How we became West Ridge

From the October 17, 1963 Chicago Tribune

Residents of the Far North Side neighborhood of West Ridge are more likely to tell you they live in North Town or West Rogers Park.

The official name of the community of 61,129 is nearly as old, though, as the hill that marks its eastern border at Ridge Avenue. The neighborhood is bounded on the north by Howard Street , on the west by the North Shore Channel and Kedzie Avenue and on the south by Peterson and Bryn Mawr Avenues.

Though originally settled in the 1830s by Phillip Rogers, West Ridge was never really part of Rogers Park. Clashes with its eastern neighbor and nearby Evanston led to West Ridge's incorporation as a village in 1890, accoring to yellowed Tribune clippings tracing development of the Far North Side.

The independence was short-lived however. West Ridge was incorporated into the City of Chicago three years later.