 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Have you ever wondered which of Chicago' streets is the shortest? How about the fourth shortest? You're in the right place. There are 16 streets in Chicago that are shorter than a quarter of a block. We've listed them here.
Before we start, it is important to know what we counted as a "street." The length of these streets was determined by their number of address numbers. The source we used most heavily is Streetwise Chicago by Don Hayner and Tom McNamee. They in turn got the information from official city documents and street numbering guides.
Let's use Oswego street as an example of how this list was compiled. Oswego lies at 1650 west (runs north-south) on the grid from 400-420 north. The start and end point coordinates are then subtracted, thus Oswego runs 20 address numbers. The address numbers determine the street's length and are included in parenthesis after the coordinates for each street on this list.
Stubs of streets that run discontiguously on the grid were not counted. A good example of this is Lacey avenue which has a tiny stub in the Caldwell woods, but continues elsewhere in the city for a small duration. The street must be contiguous and unique. Also discounted were a number of Rosemont streets that run into Chicago for 14 address points. These are normally sized streets, they only happen to be in Chicago for a short period. They are not truly "tiny."
Another example of this occurs near a border between Chicago and Harwood Heights. Every house on Redwood avenue, a street of normal length, is in Harwood Heights, except for one. Since Redwood is only in Chicago for 4 address points, it could be considered the shortest. However, this is a silly technicality, and Redwood should not be considered as such.
A variation of this phenomenon exists near Beverly Park on the south side. 102nd street runs for about a quarter of a block between Artesian Street and Beverly Park as Bosak Avenue. This was not counted because, again, the street is not actually tiny. Bosak is 102nd street, not a unique street. Really, its a matter of semantics. Are Kimball and Homan the same street? What's in a name?
Lastly, private streets were not counted. I could argue that as they are not public property, I would be trespassing in order to get photographs of them, and as private property they are not true streets. Its a bit of a gray area, better to avoid it.
Where's the content already, you ask? Here they are, in descending order:
Located in Uptown, this obscure street connects the one way streets Ainslie and Margate. The namesake of the street and adjoining elementary school was a cartoonist for the Tribune in the first half of the 20th century, shown in the bottom left image. No addresses are located on the street, only a parking lot and Buttercup Park, the latter of which was probably named in a contest to find the most disgustingly saccharine name possible.
North of the embankment running along Kinzie avenue, there used to be a number of streets running north from Kinzie for the same duration as Oswego. Long-built over streets like Jessie, George, Baldwin, and Bixby. Oswego is the only one remaining, and it is no more than an alley-parking lot-loading area with a name. In fact, the loading docks for the Roman Marble company constitute the primary use for this street. The image at bottom left is the entire duration of the street. The top left image shows Kinzie facing west, Oswego and Paulina streets visible at right, respectively. The bridge in the same image is a former Metropolitan West Side elevated bridge.
Aside from being a very small street, Portland is otherwise not worth mentioning. Located in the eastern part of Canaryville near 45th and Princeton, one can pay it a visit to find out firsthand what "urban prairie" means. 
Though it is not evident in these photographs, both of which show Peshtigo in its entirety, the area around the street has changed greatly in the recent past. The formerly industrial Streeterville area has been filled up with high-rise commodity buildings and expensive shops. Kraft was one of the last companies to leave the area. Their Streamline Moderne style Kraft-Phenix Building, shown at left, was used by the Police Department before it was torn down in 2003. As of this year, it can be considered retroactively condozed. 
Schick Place did not always have a name; on the 1886 Robinson map it is simply an unnamed alley. It was named after William Schick, a storekeeper and landowner in the area, probably not too long after 1886. Don't be fooled, its still an alley. 
This street is named for the Germania Club, which is in turn named after the country. The street is the building's driveway. 
 Left: Germania Place, with the club to the right. Right: Germania Club in 1970, prior to National Register status and renovation. The adjacent Village Theater, originally named Germania, closed early 2007. 
 Germania Club houses Chicago's oldest German social organization in addition to a number of ballrooms, halls, and retail occupants. A mix of neo-classical and German Renaissance elements, the building was designed by architect August Fiedler and built in 1889. One of the last vestiges of the Gold Coast's German heritage, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. A full renovation followed in 1994. Surprisingly, it is not a city landmark. On to page two where we'll discuss a mysterious triangle and the smallest street in Chicago! 
|
