50th Ward Parks
Rogers Park
Rogers Park was one of many parks created through a ten-year program providing additional recreational space for post-World War II Chicago. In 1947, the park district acquired a 22.35-acre property on North Washtenaw Avenue in the West Ridge community. By 1950, the site had four temporary softball diamonds, but no further improvements were made until the mid-1950s.
Rogers Park and the adjacent school honor Phillip Rogers (1812-1856), an Irishman who arrived from New York in 1836. Rogers cleared land north of Chicago and built a cabin atop the natural ridge that gives West Ridge its name. A successful farmer, Rogers eventually purchased over 1,600 acres of property. After his death in 1856, Rogers’ land passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Patrick L. Touhy (1839-1911), who joined with others to develop the Rogers Park community in the 1870s.