The Western Springs Historical Society

A Village Grows Neighborhood By Neighborhood

A Village Grows Neighborhood by Neighborhood (con't) 

As a result, development stalled. Twenty-four lots were sold before the fire, and only 12 lots were sold in all of 1872. The following year brought a stock market crash, bank failures, and deteriorating land values. The original game plan had been a resort community with large lots driven by the attraction of natural mineral springs located in what is now southeast Spring Rock Park. In 1875, the syndicate re-subdivded much of East Hinsdale creating smaller lots and using the name Western Springs for the first time.

Old Town Northeast, Old Town Northwest, and Old Town South

Three boundaries of the first subdivision of Western Springs were existing streets: North Boulevard (Ogden Avenue), South Boulevard (47th Street), and East Boulevard (Wolf Road). The western boundary started at approximately Ogden and Hampton Avenues, veered farther west south of Chestnut Street, and jogged back east before continuing south to 47th Street. The section of this original footprint of Western Springs north of the railroad tracks is called Old Town Northeast. The section south of the tracks is called Old Town South. These neighborhoods contain the oldest homes in the village, dating from the early 1870's. The earliest homes built before the village was incorporated in 1886 have a deed that specifies a location in East Hinsdale. In deference to the Quaker faith of the original settlers, the deed also stipulates that "no intoxicating liquors shall ever be sold on said premises."

Land west of Old Town Northeast that butted the eastern boundary of Hinsdale was later annexed to Western Springs. This land plus a western swath of Old Town Northeast starting at Central Avenue morphed into a separate neighborhood called Old Town Northwest. The village prefers to combine the two neighborhoods and refer to the entire north section west of Wolf Road as Old Town North.

Fairview Estates

Fairview Estates may be the village's smallest neighborhood, but it is the next oldest. A developer named R. W. Sweet filed a plat for this section May 2, 1888. The north border is 47th Street, and the west border is Wolf Road. On the south it butts Springdale, and on the east it butts the athletic fields of the south campus of Lyons Township High School. Early maps of the village show this neighborhood with street names of Townsend, Ohio, and Watson, instead of the current Johnson, Franklin, and Howard.

Field Park, Ridge Acres, and Forest Hills

On the north and south side of the tracks, the original plat of Western Springs stopped at Wolf Road. The land north and south of the railroad tracks from Ogden Avenue to 47th Street and Gilbert Avenue to Wolf Road was the village's next expansion. Marshall Field, founder of Marshall Field & Company, bought this land in 1885. It was a speculative purchase in response to talk of holding the 1893 Columbian Exhibition somewhere in the western suburbs. When this talk proved to be just that, and Field died in 1906, the land was sold to Ellsworth T. Martin, who announced plans for a "high-grade residence section." Some time elapsed before this announcement came to fruition. Martin christened the section north of the tracks Field Park and filed its plat on June 22, 1917. He named the south section Ridge Acres and filed its plat on December 11, 1917.

Fairview Estates, Field Park, and Ridge Acres started the pattern of neighborhoods in Western Springs carrying the name given them by the original developer. Next to come was Forest Hills, bounded by 47th Street, 55th Street, Wolf Road, and Central Avenue (now defined as extending west to the Tollway). Forest Hills was the name chosen by the developer, George L. Bruckert, but first he sponsored a $50 contest for Western Springs children to name his proposed development. Bruckert originally decided on Fair Elms, which was a blend of the names submitted by the first- and second-place winners, who each were awarded $25. Fair Elms later became the name of the street west of Central, but the plat for this subdivision was filed as Forest Hills on March 14, 1924.

Springdale 

It may be hard to imagine now, but the land on which Springdale is built was entirely farmland until home construction began in the mid-1950's.  The northeast corner consisted of 25 acres farmed by the Vaughan Seed Company. The remainder was the Dierks family farm, which originated with a purchase of 40 acres in 1869 and eventually grew to 329 acres. Thus, all the homes in Springdale date from the filing of the initial plat by developer Paul H. Schwendener, Jr., April 23, 1955. Additional land units were added over a period of years, with the last unit annexed in 1969. The resulting boundaries of Springdale are Courtland Circle, Willow Springs Road, Wolf Road, 55th Street east to Howard Avenue, and 51st Street east to Willow Springs Road.

Ridgewood

The plat for the Ridgewood subdivision, then 90 acres of farmland, was filed by the Forest Hills Development Company on March 27, 1957. Land units were added to the original plat in 1958 and 1961, and it was annexed to the village in 1973. The Ridge Oaks Condominium property was annexed in 1976. The boundaries of Ridgewood are 55th Street on the north, the former Timber Trails Golf Course on the South, Wolf Road on the east, minus a commercial section on the northeast corner, and the Tollway on the west.  

Timber Trails

The Timber Trails development is the latest and probably the last neighborhood to annex to Western Springs. It consists of the former Timber Trails Golf Course property bounded by Ridgewood on the north, Plainfield Road on the south, Wolf Road on the east, and the Tollway on the west. When Dartmoor Homes purchased this land, it sought and received permission in 2005 to annex to the village. Construction of upscale single-family homes and townhomes began but floundered in the recession. The subdivision is currently involved in bankruptcy proceedings.

Neighborhood Associations

It appears that Western Springs' various neighborhoods compose one big happy village family, but that is not the way it started out. Beginning with Field Park in 1925, Ridge Acres in 1930, and Forest Hills in 1931, homeowner associations were active in their various subdivisions and even sponsored annual picnics, dances, garden contests, and other social activities that tend now to be village-wide events. Aside from sponsoring social activism, the associations existed to provide a voice for their respective neighborhood in the village's affairs. In an issue of Tower Topics from 1960, associations and their officers are listed for Field Park, Forest Hills, Old Town North, Old Town South, Ridge Acres, and Springdale. According to the accompanying text, "neighborhood improvements are a principal concern of the associations." WSHS archive files indicate the existence in 1919 of a West End (Old Town Northwest) Improvement Association and an Old Town Northwest Association in 1959. The latter organization appeared to fade away in 1989 but became active in 1997 during the era of planning and constructing the Recreation Center in that neighborhood.