Changes of Names & Places
This post will highlight changes to the geographic
location of Lake View from its township days to the Community of Lake View
using various maps I found online. First as a reminder, Lake View became a spot
on the map in 1857 as a township; became a city from 1887-1889; became part of
Chicago in 1889 as a District of; and finally by the 1930 one the 75
Communities (later to be 77) of the City of Chicago. These maps will highlight
street name changes, changes in man-made topography like harbors & infrastructure; and points of interest that were once part of the landscape of
vintage Lake View. Each segment of this post will be topically and maps found online re-introduced from time to time.
Let's Begin!
Broadway
once called
a whole lot of names
The map below is from the David Rumsey Map Collection. The author of the map was Rufus Blanchard who published this map in 1869 - the earlist map I found online for the Chicago area. 
zoomed view below
Lake Shore Plank Road was constructed apparently so travelers and visitors could reach the Lake View Hotel from the south and still be on 'high ground' much like Clark Street (former Green Bay Road) was for the Native America travelers prior to European settlements in this area. This roadway ranged from Lake View Township borderline, Devon Avenue to the north to Clark Street/Diversey to the south. This was a time long before Sheridan Road and Lake Shore Drive - the inner or outer drive. 
the double lines indicated the road and a rail service on the roadway
photo - Ravenswood Lake View Community Collection
via Sulzer Regional Library
The first step in the establishment of any new community
[or area of development] in the western wilderness (and yes, we were the 'western's not yet mid-westerner's) was ordinarily the laying out of a road. Indeed, the road usually
preceded the settler, for without some avenue of entrance the immigrant could
not get into the country at all. The streams would be bridged and the swamps
corduroyed, while in timbered sections trees, and ultimately even stumps would
be removed from the path.
'But when speaking of pioneer
roads the modern reader should carefully free their mind from its accumulated
conceptions of today's highways. The pioneer settler of Illinois could no more
have imagined the splendid thoroughfares of concrete which crisscross the state
than could 19th-century people conceived the space flight. To the pioneer, a
road was any kind of a track leading to a designated point. Often, indeed, it
was not even a track, and so the route would be identified by a trampled
prehistoric animal migration path' according to an excellent article from The Digital Research Library of Illinois and Chicago. Plank roads, according to Federal Highway Administration: Highway History, were somewhat revolutionary in the 18th and 19th century substituting muddy unleveled routes peppered with watered holes in the ground after a storm with something wooden strips of carved wood that was more visible and more level without the dangers of wagaon wheels stuck in watered holes. National newspapers helped spread the plank road craze. In 1847, Hunts Merchants Magazine published an article titled “Plank Roads-New Improvement according to a reading in Wikipedia.
Some plank roads had tolls to pay for the construction and maintaince of this new form of transportation
Broadway had a few names to its history. The one controversal name was Dummy Road named after the mode of transportation used during the mid 19th century (see map above). According to my readings it would seem the name was NOT official and only used used by locals in a particular area of Broadway where the Dummy trains were used. Lake View Township School #1 known currently as Nettelhorst School was referred to as 'Dummy School' for awhile only because of the public means of transportation used during by the 1880's.
The word 'dummy' referred to the first car of this railed train that operated by steam. The train car had a stretching sound along the rails - steel vs steel and puffed steam and smoked enough to frightened the most common means of transport, the horse. The manufacturers thought by disguising the streamed engine car the horse would accept its presence - an idea that had mixed results.
both photos - Ravenswood Lake View Community Collection
via Sulzer Library
The original school that was blended into a second building
by 1890's and infront of the original
Broadway was called Evanston Avenue a 1887 Rascher's Map mentioned below. I can not find an article about when the roadway changed its name to Evanston Avenue. I do know that the name was meant as a reference to the next township to the north - Evanston Township that began at Devon Avenue, at that time. I do know that before the name Evanston this roadway was called Lake View Road. - see reference below
The 'DRY' Township of Evanston
A Methodist church had to change
its name shortly after
both images are part of my private collection
the view of the current building at
3338 N Broadway, the same location of the original building
photo below - Timeout.com once called
Green Bay Road
This 1870 Van Vechten's Map from the Library of Congress indicates this roadway was once called Green Bay Road (between the X's). This roadway once linked the City of Chicago to Green Bay Wisconsin. South of Diversey Parkway the name was Clark Street. The Green Bay area was the location of Fort Howard that would militarial link that fort in Wisconsin to Fort Dearborn in Chicago. Green Bay Road was generally located on a high ridge that separated the low lands and swamps near the lake and the high ground to the west. Native Americans would used this 'ridge pathway' way before the Europeans, primarly the French, arrived. Wisconsin map below via Wikipedia
According to Edgewater Historical Society, ‘Green Bay,
Wisconsin, as well as Chicago, Illinois, were important areas first to the
Indians and later to the European settlers. To the Indigenous Peoples, Green Bay and
Chicago were trading areas within the Great Lakes region. Both were portages
between Lake Michigan and river systems, making them natural trading centers.
