 1830s.
By 1836: a hotel had been erected, a school district established, and farmers,
mostly English, had settled
1850: Jefferson Township formed
1855: The village of Jefferson was platted near Milwaukee Ave and Higgins Road
1872: The town of Jefferson was incorporated
1884: The area became known as Jefferson Park.
1889: The town of Jefferson was annexed by Chicago
NEIGHBORHOODS
Gladstone Park is a neighborhood in the northern section of the Jefferson Park
community area of Chicago, Illinois. It is centered at the large intersection of Northwest Highway and Central,
Milwaukee, and Foster Avenues.
INTERESTING HISTORICAL FACTS:
The community long has been an important transportation link and hub. Farmers
traveling to and from the city often stopped to water their horses, pick up supplies, or rest. In 1855 a resident
recorded that the town consisted of approximately 50 buildings
In 1884 an estimated 500 persons lived in Jefferson Township with most incoming residents being Polish and German
immigrants.
History .....
DUNNING/COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE/POOR HOUSE
In 1847, a Chicago physician built a private retreat for the insane just north of the city, and in 1854, when the
county moved its almshouse to a site known as “Dunning” 12 miles northwest of the city, an asylum was among the
buildings constructed. Authorities transferred this asylum, the Cook County Hospital for the Insane, to the care
of the state of Illinois in 1912, and the name changed to Chicago State Hospital.
Cook County Cemetery at Dunning - 1854
An institutional cemetery was established on this site in 1854 on land that was a part of the 20-acre Cook County
Poor Farm. Buried here are as many as 38,000 people including children, inmates of the poor house and insane asylum,
117 victims of the Chicago Fire of 1871, and Civil War veterans.
Often referred to as the County Ground, Cook County Farm Cemetery, Cemetery at Jefferson, or Poor House Cemetery,
it was renamed Chicago State Hospital Cemetery in 1912.
Census.....
1880 Mortality Census
HOME
©Genealogy Trails
|
