River North Gallery District | |
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![]() The Chicago River from above | |
Coordinates: 41°53′45″N 87°38′0″W | |
Country | United States |
City | Chicago |
State | Illinois |
The River North Gallery District or simply River North, in Chicago, is in the Near North Side, Chicago. It once hosted the largest concentration of art galleries in the United States outside of Manhattan. [1] River North has experienced vast changes in the years 1990 - 2012, including the development of large high-rise buildings, nightclubs and restaurants. River North has become one of Chicago's top neighborhoods for nightlife especially on and around Hubbard Street. Today there are far fewer galleries but the artistic spirit remains, with regular art openings taking place as well as a Fall River North Design District Walk taking place every September. [2]
A common definition puts the River North neighborhood in the area north of the Chicago River and the Merchandise Mart, south of Division Street, east of the Chicago River and west of Wabash Avenue. [3] Along with a handful of art galleries today, the area holds many bars, dance clubs, popular restaurants and entertainment venues. Subsections of River North include:
River North was named Smokey Hollow around the turn of the 20th century due to the many factories and forges in the area. The smoke was often so thick that sunlight was blocked. At the time Smokey Hollow was a major transportation hub with railroad tracks linking the ports along the Chicago River with the surrounding areas. The Merchandise Mart still has railroad tracks underneath the building. Massive coal bins were throughout the neighborhood both bringing coal into the area from ships and storage for the multitude of factories and forges in River North. The Merchandise Mart was a major storage warehouse for goods. The Merchandise Mart was later purchased by the Kennedy family. Former retailer Montgomery Ward also had a major transportation and storage facility in River North.
Little Sicily in Chicago was also located in River North. The city's first Italian Roman Catholic Church in Chicago was Assumption Parish on Illinois Street, with a mandate to be the Parish for all Italians living between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. Later Sicilians began to move northward from the immediate vicinity of Assumption and began to form their own parishes. Italians whose family roots were from other parts of Italy tended to move west along Grand Street and formed Parishes west of Assumption.
In 1921, Dean O'Banion married Viola Kaniff and bought an interest in William Schofield's River North flower shop, near the corner of West Chicago Avenue and North State Street. O'Banion needed a legitimate front for his bootlegging operation. In addition, he was fond of flowers and was an excellent arranger.
Schofield's became the florist of choice for many funerals.
The shop happened to be directly across the street from Holy Name Cathedral, where O'Banion and Weiss attended Mass. The rooms above Schofield's were used as the headquarters for the North Side Gang which controlled the bootlegging operations in what would later be called River North and the Gold Coast area of Chicago.
On the morning of November 10, 1924, O'Banion was clipping chrysanthemums in Schofield's back room. Frankie Yale entered the shop with Torrio and Capone gunmen John Scalise and Albert Anselmi. When O'Banion attempted to greet Yale with a handshake, Yale clasped O'Banion's hand in a death grip. At the same time, Scalise and Anselmi fired two bullets into O'Banion's chest, two in his cheeks, and two in his throat and Dean O'Banion died instantly.
One of the biggest punk rock clubs of the 1970s was located in River North - called O'Banion's after the infamous hit on Dean O'Banion.
The River North neighborhood fell on difficult times starting in the 1960s with many families moving into the suburbs to escape urban blight. Many buildings were torn down and became parking lots. Crime was a dangerous part of daily life.
Assumption Church on Illinois Street during this time reported that many of its Parishioners had moved to the suburbs and that few people remained living within its Parish boundaries as established by the Archdiocese of Chicago. Assumption Parish survived during this time on Parishioners who traveled from the suburbs to attend Mass in the old neighborhood every Sunday.
The River North neighborhood got its name from Chicago real estate developer Albert Friedman (chief executive of Friedman Properties Ltd.), who in 1974 started to buy, restore and build commercial property in the southeast sector. [4] Much of the area was a skid row at the time, so in an effort to attract tenants Friedman started calling the area "River North". [4] Within a few years, Friedman found photographers, ad agencies and art galleries willing to rent the low cost space and coalesce into what is now the River North Gallery District, [4] which has the largest concentration of art galleries in the United States outside of Manhattan. [5]
River North from 1990 to 2012 became one of Chicago's top neighborhoods for nightlife especially along Franklin Street and Hubbard Street. It is a top destination for restaurants, nightclubs and living for people who move to Chicago. During this time numerous highrises have been developed, dramatically increasing the population of River North.