In the era of European and American settlement, these two trading posts were
marked by forts. In Chicago it was Fort Dearborn and in Green Bay it was Fort
Howard. To move from area to area the Indigenous Peoples established connecting trails between
the two Euro settlements. Instances of northern settlement can be observed as early
as the 1820’s. A mail route between the military posts at Green Bay and
Chicago, over which a carrier passed once a month, was in use as early as 1825.
The earliest descriptions of travel over the road, known as Green Bay Trail,
are from the narratives of the mail carriers who, before the coming of the
settlers, traversed the wilderness between Fort Howard in Green Bay, Wisconsin
and Fort Dearborn in Chicago'.
Fort Howard above and Fort Dearborn below
By 1887 Green Bay Road was replaced with the name Clark Street within the Township of Lake View making a continous name connection with the City of Chicago
map below - Rascher's 1887 Atlas
Lincoln Avenue
once called
Little Fort Road
zoomed view of the name below
I can not find any information online about the route beyond Lake View Township to Waukegan, Illinois. I may have to travel to Newberry Library for hands-on research to discover that route. All I know for sure is Lincoln Avenue aka Little Fort Road emptied into Clark Street in Chicago. According to Waukegan history page, 'Waukegan, first visited by Pere Marquette in 1673, is one
of the oldest communities in Illinois. The city started as a french trading
post and as the Potawatomie settlement known as "Little Fort". Records dating back to 1829 tell of a treaty signed by the Potawatomie in which they ceded all of their land in this area to the United States federal government.'
Below are some Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Waukegan from 1885 and 1890. I do not see Little Fort Road aka Lincoln Avenue. My guess is that another road to the west of Waukegan connected with Lincoln Avenue, but ... not sure as of yet.Waukegan 1885
and
Waukgean 1890
zoomed view of the above map below
a blend view of 1890 Waukegan and current view
from Sanborn Fire Insurance Map sight
My Inquire
for more information
The Growth
of Lincoln Park, the park
By 1869 the park was located squarely south of Fullerton Avenue in Chicago
in the Township of North Chicago
photo - Hidden Truth
between the Township/City of Lake View
and the finanical responsibility of Lincoln Park, the park.
Briefly, by 1871 a State of Illinios administrative Lincoln Park Board of Commissioners was established to govern the expansion of the initial City Park north of North Avenue and that would cross Fullerton Avenue to Diversey Avenue (Parkway). When the park crossed the border of Fullerton Avenue into Lake View Township the financial responsibility of the park was shared with the Township of North Chicago. Although the political map changed the financial responsibility of the park remained in the township assessors administrative hands for many years. The establishment of the northside harbors and Sheridan Road were governed by the Lincoln Park Board of Commissioners while the financial responsibility would remain with the townships of Lake View and North Chicago until the first quarter of the 20th century.
Map of Lincoln Park, the park
map below - Chicago History Muesum - edit
Below is a edited 1903 map from the University of Chicago that highlights the proposed extension of Lincoln Park that includes the initial renderings of Diversey and Belmont Harbors with addition labels. Belmont Harbor opened to the public in 1916 and Montrose Harbor not until the early to mid 1930's. 
2021 Google Earth view of the harbors
Exploring Random Changes
since 1887
That year Lake View changed its governmental status from a township to a city. There was not any change in territory. The City of Lake View had the same borders; Fullerton Avenue to the south, Devon Avenue to the north, Western Avenue & the North Branch of the Chicago River to the west, Lake Michigan to the east except for a sliver of land from Fullerton Avenue to Diversey Avenue (Parkway) that was meant to be the northern section of Lincoln Park, the park.
the map source - Chicago Public Library online. The viewer will need a library card number to access these maps
a sample below of Sheet 3
where Clark Street meets Broadway meets Diversey
or
if you do not have a Chicago library card number ...
part of the first page below
This web site like the library map divides the map of Lake View in sections using the index map below. The difference besides the library verson and this one is format, a legend, and color.
Below is sample of the sheets provided by the index map above called Sheet 3 Lake View
a zoomed view below
Below is a 1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the same area
Below is a 2021 Google Earth view of appoximately the same area
from the above sectional maps
Century Theater Area
traced backwards
2021 Google Earth view
1950 view below1923 view1894 view1887 view Do You Live Under
a Clay Pit?
The Brickyard Companies
of Old Lake View
Chicago bricks were tucked away on the back, sides, and
interiors of buildings. In 1871 there were 5
brickyards in Cook County. By 1881 there were 60. By 1915, 10% of all brick
made in America was made in Chicago. Chicago was transformed from a city of
wood to a city of brick made of clay. The last Chicago Common brick maker was closed in
1981, no Chicago Common bricks have been made since.
Most of these brick manufacturing companies in the District of Lake View were generally located south of Wellington Avenue to just south of Diversey Parkway and from Southport Avenue to Paulina Avenue. Below are a few of them in the District of Lake View.
