With its plethora of retail businesses and tranquil rows of beautiful homes, Schorsch Village has a bit of an identity crisis. We fancy it as something of an urban oasis, but it wasn’t always the picturesque, family-friendly neighborhood it is today.

In 1851, Cook County decided that an undeveloped stretch of prairie northwest of Chicago would be an ideal location for a poor farm, or 'almshouse,' as it was called. The county purchased 160 acres of land from Peter Ludby—a farmer who acquired the property simply by staking his claim—and in addition to the communal farms, an insane asylum was built on the grounds. Of course, the looming institution terrified potential settlers, and the areas surrounding the almshouse and the hospital remained largely vacant for years.

In 1916, when real estate developers named the Schorsch brothers bought a piece of land west of Austin and south of Irving Park, they decided to call it 'West Portage Park' after the new park that had been built just to the east and to sever the association with the poor farm and hospital once and for all. This change quickly resulted in a housing surge, with many homes being built and people finally willing to move into the neighborhood, without paying mind to the nearby hospital.

By the end of World War I, many European immigrants were arriving in the Chicago area, and the city finally started running public transportation to the Dunning district, which included West Portage Park (modern-day Schorsch Village). The existence of convenient transit prompted folks to head north and to settle in the newly developing neighborhood. People of Swedish, German, and Polish descents moved here and created ethnic enclaves. In fact, the presence of these groups is still felt in the neighborhood today. Later, Italian-Americans moved into the area and opened up small shops, adding to the small community’s cultural diversity.
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