Riverside, Illinois
village in Cook County, Illinois, United States
Riverside is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population of the village was 9,298 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Chicago, located around 9 miles (14 km) west of downtown Chicago and 2 miles (3 km) outside city limits. A significant portion of the village is in the Riverside Landscape Architecture District, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
History
Riverside is arguably the first planned suburb (as opposed to a stand-alone community) in the United States, designed in 1869 by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted. The village was incorporated in 1875. The Riverside Landscape Architecture District, an area bounded by 26th Street, Harlem and Ogden avenues, the Des Plaines River, and Golf Road, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
In 1863 the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was built heading southwest from downtown Chicago to Quincy, Illinois, passing through what is now the Near West Suburban area of Chicago in a western-southwestern direction. This new access to transportation and commerce brought about a significant housing and construction boom in what was once farmland far from the bustle of the city of Chicago.
In 1868, an eastern businessman named Emery E. Childs formed the Riverside Improvement Company, and in 1869 purchased a 1,600-acre (6.5 km2) tract of property along the Des Plaines River and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad line.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Riverside, Illinois” is village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Riverside, Illinois and village, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “village in Cook County, Illinois, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2462183. VIAF identifies the subject as 129073663. The Library of Congress control number is n85188523. Authority coordinates are 41.831, -87.816. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1970, 1869 and 1875.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. 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
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Riverside, Illinois”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Riverside, Illinois primary sources, Riverside, Illinois archive and Riverside research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Riverside, Illinois”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Riverside, Illinois” 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.