To the Salt Creek Trail - 1.02 Miles Follow 26th Street West to Just Past 9th Avenue
To the Salt Creek Trail
Discover
A National Historic Landmark Community
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Downtown Riverside Chamber of Commerce Member
Business Locator On-Line MapUse the smart tag to view a map with the locations of Riverside's shops and eateries.
Frederick Law Olmsted Route - 6.3 MilesThe longest of Riverside's three historic routes follows Olmsted's unique curvilinear street design. Enjoy tree lined streets and expansive parkways as you pass by many beautiful landmark homes and buildings.
Frank Lloyd Wright Route (Salt Creek Trail, Riverside Segment) - 3.0 MilesTakes you through Riverside's central business district with its distinctive shops and dining. And, you will see an impressive array of prairie style homes including Frank Lloyd Wright's Avery Coonley Estate and Tomek Residence.
John F. Palmer Route - 1.9 MilesOf special interest to cyclists, from Brookfield Zoo to the west to Harlem Avenue on the east, this route takes you past the home of John F. Palmer, inventor of the thread fabric pneumatic bicycle tire that revolutionized cycling and the automotive industry.
1 Riverside Public Library – One Burling Road2 Heilbron Residence – 294 Lionel Road3 William Radford Design Residence – 249 Olmsted Road4 William Radford Design Residence – 253 Olmsted Road5 Riverside Improvement Co. Bldg. – One Riverside Road6 Riverside Town Hall – 27 Riverside Road7 William T. Allen Residence – 84 Riverside Road8 Riverside Presbyterian Church – 116 Barrypoint Road9 Riverside Presbyterian Church (Manse)
111 Scottswood Road10 Riverside Train Depot – 90 Bloomingbank Road11 Riverside Train Depot – 15 Pine Avenue12 Clarence Cross Cottage – 111 Bloomingbank Road13 Thomas W. Blayney Residence – 143 Bloomingbank Road14 John C. Smith, Jr. Residence – 213 Bloomingbank Road15 Lenders Residence – 223 Bloomingbank Road16 Popelka Residence – 255 Bloomingbank Road17 Avery Coonley Residence – 281 Bloomingbank Road*18 Coonley Estate (Stables and Carriage House)
336 Coonley Road*19 Dore Cottage – 100 Fairbank Road20 Freeark Residence – 304 Fairbank Road21 Gardener's Cottage (Coonley Estate) – 308 Fairbank Road*22 Coonley Playhouse – 350 Fairbank Road*23 McQueen Residence – 229 Millbridge Road24 Water Tower, Well House and Pump House
10 Pine Avenue25 Matilda Bryant Residence – 118 Scottswood Road26 L. Y. Schermerborn Residence – 124 Scottswood Road27 Matilda Bryant Residence – 136 Scottswood Road28 Clarence Cross Residence and Coach House
Blackhawk Road D5Bloomingbank Road A6Blythe Road E3Burling Road C5Burlington Street East D3Burlington Street West A5Byrd Road E1Coonley Road A6Cowley Road North D4Cowley Road South D4Delaplaine Road North C3
Delaplaine Road South E5Des Plaines Avenue B1Downing Road D2East Avenue C4Eastgrove Road D3Evelyn Road D2Fairbank Road B6First Avenue A3Forbes Road North A5Forbes Road South A5Forest Avenue B4
Parks1 Big Ball Park C32 Centennial Plaza C43 Guthrie Park C54 Harrington Park E45 Indian Gardens A66 Leesley Park E27 Patriots Park E18 Scout Cabin A69 Scottswood
Common B510 Swan Pond B511 Turtle Park C3
Public Buildings1 Library C56 Village Office C56 Police Station C56 Fire Station C5
10 Train Station B424 Parks and Recreation
Department C424 Historical Museum C41 Public Works D6
For More Information
Use the Smart Tag!
* Frank Lloyd Wright Designed Home
Riverside's Bicycle Routes take you past more historic landmark homes and buildings per mile than any other bicycle routes in the USA!
Feeling adventurous? Points of interestSeek out these hidden gems. Each has a plaque giving a glimpse into Riverside's special past.
1 Bourbon Springs B5 2 Native American River Crossing B6 3 Forbes Homestead B5 4 Riverside's National Historic Landmark Designation C4 5 Driver Horse Trough C5 6 Swinging Bridge C5
Riverside is located just 11 miles from Downtown Chicago and just a short
17-minute train ride on Metra's BNSF
Rail Line.
