The Ridge Historical Society
History of the Chicago Wards – Post 4 REVISED: North Beverly Joins the Chicago Ward Structure
By Carol Flynn
In 1890, three parcels of land were annexed to the City of Chicago, forever changing the Ridge communities.
First, the unincorporated area between 87th Street and 95th Street, and between State Street and Western Avenue, which includes today’s North Beverly, was annexed.
This annexation included local communities whose names were on the stops along the Rock Island railroad line (now the Metra line) – Beverly Hills (91st Street) and Longwood (95th Street). Also included was a section of Englewood and the Brainerd neighborhood to the east. These communities were identified as “flourishing new suburbs” by the Chicago Tribune.
A new state law passed in 1889 allowed for incorporated areas and the cities with which they wanted to annex to hold elections on the issue. However, unincorporated areas still fell under the jurisdiction of the previous law referred to as the “James P. Root annexation law,” which allowed areas to annex by petitioning the city. A petition had to be signed by three-fourths of the legal voters and property owners representing two-thirds of the community’s value.
The voters and property owners of Beverly Hills,
Longwood, and the communities to the east, petitioned the Chicago city council to annex this territory, and the Judiciary Committee signed off on this petition, in April 1890. The city council then passed an ordinance to make the annexation official in May of 1890.
The Chicago city council assigned this land to the existing thirty-first ward, which had just been established the year before when 125 square miles of land was added to the city. The wards were reconfigured, and new ones were added at that time, bringing the total number of wards from twenty-four to thirty-four.
The two aldermen of the thirty-first ward became the first aldermen for the Ridge communities. They were Captain George F. McKnight and Edwin J. Noble. Both had just been elected the previous year when the ward was established.
Noble was a grain merchant and stock trader. He came to Chicago in 1876 from Pennsylvania, entered the grain business, and became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade. He was then appointed by the governor as chief grain inspector for the State of Illinois.
McKnight came to Chicago in 1869 from Buffalo, New York, after serving in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. He had a wide background in business and founded the Lake Gas Company in Chicago. He was appointed by the governor to the Board of Equalization which dealt with property tax appeals.
It was believed that the annexation of this land would open the door immediately for Washington Heights and Morgan Park to follow suit. This did happen with Washington Heights but not with Morgan Park.
The other two areas annexed to the City of Chicago by election in 1890 were the incorporated areas of Washington Heights and West Roseland. The official vote was entered into the Cook County records on November 21, 1890.
The next step was for the Chicago city council to pass an ordinance recognizing the annexation and adding the land to the ward system.
Next post: Washington Heights joins the ward system of Chicago