While West Ridge residents often disagree about what to call their neighborhood--West Rogers Park to some, North Town to others--the people of this north side community share a common commitment to the American dream. Drawn by inexpensive land 10 miles north of the burgeoning city of Chicago, European immigrants settled here in the 1830s along the high grounds west of a glacial ridge known today as Ridge Boulevard. Dubbed "Cabbage Heads" by their Rogers Park neighbors, the citizens of West Ridge boldly incorporated as a village in 1890, remaining independent until its 1893 annexation to...