1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps below
H. Lutter Brick Yard
William Bonesack Brick Yard
J.P. Labahun Brickyard
Lincoln Ice CompanyIce Ponds were former Clay Pits that were filled with frozen rain
Fred Zapel Brick Yard and below
William Miller Brick YardThe Mapping of St. Alphonsus Parish
2021 Google Earth view
Wellington to Oakdale
Oakdale to Wellington below
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
1887
The original church and school location
1891
*this map is a revision of a 1886 map*
zoomed view below
The zoomed view highlights the church built in 1882
and the current church in 1889
1894This zoomed view highlights the original church and the current church as well as boy's school and a boy's & girl's school, the priest residence on Wellington and sister's dwelling between the churches. Also, there are two 'arbor' areas in the middle of the property. According to Wikipedia, an arbor is a vertical structure in a landscape or garden that can provide shelter, privacy, shade, and serve as an accent.
1923
more buildings &
different locations of the buildings
zoomed split views below
addition buildings south of Wellington along Greenview.
These buildings were removed from the 1950 map
1950
*this map is a revision of a 1923 map*
zoomed split views below
Do You Reside
at the
There is something you should know ...
2021 Google Earth view of the Halsted Flats Apartments This corner has had many tranformations since the 1890's one of which was the sight of German-American owned and operated beer garden entertainment center from 1894 (maybe earlier) until the buildings, not the property, was sold in 1923. After that, the buildings were used for a caberet and then a boxing & wrestling venue until the early 1960's. The building to the upper right of the photo above is all that remains of Bismarck Gardens, currently a religious center of worship. Below are postcards in my personal collection of the original venue.
Note, due to the anti-German centiment during the First World War there was a name change to Anglo name of Marigold Gardens. The buildiing in the above photo was the Marigold Room that was primarly used for Marigold Arena's (another name change) boxing & wrestling matches.
Here are some of the postcards I have collected
zoomed view below
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of 1923
the buildings were located along Grace Street
and the beer garden along Bradley Place
to wrestling & boxingitems part of my collection
The Forgotten
Railway Tracks: for commerial freight
map - Forgotten Railways, Roads & Places divided in sections for easier viewing
The Evanston Branch of the Milwaukee, Chicago & St. Paul Railroad once cut through Lake View like a knife particularly if you view the area a current Google Earth Map. The most noblable cut was from Lakewood & Belmont to Addison & Clark shown below from an edited 2021 Google Earth Map marked with X's. The tracks extend both north of Addison Street and south of Belmont Avenue.
I will only focus between the two points mentioned here with Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and other photo maps.
the other maps
from Lawrence to just south of Diversey
*follow the blue-ish line*
photo - A.J. Gibbs via Industrial History: C&E
Not only did the RR tracks have a diagonal route between Addison and Belmont but the RR tracks shared road space on Lakewood Avenue (former called Herndon) and Seminary Avenue with automobiles. The tracks were placed in the middle of the road with automobiles to the right and left of the tracks.
Seminary & Addison
photo - Jim Arvites via Industrial History: C&E
photo below
photo - Lou Gerard via Industrial History: C&E
Lakewood and Schubert
Parked and idoil empty train cars would be seen along Seminary Avenue by Wrigley Field. And yes, at one time Seminary Avenue flanked Wrigley Field on the west from Addison to Grace streets.
Back in 1887 the original name was the Chicago, Evanston, Lake Superior Railway. Commercial establishments and houses would would be constructed along the tracks into the mid-20th century.
map below - Rascher's Altas Map
sectional 1
sectional 2 below
Follow the dotted blue lines
sectional 3
sectional 4
1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
an overview
sectionals below
I blended maps for better comprehension
sectional 1
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
and
Forgotten Railways, Roads & Places
sectional 2
sectional 3sectional 4
Another Perspective
2021 Google view following my edited dotted lines
Lakewood to Belmont to Newport avenues
(click on image to enlarge for better viewing)
Newport Avenue to Wrigley Field's Green Lot
Seminary Avenue was once a through street from Addison
to north of Grace Street
(click on image to enlarge)
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thanks!
zoomed view below
.png)
'But when speaking of pioneer
roads the modern reader should carefully free their mind from its accumulated
conceptions of today's highways. The pioneer settler of Illinois could no more
have imagined the splendid thoroughfares of concrete which crisscross the state
than could 19th-century people conceived the space flight. To the pioneer, a
road was any kind of a track leading to a designated point. Often, indeed, it
was not even a track, and so the route would be identified by a trampled
prehistoric animal migration path' according to an excellent article from The Digital Research Library of Illinois and Chicago. 
The word 'dummy' referred to the first car of this railed train that operated by steam. The train car had a stretching sound along the rails - steel vs steel and puffed steam and smoked enough to frightened the most common means of transport, the horse. The manufacturers thought by disguising the streamed engine car the horse would accept its presence - an idea that had mixed results.
