NorthRiverCommission.org

Community Area 14, 8 miles northwest of the Loop. Albany Park grew from a sparsely settled farming community to a dynamic urban neighborhood in the course of one generation. In 1868 local entrepreneur Richard Rusk turned an initial 10-acre investment of land into a large farm that included a profitable brickyard along the North Branch of the Chicago River and the Rusk Race Track, where late-nineteenth-century Chicagoans often took day excursions to watch horse racing and enjoy the bucolic environs. As Chicago's population exploded in the 1870s and 1880s, the suburban community became increasingly popular. In 1889 Chicago annexed the area along with the rest of Jefferson Township.













For more information, please visit: www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/36.html