Frederick H. Bartlett’s North Shore Properties

Selling real estate in Chicago’s North Shore during the Roaring ’20s.

This rare and ephemeral broadsheet is dated June 6th, 1927 and was issued to promote plots of land for sale by the real estate developer Frederick H. Bartlett. The parcel is bounded by Atkinson Avenue (north), Northern Avenue (east), Rockland Road (south), and Bayonee Avenue (west) and shows approximately today’s unincorporated community of Knollwood – about 35 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.

Easy transportation access is afforded by the Knollwood electric railway station and the Knollwood Country Club, established just two years prior to publication, lies just across the street. However, the line of the Elgin, Joliet, & Eastern Railroad bisecting the area would certainly dissuade some potential buyers due to the inevitable smoke and noise from the steam engines.

Bartlett was one of the Chicago area’s leading real estate developers in the first three decades of the 20th century, acquiring large parcels in nearby suburbs along commuter lines and subdividing them for sale. Garfield Ridge and Beverly Shores, Indiana are two communities that were largely founded by his firm.

Source: Clear Ridge History;