1874 Dobson Survey of Riverdale and Wildwood, South Chicago

An exceptionally rare 1874 survey map of Riverdale, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago bordering the Calumet. The survey centers on a bend in the Little Calumet River just east of the modern day limits of Riverdale, including the lavish Wildwood estate of the industrialist James H. Bowen – now a metal processing plant and chemical facility. The presqu'île created by the bend in the river was at the time marked for settlement called 'Lockwoods Riverdale' and portioned out into lots, complete with a commuter rail service. Nonetheless, today this hopeful property is the abandoned remains of the defunct Acme Steel Mill. Other developments, to the east and north of the river, did in fact develop into residential districts including Eden Green and Altgeld Gardens, but the street grid bears little resembles to the suggested layout here. The map extends north as far as Pullman and Kensington Station where a new road, possibly East 115th Street, has been added in manuscript.

This survey was produced by R. W. Dobson, surveyor and lithographer who maintained offices in the Republic Life Insurance Building (Old Republic Building), Chicago. The map appears to have been folded into a report, but cannot confirm this as we have found no other records of this map in any collection public or private.