The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Chicago is located at 100 West Erie Street in River North; the consulate's visa office is located in River North but east of the Gallery District. [6] The Royal Thai Consulate-General of Chicago is located at 700 North Rush Street in River North, east of the Gallery District. [7]
The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in North America after Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and contains the headquarters and regional offices of several global and national businesses, retail establishments, restaurants, hotels, and theaters, as well as many of Chicago's most famous attractions. It is home to Chicago's City Hall, the seat of Cook County, and numerous offices of other levels of government and consulates of foreign nations. The intersection of State Street and Madison Street is the origin point for the address system on Chicago's street grid. Most of Grant Park's 319 acres are in the eastern section of the community area. The Loop community area is bounded on the north and west by the Chicago River, on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Roosevelt Road.
The Merchandise Mart is a commercial building located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it was opened in 1930, it was the largest building in the world, with 4 million square feet (372,000 m2) of floor space. The Art Deco structure is located at the junction of the Chicago River's branches. The building is a leading retailing and wholesale location, hosting 20,000 visitors and tenants per day in the late 2000s.
John Donato Torrio was an Italian-born American mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s and later became an adviser to Lucky Luciano and his Luciano crime family.
Streeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue on the west, and Lake Michigan on the north and east, according to most sources, although the City of Chicago only recognizes a small portion of this region as Streeterville. Thus, it can be described as the Magnificent Mile plus all land east of it. The tourist attraction of Navy Pier and Ohio Street Beach extend out into the lake from southern Streeterville. To the north, the East Lake Shore Drive District, where the Drive curves around the shoreline, may be considered an extension the Gold Coast. The majority of the land in this neighborhood is reclaimed sandbar.
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Vincent Drucci, also known as "The Schemer", was an American mobster during Chicago's Prohibition era who was a member of the North Side Gang, Al Capone's best known rivals. A friend of Dean O'Banion, Drucci succeeded him by becoming co-leader. He is the only American organized crime boss to have been killed by a policeman.
LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named for René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a 17th century French explorer of the Illinois Country. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district.
The Genna crime family, was a crime family that operated in Prohibition-era Chicago. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the six Genna brothers, known as the Terrible Gennas. The brothers were Sicilians from the town of Marsala and operated from Chicago's Little Italy and maintained control over the Unione Siciliana. They were allies with fellow Italian gang the Chicago Outfit. After a bloody war led to their demise in the 1920s, the gang was eventually absorbed by the Chicago Outfit.
Logan is a neighborhood in the upper North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The majority of the neighborhood falls within the 19141 zip code, but some of it falls within 19140. The neighborhood is sometimes confused with the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia. Olney Avenue extends from both the Olney and Logan neighborhoods of the city. The Olney Transportation Center is located in Logan.
Merchandise Mart is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, located in the Near North Side neighborhood at 350 North Wells Street in Chicago, Illinois. The station is elevated above street level, on a steel structure. The turnstiles and customer assistant booth of the station are located on the second level of the Merchandise Mart itself. This is the main entrance to the station.
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Rush Street is a one-way street in the Near North Side community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The street, which starts at the Chicago River between Wabash and North Michigan Avenues, runs directly north until it slants on a diagonal as it crosses Chicago Avenue then it continues to Cedar and State Streets, making it slightly less than a mile long. One lane also runs southbound from Ohio Street (600N) to Kinzie Street (400N) as part of a two-way street segment. It runs parallel to and one block west of the Magnificent Mile on the two-way traffic North Michigan Avenue, which runs at 100 east up to 950 north. The street, which is also one block east of the one-way southbound Wabash Avenue, formerly ran slightly further south to the Chicago River where over time various bridges connected it to the Loop, Chicago's central business district.
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Charles Dean O'Banion was an American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known as Dion O'Banion, although he never went by that first name. He led the North Side Gang until 1924, when he was shot and killed, reportedly by Frankie Yale, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi.
Angelo "Bloody Angelo" Genna was an Italian-born Chicago bootlegger and organized crime leader during the Prohibition era. A key member of the Sicilian crime family, primarily made up of his brothers, he was best known for his war with the North Side Gang leader, Dean O'Banion.
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Michele "Mike the Devil" Genna was an Italian-born mobster in Chicago during the 1920s. He headed the Genna crime family with his brothers. He was killed by police officers after a shootout with North Siders, being one of the only American organized crime leaders to be killed by a policeman.
Schofield's Flowers was a Chicago flower shop that was in business from 1896 to 1976. In its heyday it provided flowers to some of Chicago's most prominent and infamous citizens.