• Ravenswood Land Company's original 1868 subdivision
• Abbott Laboratories founding site (1888)
• J.C. Deagan Building (est. 1897, ornamental water tank tower)
• The Ravenswood/Union Pacific North Line rail corridor

Ravenswood was founded in 1868 as an exclusive commuter suburb, when a group of speculators organized the Ravenswood Land Company and purchased 194 acres of farmland and woods eight miles north of the city. The developers restricted access with costly rail tickets and built a hotel so prospective buyers could visit before purchasing a large lot, ensuring a wealthy clientele even before basic infrastructure existed. The suburb got sewers only after Chicago annexed it as part of Lake View Township in 1889.

By the 1890s, the same rail corridor that had drawn commuters attracted industry: pharmacist and physician Wallace Calvin Abbott founded Abbott Laboratories in Ravenswood in 1888, and the J.C. Deagan Company began manufacturing marimbas and chimes along the tracks in 1897. The Deagan Building, with its distinctive ornamental water tank tower, still stands as a neighborhood landmark of that manufacturing era, now home to Century Mallet Company.

From a restricted commuter suburb to a manufacturing corridor to a creative hub, Ravenswood's rail line has carried the neighborhood through more than one identity — a history worth wearing on your own commute.