Living on the Near West Side: A Local’s Guide to Community Area 28

The Near West Side is Chicago’s official community area 28, directly west of the Loop, and it holds the West Loop, Greektown, Little Italy, UIC, the United Center and the Illinois Medical District. Living there can mean a converted market warehouse, an 1880s rowhouse near Ashland or a new building on old industrial or public housing land, with 10 L stations on the Blue, Green and Pink lines and Union Station at Canal and Jackson.

Housing: lofts, rowhouses, cottages and new construction

Near West Side housing runs from 1880s rowhouses and cottages to converted warehouses and new apartment buildings.

The oldest blocks sit near Ashland. The Jackson Boulevard District, a City landmark district since 1976, covers the 1500 blocks of West Jackson and West Adams between Laflin and Ashland: houses and rowhouses built from 1879 to 1893, which the City calls “virtually all that remain” of the once-fashionable Near West Side. The Claremont Cottage District (landmarked 2019) is 19 Queen Anne cottages from 1884–85 on the 1000 block of South Claremont.

The lofts come from the food trade. The South Water Market warehouses on 14th Street between Racine and Morgan closed in 2001 and became homes called University Commons. Around Fulton Market, a 2021 City plan update allows residential use north of Lake Street.

Along Taylor Street, the four ABLA public housing complexes, built 1938–1961, were mostly demolished by 2007; the land is becoming Roosevelt Square. The last Jane Addams Homes building reopened April 4, 2025, as the National Public Housing Museum.

Getting around: 10 L stations, Union Station and the Circle Interchange

The Near West Side has 10 L stations on three lines, and from the east end, Union Station at Canal and Jackson is a short walk for Amtrak and Metra.

Green and Pink Line trains share the Lake Street elevated at Clinton, Morgan and Ashland; Damen is Green only. Morgan opened in 2012, filling a gap of about 1.5 miles between Clinton and Ashland, and the City’s landmark report credits it with helping fuel West Loop development. The Pink Line started June 25, 2006, and stops at Polk, at Polk and Paulina, by the medical district.

The Blue Line’s Forest Park branch runs along the Eisenhower Expressway, with service since June 22, 1958: Clinton, UIC-Halsted, Racine, Illinois Medical District and Western. Clinton, Racine and Western (Blue) are not step-free; the other seven stations are. UIC-Halsted has entrances at Halsted, Peoria and Morgan.

The Eisenhower meets the Kennedy and Dan Ryan at the Circle Interchange, whose construction cleared a large part of the old Greektown.

Main streets: Randolph, Fulton Market, Halsted and Taylor

Randolph Street and Fulton Market are the West Loop’s main streets, and both began as food markets.

The City dates the market district to 1850, when a market hall went up in the middle of Randolph. From 1881 the widened street, long called Haymarket Square, held an open-air produce market until 1963. On Fulton Market, 22 meatpackers finished two market buildings in 1887. The Fulton-Randolph Market District became a landmark district in 2015; its report notes Randolph’s turn toward restaurants and galleries since the 1990s. The 1886 Haymarket bombing site, 151-199 N. Desplaines, is a separate landmark.

Greektown’s Halsted has the National Hellenic Museum, at Van Buren since 2011. Taylor Street between Ashland and Halsted is Little Italy’s main street, home to Our Lady of Pompeii.

The Maxwell Street market, centered at Maxwell and Halsted, moved to Canal Street in 1994 for UIC expansion, then to Desplaines in 2008. In 2024 the City brought it back to Maxwell for monthly summer Sundays.

Parks and libraries: Union Park’s pool, Arrigo and a West Loop dog park

City data counts 18 Park District parks here. Union Park (14.2 acres, 1501 W. Randolph) has an outdoor pool. Sources disagree on its start: the Park District says 1853, the Encyclopedia of Chicago 1854. Jens Jensen planted his experimental American Garden there in 1888.

Sheridan Park (910 S. Aberdeen) has an indoor pool in its 1977 fieldhouse. Fosco Park (1312 S. Racine) has an indoor Olympic-sized pool in a center that opened in 2005. Jane Addams Park (9.2 acres, 1434 S. Loomis) added the ComEd Recreation Center in 2020.

Skinner Park (1331 W. Adams) began as Jefferson Park and was renamed in 1955. Arrigo Park (7.1 acres, 801 S. Loomis) started as Vernon Park in 1859; in February 2026 the Park District announced an Italian Heritage Monument honoring Mother Cabrini there. Bartelme Park (115 S. Sangamon) has the dog-friendly area, named for Mary Bartelme, Illinois’s first woman judge.

Libraries: West Loop (122 N. Aberdeen), Little Italy (1336 W. Taylor) and Manning (6 S. Hoyne).

West Loop, Little Italy, UIC and the official map

The Near West Side is the official community area. West Loop, Greektown, Little Italy/UIC and United Center are the neighborhood names the City’s approximate map draws inside it. Fulton Market, University Village, Tri-Taylor and the Illinois Medical District are names in everyday use.

