Edgebrook

I've fallen short on many of my blogging goals, and one of them is to give a sketch of every Chicago neighborhood. So let me pick up right where I've landed. Edgebrook. Here's how I understand it (and true to Chicago nature, it ain't simple): Right outside my front door is the neighboorhood of North Edgebrook, which is one of three neighborhoods in Edgebrook, which is one of two neighborhoods in the Forest Glen neighborhood. Got that? This chunk of land was once given (back) to the Potowatomi Indians by way of their chief Billy Caldwell (aka "Sauganash" meaning "Englishman" (for he was the son of an Irish immigrant father and a Mohawk mother. Confusing, I know, but fitting for the way things work around here.)) Even though Billy Caldwell was somewhat of a beloved celebrity around here, he moved to Iowa and the railroad grew right up to where the white dudes needed this land...er... "back" arguing that the Potowatomi were only using it during the summer for hunting. Why couldn't they just go to the General Store? Anyhow, over a hundred and fifty years later, Edgebrook is a quiet, heavily wooded and residential place where people who have/want to can live in the city limits and yet have a taste of the burbs as well. An ice cream truck comes down the road almost every warm night. Every single house got an american flag stuck in the yard on independence day. Neighbors bring you warm banana bread when you move in. And deer still (literally) roam the streets, no longer hunted, but confused as hell.