Highwood (1,219) is just south of Fort Sheridan. Highland Park (4,209) is the southernmost of the lake shore cities in Lake County.
Glencoe (1,899), Winnetka (3,168), Kenilworth (881), and Wilmette (4,943) are residential suburbs on the lake shore in Cook County.
Evanston (24,978), situated on the lake shore just north of the city limits of Chicago, is the largest of the North Shore cities of Illinois. It is the scat of Northwestern University.
The 26 miles of lake shore from Evanston to the Indiana state line is occupied by the city of Chicago. In the enlarge ment of its city limits Chicago has absorbed numerous villages and cities which had'their early growth as independent munici palities. After becoming a part of Chicago, the original name still designates the locality, and, in some instances, the name is applied to a branch of the Chicago post-office. Thus the names Rogers Park, Austin, Englewood, Hyde Park, South Chicago, and many others refer to portions of Chicago which have been annexed from time to time with the growth of the city.
Along the Indiana shore.—East of Chicago, in Indiana, along the south shore of Lake Michigan, are found Whiting (6,587), Hammond (20,925), East Chicago (19,098), Gary (16,804), all within 12 miles of the city limits of Chicago; and Michigan City (19,207), 25 miles beyond Gary. Among these cities Gary has had the most remarkable development and growth. In 1906 the site of Gary was a series of sand dunes along the lake shore. The land had been purchased by the United States Steel Corporation, and building operations were begun in 1906. A safe, deep, and commodious harbor was con structed; wide streets were laid out; water, gas, and sewer systems were installed; streets and sidewalks were paved in the most modern fashion; blast furnaces and steel mills were pushed to completion; and a great industrial city with iron and steel works as its chief corner stone was established as rapidly as human hands could build it. By 1910 Gary had a
population of 16,SO4, but its growth had hardly begun. Its population in 1920 was 55,000.
Cities west of the lake shore.—All cities of Illinois thus far mentioned are on the lake front. West of these, and still in the Lake Michigan Basin, or on the divide between the lake and the Des Plaines River, are found several other cities of some note, all in Cook County. Most of these are close enough to the outskirts of Chicago to appear to be subject to annexation in the future.
Park Ridge (2,009) is at the extreme northwest corner of Chicago.
Oak Park (19,444) is a residential suburb adjoining Chicago on the west. It is nearer the business district of Chicago than are the northern or southern extremities of the city.
Forest Park (6,694) lies directly south of Oak Park.
Cicero (14,657) is a rapidly developing industrial city adjoining Chicago on the west.
Berwyn (6,481) is between Cicero and Riverside.
Morgan Park (3,694) was annexed to Chicago in 1914. Blue Island (8,043) is on the Little Calumet River. Harvey (7,227) is a manufacturing city, also on the Little Calumet.
West Hammond (4,948) is near the Indiana state line. Chicago Heights (14,525) is a manufacturing city 10 miles south of the city limits of Chicago.
A substantial increase in population has taken place in a number of these suburban cities since 1910. The 17 leading cities of the Lake Basin outside of Chicago had in 1910 a population of 150,000; 65,000 were in the 8 cities of the North Shore, and 85,000 in the 9 cities away from the shore, but nearer Chicago in most cases than the lake-shore cities. Only a slight extension of the city limits of Chicago would be required to include S0,000 of the population of these suburban cities.
The predominance of urban conditions in the Lake Basin is due wholly to the development of Chicago as a great com mercial and manufacturing center.