Chicago, 1963

Logan Square on Milwaukee Avenue. 

Stores pictured include Heinemann's Bakery, Thom McAn, State Boot Shop and Avenue Gift Shop.


The community area and neighborhood are named for General John A. Logan who served in the Civil War, and later in Congress. One of the most striking intersections in the city, the square itself is a large public green space (designed by architect William LeBaron Jenney, Landscape architect, Jens Jensen and others) formed as the grand northwest terminus of the Chicago Boulevard System and the junction of Kedzie and Logan Boulevards and Milwaukee Avenue, which was once known as "Northwest Plank Road" and traces its origins back to a Native American trail, prior to 1830. 

Originally developed by early settlers like Martin Kimbell (of Kimball Avenue fame) in the 1830s, forming the towns of "Jefferson" and "Maplewood," the community was annexed into the City of Chicago in 1889 and renamed Logan Square. Many of its early residents were English or Scandinavian origin, mostly Norwegians and Danes, along with a both a significant Polish and Jewish population that followed. Today, the neighborhood is home to a diverse population including Latinos (primarily Mexican and Puerto Rican, with some Cuban), a number of ethnicities from Eastern Europe, (mostly Poles), and African Americans. 

Here are some turn of the 20th century photos of Milwaukee Avenue and Logan Square community.