Video Gaming Terminals in 60636 (West Englewood, Chicago)

History

The railroad settlement known as Junction Grove became part of the Town of Lake in 1865. In 1868 a wool merchant named Henry B. Lewis suggested the name Englewood, after Englewood, New Jersey, because the area was heavily wooded. Survivors of the 1871 fire and others leaving crowded districts set off a slow building boom in what became known as West Englewood. By 1920 the community had 53,276 residents, with Germans, Irish and Italians the largest foreign-born groups. Lindblom Technical High School, designed by Arthur F. Hussander, broke ground in March 1917; wartime shortages slowed the work, and it opened on September 2, 1919, at a final cost of $1.3 million. Between 1970 and 1980 the African American share of the population rose from 48 to 98 percent. In 1969 the CTA opened its Ashland terminal, a quarter mile west of the old Loomis end of the line.

The area today

Roughly, ZIP 60636 runs from Garfield Boulevard south to 75th Street and from Racine Avenue west to Western Avenue. Most of it is West Englewood, and a strip along Western Avenue belongs to Gage Park and Chicago Lawn. The Green Line ends at Ashland/63rd, where a park-and-ride lot and several bus routes meet the train; Chicago L.org says the station's cantilevers and broad eaves draw on Frank Lloyd Wright. Lindblom's building at 6130 S. Wolcott fills a full block, and Lindblom Park, at 6054 S. Damen, covers 17.56 acres with a gym, a pool and ball fields. Murray Park, at 1743 W. 73rd St., honors David L. Murray, an educator who worked for the school board for 54 years. The City has planned the Englewood Nature Trail for the former rail embankment between 58th and 59th streets.

Bars and restaurants here

The City's liquor-license records for this ZIP put its taverns on Racine Avenue, along the east edge.