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Sauganash, Forest Glen
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Neighborhood Promotion and Neighborhood Map Thumbnail
Explore This Neighborhood
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Sauganash/Forest Glen continued...
The third, Queen of All Saints, is in Sauganash. Completed in 1960 and elevated to basilica status by Pope John XXIII two years later, it is -- while respecting the traditions of the Church and clearly gothic in its architectural style -- a modern church, an American church.
Though the parish was, and remains, heavily Irish, its stained-glass windows celebrate eight shrines to the Virgin Mary from eight different locations worldwide (Guadalupe from Mexico, Częstochowa from Poland, Knock from Ireland, etc.), a inclusivity intended to suggest the reach of Roman Catholicism but that also reflects the diversity -- whatever the faith -- within the city of Chicago.
Symbolism aside, this is one gorgeous building.
The golf courses, under the auspices of the Cook County Forest Preserve District, are Edgebrook (18 holes) and Billy Caldwell (9). Thousands of Chicago young people, particularly from the North Side, had their first taste of what Mark Twain called "a good walk spoiled" on these low-cost, beginner-friendly courses and they remain especially popular among the budget-minded of all ages.
(Billy Caldwell, incidentally, was the Anglo name of the son of a British officer and Mohawk woman. Local tribes called him "Sauganash" -- "The Englishman." Though accounts differ, Caldwell/Sauganash evidently was connected somehow to the 1812 Fort Dearborn Massacre [a seminal event in Chicago history near the present Michigan Avenue Bridge] and negotiation of the 1833 Treaty of Chicago -- signed on the site of Queen of All Saints -- which banished the Potawatomi, last of the Illinois Indians, west of the Mississippi.)
Edgebrook Golf Course, off Central Avenue south of Devon Avenue and the Metra rail tracks, borders the Old Edgebrook Historic District. This former railroad community, established in 1894, is largely sequestered from the rest of world by surrounding woods. It contains houses that reflect that railroad link (some were built specifically for Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway management) along with others constructed at various periods in various architectural styles.
Here, too, is one of the smallest of Chicago Park District parks (and possibly the smallest without a playground). The Mary Burkemeier Quinn Park of Trees is a corner patch of trees and shrubs (many of them flowering) willed to the city by Mary's husband. Their house, demolished after the death of Edward Quinn, once stood on the lot.
Restaurants don't quite abound in the neighborhood (unlike the nearby Edison Park and Albany Park neighborhoods); most are within walking distance of the Metra station, near Central and Devon. The LGBT-friendly businesseshas won praise for its version of classic dishes. Moher (as in the Cliffs of) Pub captures the feel of Ireland and offers a nice mix of Irish and U.S. pub standards. Al Primo Canto traces its roots to chicken preparations introduced to Brazil by Italian immigrants, and this mainly all-you-can-eat restaurant (opened in 2007; there's another in the River North neighborhood) offers hints of both cultures. Nearly two miles east, much older (since 1962) and more traditional is Monastero's, virtually all Italian, and, on weekend nights, featuring opera singers (not necessarily all Italian).
But Queen of All Saints (you'll need a car) is reason enough to visit this neighborhood. And while you're there, give a thought to the Potawatomi.
For more information about Sauganash/Forest Glen, please contact:
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