Edison Park History

The Ebinger and Ruehle families immigrated from Germany to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1834 before eventually settling in present-day Edison Park. John and Katherine Ebinger came with their 21-year-old son, Christian, and his new wife, Barbara Ruehle.

Though they found the Chicago lands too swampy, they continued traveling northwest on the Indian trail to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (now Milwaukee Avenue). They crossed north branch of the Chicago River but their horse met its demise from a snake bite. So, instead of continuing on their journey, they decided to settle in an area that later became known as Touhy and Devon Avenues.

In November 1834, Christian and Barbara Ebinger had their son, Christian Jr., who was the first White child born in the area that later became known as “Dutchman’s Point.” This name came about because of the German ancestry of the Ebingers. The senior Christian Ebinger was friends with some of the local Native Americans. His son grew up to become ordained as a minister in their German Evangelical Association. In addition, he held other positions such as Village Collector (1852), Village Assessor (1852-1865), and Highway Commissioner (1854-1858).

The Ebingers initially claimed 80 acres of land. But soon, other family members arrived and joined them, settling in an area that eventually became known as Nile Township. As the families grew larger, they spread out into Maine Township.

The community was incorporated as a village in 1881. Developers promoted the availability of electricity, and as the village grew, they established a church, Sunday school, and other amenities. By the turn of the 20th century, it had become a streetcar suburb. Chicago annexed Edison Park on November 8, 1910.

Edison Park’s population exploded 400% to 5,370 in 1930 after WWI due to the building boom. By then, there was very little farmland left. The Ebingers’ name was remembered by a school established in their honor in the 1920s — Christian Ebinger Elementary School.

The land which is now Edison Park was once utilized as summer camps for Native Americans in the 1830s. However, by the 1850s, German farmers had already started to claim the area as their own. In an attempt to bring people to these newly developing suburbs, developers renamed the area and tried various marketing strategies–which eventually proved successful.

However, it took almost 40 years for Edison Park to grow as a community truly, but when it did, it was one of the first communities with electricity. The area was named after Thomas Alva Edison in 1890, and by 1896 it had become a successful railroad suburb with artesian water, Volunteer Fire Company, large railway depot, hotel, and several dozen grandiose houses.

Edison Park has attractively evolved over time and undergone four waves of changes with each new type of resident and nature of land use that came along. It started as a home to Native Americans, became a farming community afterward, followed by its transformation into a railroad suburb; until it finally developed into one of Chicago’s 20 best neighborhoods today.

The average age of those living in Edison today is 41.9 years, and they are relatively affluent too with a per capita income $59,666 (which is higher than Chicago’s average per capita income of only $37,103).