Farmers Market Reporter Visits Chicago's Edgewater Market

Bob Benenson
Jun 15
2 min read

Sole Monday Market in Chicago Best Known for Its Lakeshore Skyline

The Edgewater neighborhood near Chicago's northeast border with Evanston took a long road to its own identity. It was part of then-independent Lake View Township until it was annexed by Chicago in 1889. Then, for nearly 100 years after, it was incorporated into Uptown, one of the city's officially designated community areas.

It wasn't until 1980 that Edgewater became the 77th — and last — community area in the "City of Neighborhoods."

To most Chicagoans, Edgewater is best known for the high-rise apartment buildings that literally sit at the edge of the waters of Lake Michigan. One of these buildings has a place in TV trivia: It was the residence of Bob Hartley, the fictional psychologist played by Bob Newhart on the popular "The Bob Newhart Show," which ran from 1972 to 1978.

Andersonville makes up the western part of Edgewater. For many years an enclave of Swedish-Americans, it has evolved into one of Chicago's centers of gay life.

The community was once known for the Edgewater Beach Hotel, which opened in 1916 and thrived as a resort for many years. But the extension of the Lake Shore Drive highway, built on landfill in the 1950s, separated the hotel from the beach; its attraction faded and it was demolished in 1970, though the pink-hued Edgewater Beach Apartments building still stands as a reminder of its glory days.

The Edgewater farmers market, which opened for the season last Monday, has its own distinction as the only market in the city (and one of two in the region) held on that day of the week. It is located outside a former National Guard Armory, which is now managed by the Chicago Park District.

Farmers Market Reporter Ed Kugler visited on opening day and shared the following photos.

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Edgewater Monday Market

5917 N. Broadway, Chicago

Mondays, 3 p.m to 7 p.m.