Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Evergreen Park

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
CHistory
History · Evergreen Park

Evergreen Park’s post office opened in 1875, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #545 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1900.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
40famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Ken Lund from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Evergreen Park began

When was Evergreen Park founded?

1875

The Evergreen Park post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1893.

First census: 445 in 19002020 census: 19,943151 years

How historic is Evergreen Park?

C

More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Evergreen Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1893.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Evergreen Park’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Evergreen Park is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #545 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Evergreen Park’s overall grade.
Founding era1875, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194012.2% of homes (±2.7) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 32%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 29%

Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Evergreen Park’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1893 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Evergreen Park’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Evergreen Park are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18927 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1993. Watch Evergreen Park change.Famous sons and daughtersJane Lynch, Sean Hayes and 38 more were born here.Old housesHalf of Evergreen Park’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Evergreen Park’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Evergreen Park’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Evergreen Park on the map, 1892 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Evergreen Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Evergreen Park on the 1892 USGS mapEvergreen Park on the 1900 USGS mapEvergreen Park on the 1929 USGS mapEvergreen Park on the 1953 USGS mapEvergreen Park on the 1963 USGS mapEvergreen Park on the 1973 USGS mapEvergreen Park on the 1993 USGS map1892Calumet sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Evergreen Park.

Famous people

40 famous people were born in Evergreen Park

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Jane LynchAmerican actress · b. 1960
Sean HayesAmerican actor · b. 1970
J
Jenny McCarthyAmerican actress, model, activist, television p… · b. 1972
Brad GuzanAmerican soccer player · b. 1984
David A. PattersonAmerican computer scientist · b. 1947
Robert Gerald CaseyAmerican Catholic Archbishop · b. 1967
The story

How Evergreen Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Evergreen Park.

Read it all →

As early as 1828, a German farming family had settled in the area that became Evergreen Park. In the following decades, additional German settlers arrived. Kedzie Avenue and 95th Street crossed the farmland and provided access to markets. The first railroad, that became part of the Grand Trunk Railroad, passed through the area in 1873. In 1875, the community constructed its first school just west of the intersection of 95th Street and Kedzie Avenue. This school, along with the stores that later clustered around the intersection, defined the community's central business district.

ChaptersThe PlazaFirst successful kidney transplant

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Evergreen Park, 1875 to 1984

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Evergreen Park post office opens
  3. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1942Post officeThe Evergreen Park post office closes
  6. 1960Born hereJane Lynch is born here
  7. 1970Born hereSean Hayes is born here
  8. 1972Born hereJenny McCarthy is born here
  9. 1984Born hereBrad Guzan is born here
By decade

Evergreen Park, decade by decade

Today12 recent
Maranatha Chicago2024Maranatha ChicagoGrave of Raymond William Schalk (1892–1970) at Evergreen Cemetery2022Grave of Raymond William Schalk (1892–1970) at Evergr…Grave of Raymond Stephen McKeough (1888–1979) at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery2022Grave of Raymond Stephen McKeough (1888–1979) at Sain…Grave of Neil Joseph Linehan (1895–1967) at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery2022Grave of Neil Joseph Linehan (1895–1967) at Saint Mar…Grave of Martin Patrick Durkin (1894–1955) at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery2022Grave of Martin Patrick Durkin (1894–1955) at Saint M…Grave of Louis Brian Piccolo (1943–1970) at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery2022Grave of Louis Brian Piccolo (1943–1970) at Saint Mar…Grave of Josephine V. Bogash (1897–1960) at Evergreen Cemetery2022Grave of Josephine V. Bogash (1897–1960) at Evergreen…Grave of George Joseph Moriarty (1884–1964) at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery2022Grave of George Joseph Moriarty (1884–1964) at Saint …Grave of Edward Carl Gaedele (1925–1961) at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery2022Grave of Edward Carl Gaedele (1925–1961) at Saint Mar…Grave of Edward Austin Kelly (1892–1969) at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery2022Grave of Edward Austin Kelly (1892–1969) at Saint Mar…Evergreen Plaza2013Evergreen PlazaUS-IL-Chicagoland-Evergreen Park2005US-IL-Chicagoland-Evergreen Park
People over time

Evergreen Park, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 25,921

Between 424 and 25,921 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Evergreen Park’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Evergreen Park had its own post office from 1875 to 1942.

Evergreen Park
1875–1942
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Sainte Marielocale
1cemetery inside Evergreen Park
Evergreen

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Worth Township1 historic placeC+Chicago407 historic placesA+

Questions about Evergreen Park’s history

What year was Evergreen Park founded?

The Evergreen Park post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1893.

How does Evergreen Park rank for history?

Evergreen Park is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #545 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Evergreen Park?

12% of Evergreen Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1955.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.