Albany Park is on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois, and is 8 miles northwest of Chicago’s downtown Loop. The community’s boundaries are the North Branch of the Chicago River on the north, Montrose Avenue on the south, the north branch of the river on the east, and Pulaski Boulevard on the west.
Albany Park is considered one of the most ethnically diverse zip codes in America, with a large Latino population as well as foreign-born citizens from India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Cambodia, Korea, Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. According to a data analysis of Chicago neighborhoods published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Albany Park is 49% Latino, 29% white, 4% African American and 14% Asian. More than 40 languages are spoken in the public schools there.
The neighborhood also includes Chicago’s Koreatown, and many Korean businesses are located on Lawrence Avenue near Kimball. It is known as "Seoul Drive.” The neighborhood also includes a number of Korean churches. Every year there is a Korean festival in Albany Park, and the neighborhood is home to a Korean television station (WOCH-CD Channel 41) and a radio station (1330 AM) as well as two Korean-language newspapers. There are still many Korean businesses between the newer Mexican bakeries and Middle Eastern grocery stores. Approximately 45% of the businesses on this stretch of Lawrence Avenue are owned by Korean Americans.
The population in Albany Park during the 2010 census was 51,542. The median home price is $214,000. Median monthly rent is $805. Median household income is $47,923. About 26% of Albany Park residents do not speak English well or do not speak it at all.
The Chicago Transit Authority's Brown Line terminates at Lawrence and Kimball Avenues. Albany Park is accessible through the Kimball, Kedzie, and Francisco stations of the Brown Line, the Montrose CTA Blue Line Station, as well as by the Edens Expressway (Interstate 94). The zip codes in Albany Park are 60625 and 60630. Albany Park is 1.63 square miles in area. It is in Cook County, and the bordering neighborhoods are Mayfair, North Mayfair and Ravenswood Manor.
Albany Park students are served by the Chicago public school system. High schools there are Roosevelt High School and Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center. Northeastern Illinois University and North Park University are neighboring colleges.
Albany Park was first settled in 1868, when local entrepreneur Richard Rusk turned an initial 10-acre investment of land into a large farm that included a brickyard along the North Branch of the Chicago River. An attraction at that time was Rusk Race Track, where residents often took day excursions to watch horse racing. As Chicago's population grew rapidly in the 1870s and 1880s, Albany Park became more popular. In 1889 Chicago annexed the area.
In 1893 a group of investors purchased 640 acres of the nearby McAllister farm for development. One of the investors was from Albany, New York, and he named the development after his hometown. These investors brought transportation lines to Albany Park, which added to the area's commercial and residential development. Electric streetcars ran in the area as early as 1896. The Chicago Sanitary District widened and straightened the North Branch of the Chicago River, which improved sewage treatment in Albany Park, resulting in another increase in the area’s population. By the 1920s, Albany Park was almost completely developed.
Kreisman Law Offices is located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop. We handle Illinois legal services for the entire Chicago metropolitan area, including the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. Chicago's Robert D. Kreisman of Kreisman Law Offices has over 40 years of trial experience and specializes in a wide range of legal services, including Illinois personal injury law, mediations and arbitrations, Illinois product defect/product liability law, Illinois medical malpractice claims and lawsuits, probate, real estate law, commercial litigation and Illinois nursing home abuse cases. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online. Our office handles Spanish speakers with our bilingual staff.
Our Chicago Loop office is in a convenient location for Chicago area residents. Kreisman Law Offices is located at the corner of Dearborn and Monroe Streets. There are many convenient modes of public transportation to Kreisman Law Offices Loop location, including the Metra and CTA and there is ample parking available, both on the street and in the many public garages.