The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Park is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places - July 2006.

Jefferson Park History

From the ribbon cutting ceremony which marked the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Park, July 2006. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1830-1999 -- John Kinzie Clark became Jefferson Park's earliest pioneer when he arrived with few personal effects and a team of horses in 1830. He was joined shortly thereafter by Elijah Wentworth, who took up a claim near what is now the Jefferson Park Station of the Metro Station. There he built a hotel of logs and opened a tavern. Traders, hunters, and farmers joined the tiny settlement. All built one- or two-room log cabins until Abram Gale, for whom Gale Street is named, came to the area. He built the first frame house in Jefferson. It was 18 x 34 feet and reportedly cost the sum of $75.00. By 1850 the Jefferson settlement was linked to the city of Chicago by the Milwaukee and the Elston plank roads. Both of these roads were owned by Amos Snell, and both toll roads continued in operation until 1889. Finally, in the same year that Jefferson was annexed to Chicago, the citizens destroyed the tollgates by fire. Later Amos Snell was murdered--a mystery that has never been solved.

During the 1860's the population of Jefferson grew to about 800 persons and nearly all the trades and professions were represented. There were two taverns, two dry goods stores, a drug store, markets and other businesses in operation. By 1889, Jefferson had become a prosperous village. The Esdohr Farm was located on the land now occupied by the Jefferson Park Fieldhouse and Park.

During those early years, the residents of Higgins, Milwaukee, and Lawrence Avenues obtained their water at the pump on the Esdohr Farm, or at other pumps located along Milwaukee Avenue. With the turn of the century came streetcar service along Lawrence and Elston Avenues. This gave tremendous impetus to population growth in Jefferson Park and helped to attract immigrants from Poland, Germany and other European countries. However, the development of Jefferson Park slowed through the mid-1950's because of a lack of modern transportation. Therefore, local residents welcomed the announced construction of the Northwest (now the Kennedy) Expressway, a portion of which would run diagonally through the community.

Before the right of way was cleared and construction started, however, the residents discovered that the City of Chicago planned to sell the section of the expressway running through Jefferson Park to the county. Such a move would have meant the construction of a toll gate at Wilson Avenue, an idea which had been foreign to Jefferson Parkers for more than 60 years. Merchants and local community leaders protested the toll road proposal before the Cook County Board, and the proposal was defeated. In 1970, the Chicago Transit Authority opened its Jefferson Park Transit Station, which now serves approximately 10,000 commuter rail passengers per day and operates at the starting/ending point for over 800 buses per day. This CTA station, along with the Kennedy Expressway and the METRA Railroad, now provides the community with an excellent transportation network.

Jefferson Park has grown to a population of almost 44,000 residents within a one-mile radius of the Milwaukee-Lawrence intersection. In addition to the excellent transportation network, the community features well-maintained residential neighborhoods; the Jefferson Park Fieldhouse and Park; the Jefferson Park Branch of the Chicago Public Library; the Chicago Police Department 16th District (which will soon have a new home on Milwaukee Avenue); the Chicago Fire Department; the Copernicus Civic & Cultural Center; numerous churches and schools; and active, concerned community and business organizations, including the Jefferson Park Chamber of Commerce. In short, Jefferson Park is a "City within the City" -- it is truly a community, one that has stood the test of time.

For more information about Jefferson Park, please log on to the Jefferson Park Historical Society's web site at: www.jeffersonparkhistory.org.

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