Park Ridge (60016, 60068 zip codes) a city nearby Chicago has a population of approximately 37K. Just 15 miles shy of Chicago loop, shares its borders with its 3 neighborhoods: O’Hare, Edison Park and Norwood Park, and additionally Village of Niles and City of Des Plaines.

Park Ridge tuckpointing | Park Ridge masonry

By LonelyBeacon and Kelly Martin – Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

You might wonder what was its name derived from, it is actually backed by a false statement that this area occupies the highest point in Cook County. While this isn’t true, when you look at topographical map of terrain, a small ridge can be noticed here.

This portion of Chicagoland was originally occupied by Potawatomi until 1833. Being a convenient portage between the Chicago and Des Plaines rivers, it served French explorers and attracted settlers from New England and New York.

The area’s rich clay deposits were found and resulted in establishment of brickyard businesses, with 1^st one opening in 1953-54 by George Penny, who also gave this area its first name – Pennyville. A few years later, Penny requested the name to be changed to Brickton. New railroad accelerated expansion of Brickton which was incorporated in 1873 as a Village with Park Ridge name. In 1910 it was voted to become the City of Park Ridge.

The growing population reached 2000 in 1910, grew further to ~10000 in 1930, and 16K by 1950. The last number doubled 10 years later, and by 1970 reached 42 thousand.

The majority of the Park Ridge homes were built between 1945 and 1975, and they were mostly ranch style properties.