North Part of Cook County

Property owners across northwest Chicagoland during the Interwar Period.

This large and detailed map of northern Cook County, Illinois was drawn by M.J. Kahle and copyrighted in 1936 by M.B. Schaeffer, a Chicago-based publisher who specialized in real estate cartography. A finely delineated image names scores of large property owners and their corresponding acreage across the large area northwest of Chicago (seen in the lower right).

Golf courses, cemeteries, airports, and the extensive Cook County Forest preserves are shaded. Roads are shown according to type of surface (paved, gravel, other), and state and U.S. highways are marked accordingly. Steam and electric railways, still the primary means of transportation for most, connect the major suburban areas including Northbrook, Wilmette, Wheeling, Barrington, Glenview, Evanson, Arlington Heights, and Schaumburg. Notable locations of interest within the map include Northwestern University, Arlington Park Race Track, and Curtiss-Reynolds Airport.

Northern Cook County saw extensive growth during the Interwar Period, as the largely agricultural area became dotted with residential districts and small centers of local industry – all accessible via rail to one of the largest markets in the Midwest. A high concentration of golf courses and country clubs reflect the affluent North Shore, while the western regions were more rural and working class. The Great Depression dampened economic enthusiasm and ongoing policies of segregated housing also affected local demographics around the time of publication.