Intro: The Heart of the Hood Ravenswood, the community that unites two north-side "community areas." By Ed Zotti

History: Celery, Ceramics, and Conrad Sulzer The story—or stories—of Lincoln Square and North Center By Ann Keating

Politics: The Grand Old Party's Last Stand Before Daley's minions moved in, a Republican reformer called the shots in Lincoln Square and North Center. By Ben Joravsky

Lincoln Square & North Center Listings: Bars, education & recreation, galleries, GLBTQ, lit, movies, music, parks, performing arts, restaurants, shopping, volunteering

More Neighborhood Guides Ukrainian Village/East Village South Loop Logan Square Uptown Rogers Park & West Ridge

Parks

Gross Park Home to basketball and volleyball courts, a soccer field, a playground, weight-lifting facilities, a game room with Ping-Pong, and a youth program.  2708 W. Lawrence, 312-742-7528. —NT

Hamlin Park Prairie School pioneer Dwight H. Perkins designed this park’s field house, which holds a gym and assembly hall. The park also offers an outdoor pool, baseball and tennis facilities, and weekly boxing classes.  3035 N. Hoyne, 312-742-7785. —NT

Legion Park This long, slender park along the North Shore Channel has playgrounds, tennis courts, and two baseball fields. Peterson to Foster. —NT

Revere Park In addition to playgrounds, gyms, baseball fields, and basketball and tennis courts, this park has a mural art summer camp. The field house auditorium hosts seasonal theater productions.  2509 W. Irving Park, 773-478-1220. —NT

River Park This riverside park offers an array of facilities, including seven tennis courts, two baseball fields, a pool, a turf soccer field, a running track, a 300-seat auditorium, water and soft-surface playgrounds, a canoe launch, and fishing.  5100 N. Francisco, 312-742-7516. —NT

Ronan Park A 1930s pumping station looms behind this park, which borders River Park along a naturalized portion of the North Shore Channel. Under various names, it follows the North Branch of the Chicago river northeast all the way to Wilmette Harbor. —NT

Rosehill Cemetery Founded in 1859 on more land than Grant Park and Millennium Park combined, this cemetery is Chicago’s largest, one of its oldest, and home to some of its grandest dead guys. They include well-known figures like Charles Dawes, Richard Sears, Oscar Mayer, Montgomery Ward, and 11 mayors.  5800 N. Ravenswood, 773-561-5940. —NT

Welles Park This park’s got a fitness center, an indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, baseball fields, horseshoe pits, and a wrought-iron gazebo used for live music performances, both planned and spontaneous. The Old Town School of Folk Music holds an annual festival here every July. And in the 1920s Abe Saperstein, founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, got his start coaching basketball in the (now demolished and replaced) field house.  2333 W. Sunnyside, 312-742-7511. —NT

Winnemac Park This 40-acre park has basketball and tennis courts, a stadium with a running track, and a fitness center. Renovations since 1999 have added soccer and softball fields, walking paths through prairie-style plantings, and a new playground.  5100 N. Leavitt, 312-742-5101. —NT

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Ukrainian Village/East Village | South Loop | Logan Square | Uptown Rogers Park & West Ridge

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