Berwyn
In 1846, the first land in “Berwyn” was deeded to Theodore Doty who built the eight-foot wide Plank Road from Chicago to Ottawa. This thoroughfare became what is now Ogden Avenue in South Berwyn. In 1856, Thomas F. Baldwin purchased 347 acres of land, in hopes of developing a rich and aristocratic community called “LaVergne.” However, few people were interested in grassy marshland. Mud Lake extended nearly to the Southern border of today’s Berwyn, and the land flooded regularly during heavy rains. Also the only mode of transportation to LaVergne was horse and buggy on the Plank Road. With the advent of commuter trains, the first two decades of the twentieth century saw Berwyn develop in much the same way as other Chicago suburbs. It was a place in which, as “The WPA Guide to Illinois” states, “harried commuters relaxed in the evening, weeded gardens, set hens, and mowed their lawns.” Berwyn’s growth was such that in 1902, it was incorporated as a village. Six years later, on June 6, 1908, Berwyn became a city, receiving its official charter from the State of Illinois. The 1910 census recorded Berwyn’s population as 5,841. Block after block of bungalows rose as Berwyn’s population swelled; from 14,150 in 1920 to 47,027 in 1930 – an increase of 222% in just ten years. Today, Berwyn has the most significant collection of Chicago-style bungalows in the nation. Families with Czech and Bohemian roots, together with many Italian-Americans, Greeks, Lithuanians, Poles, Yugoslavians and Ukrainians, have been joined in recent years by Hispanics, African and Asian Americans who now call Berwyn home.
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