North Park is Chicago Community Area #13 and sits just 9 miles northwest of the Loop. It is cradled between the two branches of the Chicago River, and is part of or immediately adjacent to some of the most developed and realized bike trails in the city. It is a quiet residential area, sharing parks, tree-lined streets and marvelous buildings with adjacent Albany Park, Forest Glen, Lincolnwood, Lincoln Square and West Ridge. It is the home of in-city Universities North Park College and Northeastern Illinois University and the north side’s own Chicago Park District-run nature center on the grounds of a former Tuberculosis Sanitarium.

The area’s modern history begins around 1855 when a small village was platted out of the newly formed Jefferson Township. Early residents were immigrants from Germany and Sweden, and farming was the general occupation for those that settled here. Over the years came Czechs after the opening of the Bohemian National Cemetary, and since then, the area has become along with Albany Park, amongst the most demographics of any area in the United States. As the area expanded in a series of population expansions it left behind a built history of stunning residences, schools, commercial, religious and civic buildings designed by the likes of Clarence Hatzfeld, Paul Gerhardt, Otis and Clark, Jarvis Hunt and John Krivanek. It is an ideal community for a bike tour passing through quiet neighborhood side streets, main commercial thoroughfares and along preserve and park trails.

Tour of North Park for $9 | Tour of North Park and Poster for $12 | Tour of North Park Poster for $5

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  2012 Tour Poster| 2010 Tour Poster