Greektown has moved. The Encyclopedia places the original at Halsted, Harrison and Blue Island, where UIC now stands. The campus, then Chicago Circle, opened in February 1965 at Harrison and Halsted on 100 acres designed by Walter Netsch; it merged with the medical campus in 1982 and now covers 240 acres. Its construction demolished most of the 13-building Hull-House complex, founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. The university kept the 1905 dining hall and rebuilt parts of the 1856 Hull mansion, at 800 S. Halsted.

The United Center opened on West Madison in 1994, replacing Chicago Stadium for the Bulls and Blackhawks. The Illinois Medical District dates to a 1941 state act; Cook County Hospital was completed nearby in 1876.

Near West Side at a glance

Near West Side is official community area 28 of Chicago’s 77. Inside its lines: 10 CTA L stations, 18 Chicago Park District parks, 3 public library branches and 20 Chicago Public Schools buildings. Neighborhood names on the City’s map that fall at least partly inside: Greektown, Little Italy/UIC, United Center, West Loop.

L stations

Ashland: Green and Pink lines (accessible)
Clinton (Blue): Blue Line (not accessible)
Clinton (Green/Pink): Green and Pink lines (accessible)
Damen: Green Line (accessible)
Illinois Medical District: Blue Line (accessible)
Morgan: Green and Pink lines (accessible)
Polk: Pink Line (accessible)
Racine: Blue Line (not accessible)
UIC-Halsted: Blue Line (accessible)
Western: Blue Line, Forest Park branch (not accessible)

Parks

Union Park: 14.2 acres; outdoor pool, playground, gymnasium, community center
Jane Addams Park: 9.2 acres
Arrigo Park: 7.1 acres
Skinner Park: 5.8 acres; playground, community center
Sheridan Park: 4.4 acres; indoor pool, playground, gymnasium
Fosco Park: 3.8 acres; indoor pool, playground, gymnasium
Touhy-Herbert Park: 3.3 acres; playground
Bartelme Park: 2.7 acres; playground, dog-friendly area
Livingston Field: 2.6 acres
Garibaldi Park: 2.5 acres; playground
Park No. 574 (2540 W Jackson Blvd): 2.2 acres; playground
Starr Park: 2.1 acres; playground
Park No. 578 (1919 W Maypole Ave): 1.8 acres
Park No. 551 (353 N Des Plaines St): 1.3 acres; playground, dog-friendly area
Heritage Green Park: 1.1 acres
Claremont Park: 1.0 acres; playground, community center
Park No. 569 (1358 W Monroe St): 0.40 acres; dog-friendly area
Smaller parks and mini-parks: Miller Park

Library

Little Italy branch, 1336 W. Taylor St.
Manning branch, 6 S. Hoyne Ave.
West Loop branch, 122 N. Aberdeen St.

Public schools

These are the Chicago Public Schools buildings located inside the community area. Being near a school is not the same as being in its attendance boundary: to see which schools serve a specific address, use the CPS School Locator.

Chicago World Language Academy (grades K to 8), 1340 W Harrison St
Galileo Math & Science Scholastic Academy ES (grades K to 8), 820 S Carpenter St
John M Smyth Elementary School (grades pre-K to 8), 1059 W 13Th St
Mark Skinner Elementary School (grades pre-K to 8), 1260 W Adams St
Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary School (grades pre-K to 8), 2131 W Monroe St
STEM Magnet Academy (grades K to 8), 1522 W Fillmore St
Suder Montessori Magnet ES (grades pre-K to 8), 2022 W Washington Blvd
The Virtual Academy Elementary School (grades pre-K to 8), 1326 W 14th St
Washington Irving Elementary School (grades pre-K to 8), 749 S Oakley Blvd
William H Brown STEM Magnet Elementary School (grades pre-K to 8), 54 N Hermitage Ave
Wilma Rudolph Elementary Learning Center (grades pre-K to 8), 1628 W Washington Blvd
Chicago Technology Academy High School (grades 9 to 12), 1301 W 14th St
Nancy B Jefferson Alternative High School (grades 6-12), 1100 S Hamilton Ave
Noble – Chicago Bulls College Prep (grades 9 to 12), 2040 W Adams St
Noble – UIC College Prep (grades 9 to 12), 1231 S Damen Ave
Phoenix Military Academy High School (grades 9 to 12), 145 S Campbell Ave
Richard T Crane Medical Preparatory HS (grades 9 to 12), 2245 W Jackson Blvd
Simpson Academy HS for Young Women (grades 6-12), 1321 S Paulina St
The Virtual Academy High School (grades 9 to 12), 1326 W 14th St
Whitney M Young Magnet High School (grades 7 to 12), 211 S Laflin St

More on the neighborhood

How to Order an Italian Beef Like You Grew Up Here
Chicago’s Apartment Vacancy Rate Is Somewhere Between 3% and 5.4%. Here’s Why.
Where Chicago Apartments Are Hardest to Find: Vacancy, Neighborhood by Neighborhood
Our sister site lists apartment buildings in the West Loop and Fulton Market, building by building.
All 77 community areas