Howard Avenue

Howard Avenue is now known as Howard Street. According to the Chicago Public Library's e-mail response, "Howard Avenue between Lake Michigan and Maple St. was changed to Howard Street on 1/14/1895. The apparent reason was standardization. There were several other changes dealing with Howard in the same ordinance."

Named for: Howard Ure (1896-1984), who was a developer of the Howard Avenue Trust and Savings Bank in 1922. He was a Director and, for a while, a Vice President of the North Shore National Bank of Chicago from 1953 to 1973. Ure’s family donated the right-of-way on Howard Street to the city.

Photos

RPWRHS photo R044-0112 shows an advertisement for business opportunities on Howard Avenue. circa 1910-15. This is before Howard Avenue changed its name to Howard Street. This real estate advertisement for the Howard Avenue District, circa 1910, showed the unbridled enthusiasm of early developers. Only a real visionary could see the potential of an unpaved, muddy, often impassable street that even deliverymen avoided.