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Local Landmarks & Heritage

  • Music Box Theatre
  • St. Alphonsus Church
  • Athenaeum Theatre
  • Marshfield Trust and Savings Bank Building

Neighborhood History

West Lakeview grew out of the broader Lake View Township, incorporated as a city in 1887 and annexed to Chicago in 1889, with the Southport Avenue commercial strip emerging as the neighborhood's defining corridor over the following century. St. Alphonsus Church, built by German-American parishioners and standing at the six-way intersection of Southport, Lincoln, and Wellington since 1896, anchored the community's German heritage alongside its neighboring Athenaeum Theatre, originally built as a German folk opera house in 1911.

The Music Box Theatre, opened in 1929, remains Chicago's premier venue for independent and foreign films, screening roughly 300 films a year in one of the last full-time large-format movie theaters in the city. West Lakeview Neighbors, the residential association that defines the area's modern boundaries, continues to anchor community life along Southport Avenue today.

For anyone who has caught a late show at the Music Box or admired St. Alphonsus's copper bell tower, MY-NHD's West Lakeview tee is a way to carry that history with you.

MY-NHD

West Lakeview - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee

West Lakeview - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee

Regular price $29.95 CAD
Regular price Sale price $29.95 CAD
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West Lakeview grew from Lake View Township, annexed to Chicago in 1889, with Southport Avenue as its main street. St. Alphonsus Church has stood at Southport, Lincoln and Wellington since 1896, beside the 1911 Athenaeum Theatre.

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