• St. John Cantius Church (1893-98)
• The elevated Union Pacific Railroad tracks
• North Branch of the Chicago River
• The neighborhood's converted 1980s industrial loft buildings

River West occupies a narrow strip of the West Town community area, bounded by the Kennedy Expressway to the west, the Chicago River's North Branch to the east, Division Street to the north, and Grand Avenue to the south, bisected by the elevated Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Once known as part of the "Polish Patch" that spread through West Town, the area developed through the early twentieth century as an industrial district of lumber yards, shoe manufacturers, and piano factories serving the surrounding immigrant neighborhoods.

St. John Cantius Church, built between 1893 and 1898 by architect Adolphus Druiding for a growing community of Polish immigrants, still anchors the neighborhood with its 130-foot tower visible from the Kennedy Expressway. When the expressway's construction cut through the surrounding blocks in the 1950s and '60s, it began a long decline for the parish and the district's manufacturing base alike. Beginning in the mid-1980s, though, the same large industrial loft buildings that once housed factories were converted into residences, giving River West its present character.

From a Polish Patch factory district to a converted-loft residential enclave, River West's brick-and-timber buildings still carry the trade that built them — a history worth wearing on your own walk along the river.