I recommended the book “A Little Known Story of the Land Called Clearing” by Robert Milton Hill as a source for the history of Garfield Ridge because the community of Clearing is its immediate neighbor to the south, including Mr. Hill’s interesting comments regarding the Chicago Portage and the early French “Coureus de Bois” (Ranger or Runner of the Woods) to the immediate north.However, in my opinion, no future history of Garfield Ridge would be complete without the full story of John Wentworth who was elected Chicago’s mayor in 1857 and 1860. Wentworth was a major landowner of the Garfield Ridge area in the 1880s. He had a vast farm and large farmhouse retreat built in 1868. If anyone is interested in this man I recommend that you read “Chicago Giant” by Don E. Fehrenbacher (1957). This book is available at several surrounding community libraries.
: I am looking for anyone with more neighborhood history than what I have researched in the Chicago Public library about Garfield Ridge. My ancestors originated in Bridgeport and went to St Mary's as the years went by the family migrated west to where I reside now in Garfield Ridge. Most books center on the North/ Northwest Sides of Chicago. I did find John Drury's book very helpful with the area surrounding Harlem (being a farm). Books published by D. Pacyga from University of Chicago Press are informative but do not go further west than Brighton Park.
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