Belmont Avenue (Chicago)

Belmont Avenue (3200 N) is a major east-west street in Chicago and some suburbs. Belmont starts at the Belmont harbor area and is a central commercial street in Lakeview and, west of the North Branch of the Chicago River, Avondale. Further west, it anchors the Belmont-Central shopping district straddling the Belmont Cragin and Portage Park communities. The road enters western suburbs River Grove and Franklin Park before the main segment ends with other parts of Belmont still going west. Then west of the Cook County line parts of Belmont enter DuPage County, specifically in Bensenville and Addison, ending.

Belmont Avenue
3200 North
LocationChicago, River Grove, Franklin Park, Bensenville, Addison
West endAddison
East endLake Shore Drive--(approx. 300 West) in Chicago
A trolleybus on Belmont Avenue in 1968, passing the Luna Theater, which closed in the 1980s.

Belmont Avenue was the southern border of Riverview Park. The amusement park remained open from 1904 until 1967. The park's property is now home to the Riverview Plaza shopping center, the Belmont District Police Station, and DeVry Institute of Technology.

One of the landmarks on Belmont Avenue was the Bally Manufacturing Corporation complex located between Washtenaw and Rockwell. The building featured neon signage with the Corporate logo that looked beautiful when illuminated. Address was 2640 West Belmont, 60618. Bally also had two buildings on the south side of the street; a Parts and Lithograph (print shop) department. There were numerous buildings in the surrounding neighborhood as well. Bally moved manufacturing and eventually the Corporate office to the west side of Chicago and to the western suburbs of Bensenville and Franklin Park starting in the late 1970s. The complex was sold in 1984 and after being occupied by Moloney Coachbuilders, it was sold and demolished to make way for modern luxury housing in 1997.

The street was named in memory of the Battle of Belmont during the American Civil War that was fought on November 7, 1861, in Mississippi County, Missouri.[1]

References
  1. Maggio, Alice, Punkin' Donuts and the Battle of Belmont, Gapers Block website, Chicago.
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