Old street names in Beverly/Morgan Park: A question came into the Ridge Historical Society. In a photo from the 1920s, an Irving Street was mentioned. Where was this?
Answer: Irving was the original name of Bell Avenue in Beverly. Many of the streets in Beverly and Morgan Park had different names before the communities annexed to the City of Chicago. Bell is a good example. In Beverly it was known as Irving and in Morgan Park it was known as Crescent.
If you look closely, you can still find the old street names stamped into some of the sidewalks. These pictures from past RHS newsletters show two examples. The corner of 107th Place and Bell Avenue has a stamp for Crescent Ave. (Bell) and Remington Ave. (the previous name for 107th Place).
Another stamp is at 108th and Drew Street, for Groveland Court, the pre-annexation name for Drew.
103rd Street was previously known as Tracy Ave., and indeed, the entire area around 103rd and Longwood was known as Tracy before the name Beverly caught on. The train station at 103rd Street was the Tracy stop and there was a famous Tracy Hall right by the tracks, but alas, that is gone now.