Chicago’s north side community of Andersonville is made up of a blend of cultures. In its midst are locally owned boutiques, Middle Eastern bakeries, bars and restaurants. The neighborhood is anchored by the Swedish American Museum.
The average income in Andersonville is $54,000 per year, compared to $43,600 in Chicago. Median monthly rent is $976; while in Chicago overall it is $789. Zip codes in Andersonville are 60640 and 60660. Thirty percent of Andersonville residents have a bachelor’s degree compared to 20 percent of Chicagoans citywide. The average price of a detached home in Andersonville is $664,000; citywide the average home price is $262,000. The housing stock in Andersonville is very diverse. In addition to magnificent single family homes on relatively wide and deep city lots, there are many much smaller apartment buildings making housing available to all or most who desire to live in this neighborhood.
The area was once the second largest Swedish city next to Stockholm. It was first settled in about 1910, when immigrant Swedish farmers started moving into what was then considered a distant northern suburb of Chicago. The modern development of Andersonville began after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when wooden homes were outlawed in the city. Swedish farmers who could not afford to build homes of stone or brick began to move outside the city's limits. The entire commercial strip along what is now Clark Street came to be dominated by Swedish businesses. The neighborhood began to decline. At that time, the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce was established and business leaders worked to attract more businesses and residents. They began the annual tradition of celebrating the summer solstice with a street fair, Midsommarfest, which has grown into one of Chicago's largest and most popular street festivals.
In 1976, the Swedish American Museum was opened to the public in a ceremony attended by King XVI Gustav of Sweden. He was also present when the museum later moved into a larger building at 5211 N. Clark, where it remains today. In the late 1980s, Andersonville began gentrifying as Chicagoans discovered its proximity to the lakefront and to downtown Chicago. A large lesbian and gay population developed, spurred by the opening of such businesses as Women & Children First, a bookstore focusing on feminist authors and topics. Today, many of the stores and restaurants are owned by Koreans, Lebanese, and Cubans, but many Swedish-owned businesses remain in Andersonville.
For health care, the neighborhood is serviced by Swedish Covenant Hospital. The neighborhood’s public high school is Amundsen, named after Roald Amundsen, who may have been one of the neighborhood’s early settlers, but of Norwegian descent. Some students living in Andersonville attend Nicholas Senn High School, which is a public school and part of the Chicago Public School system. There are also many parochial schools in the area. Loyola University is located nearby in the Rogers Park neighborhood.
Public transportation is abundant in Andersonville with the “L” Redline stations at Bryn Mawr or Berwyn Avenues and CTA bus lines 22, 36, 92, 147, 151. The Metra Union Pacific Northline station is located at Ravenswood, with trains running north to the suburbs and into Wisconsin and south into Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago.
Kreisman Law Offices handles Illinois lawsuits for the entire Chicago metropolitan area, including Andersonville. Chicago's Kreisman Law Offices has over 40 years of trial experience and specializes in a wide range of legal services, including Illinois personal injury law, Illinois product defect/product liability law, Illinois medical malpractice claims, 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 Chicago loop office is in a convenient location for Andersonville 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, including the Metra and CTA.