Winter Bike Tour of Lincoln Square

On our third ride of the Bike Winter/Big Shoulders Realty winter ride series, we re-visit Lincoln Square. Chicago Community Area #4 sits 7 miles northwest of the loop. The community area was a construct of a 1920s University of Chicago project to categorize different areas of the city, but it is also a neighborhood within the community area, as are Ravenswood, Bowmanville, Budlong Woods and Ravenswood Manor. Previously this entire area was known as Ravenswood, and many residents still think of it that way. Formerly a farming community for celery and pickles, the area developed as the transportation access to the area increased. Families used to cart their goods to the city along Little Fort Road, today’s Lincoln Avenue. In the 1890s, street cars created a new wave of development. In the 1900s, it was the Ravenswood elevated line and it spurred even more development. Utilizing the river and developing an industrial corridor on its banks was a further boom leading into the Great Depression. The area is filled with wonderful examples of bungalows, brick-flats, courtyard apartments and various Victorian houses and a number of requisite works by Clarence Hatzfeld, Dwight Perkins and Louis Sullivan.