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Avondale, Chicago

community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ2874478 ↗
Source-derived summary

Avondale () is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago in Illinois, United States. It is on the Northwest Side of the city. The northern border is Addison Street from the north branch of the Chicago River in the east to Pulaski Road in the west. The neighborhood extends further west along Belmont Avenue to the Milwaukee District North Line. Its southern border is Diversey Avenue from the Milwaukee District North Line to the Chicago River.

In 2025, Avondale was ranked the world’s fifth coolest neighborhood by Time Out, higher than any other U.S. city. This represents an increase in ranking from 2022, when Time Out ranked Avondale the sixteenth coolest neighborhood in the world.

History

The first European settler in Avondale was Abraham Harris who settled the area three years after its 1850 incorporation into Jefferson Township. In 1869, Avondale was incorporated as a village. It has been speculated that developer and Pennsylvania native John Lewis Cochran named the village in honor of the miners and rescue workers who died in the Avondale coal mine fire.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Avondale, Chicago” as community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Avondale, Chicago and community.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2025, 2022, 1850, 1869—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Avondale, Chicago and community providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Avondale, Chicago”, the useful work is to connect “community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2874478. VIAF identifies the subject as 307456193. Authority coordinates are 41.940, -87.710. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 2022, 1850 and 1869.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Avondale, Chicago”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Avondale, Chicago primary sources, Avondale, Chicago archive and Avondale research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Avondale, Chicago”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Avondale, Chicago” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.