Map Courtesy of
As one of the country's first planned communities, Riverside has been welcoming visitors and residents to its serene riverbanks since its founding in 1869. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Riverside's expansive parks and parkways, curvilinear streets, remarkable architecture, and gas-lit street lanterns take you back to the rural pleasures of yesteryear. And it's all just a short 11 mile train ride from downtown Chicago.
Visit Riverside's shops and restaurants, take a leisurely bike ride along our tree-lined streets past more landmark homes than your will find on any other bike route in America. See magnificent homes by Frank Lloyd Wright and other famous architects, and visit the country's first commercial arcade building, beautifully restored with its signature copper cupola. Stroll or bike across our swinging bridge and take a relaxing break in the shade of our historic Water Tower.
Come to where yesterday meets tomorrow in one of Chicago's most historic suburbs. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970, there is always another delightful surprise waiting for you around the next curve in Riverside, Illinois.
The area that is now Riverside holds a unique place in our country’s history. Its proximity to the Chicago Portage, which provided a connection between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River, made the area a focal point for Native American settlements and an active trading route. Explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were shown the Portage by local Native Americans in 1673, and it was a defining factor in the founding and development of Chicago and the nation’s westward expansion.
The Forbes family came to Riverside (then called Aux Plaines) and built the first home west of Chicago in 1831. There was minimal devel-
opment during the mid-1800s, but that changed in 1863 when the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad built a rail line through the area. Then, in 1869, a group of visionary busi-nessmen formed the Riverside Improvement Company and set out to develop "a perfect village in a perfect setting."
To achieve this lofty goal, the RIC commissioned landscape architects Frederick Law Olm-sted (the “father of landscape architecture”) and his partner
Calvert Vaux to design one of the first planned suburban communities in the United States. Olmsted and Vaux were already well-known for their design of New York City's Central Park, and their “General Plan for Riverside” quickly became a landmark in urban design and land-scape architecture.
Olmsted and Vaux strove to create a pastoral atmosphere in an urban environment, combining the pleasures of rural life with conveniences such as community-provided gas lighting, water services, and well-maintained streets. Instead of using a typical grid pattern for Riverside's streets, Olmsted and Vaux designed curvilinear streets that followed the contours of the land and the Des Plaines River, emphasizing the community’s connection to nature.
Olmsted and Vaux considered the public landscape a civic necessity, and their plan included a Grand Park system of several large parks and multiple smaller triangular parks located at intersections throughout the town to provide public space for neighbors to gather and interact. In all, almost one-half of the Village was set aside as public land. This emphasis on connectivity with nature, reliance on mass transit, and focus on sustainable livability made Riverside one of the first conservation design communities in the United States.
By 1871, Riverside had a number of large homes, a Water Tower, thecountry’s first multi-shop arcade building, a church, a train depot, and a grand hotel. Then, in 1871, disaster struck with the Chicago Fire. The ensuing financial panic led to the demise of the Riverside Improvement Company in 1873, but fortunately Olmsted and Vaux's plan was already largely in place. Local residents came together to sustain Olmsted and Vaux’s vision, officially incorporating the Village of Riverside in 1875.
True to its founding ideals, Riverside attracted increasing numbers of people from the bustle of Chicago to a serene oasis easily acces-sible by train a scant eleven miles west of the city. Over time this growth brought the country’s preeminent architects to contribute to the exceptional diversity of Riverside’s architecture, including Frank Lloyd Wright, William Le Baron Jenney, Charles Frederick Whittlesey, Joseph Lyman Silsbee, R. Harold Zook, Frederick Clarke Withers, Howard Van
Doren Shaw, Purcell & Elmslie, Calvert Vaux, and William Eugene Drum-mond. Much of their work remains today.
Since its early beginnings, Riverside has remained a beautiful "Village in the
Forest." It retains many elements of Olmsted and Vaux’s original plan, including expansive public parks, gas-lit lanterns, and curvilinear streets. In 1970 this legacy was formally recognized when the Riverside Landscape Architecture District was designated a National Historic Landmark.
For more information on Riverside’s history, stop by the Visitor Center at the historic Riverside Train Station, visit the Historical Museum in Centennial Plaza, or visit online at www.RiversideMuseum.net.
A Brief History...
Riverside is One of the Country's First Planned Communities!
Riverside has the First Multi-Tenant Shopping Center in the USA!
Printed in USA. Version 9.2016
Riverside has One of the Few Swinging Bridges in Illinois!
