What is now Illinois was part of the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, which was centered near present-day Collinsville, Illinois. Several burial mounds and adobe structures were created in Southern Illinois across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. A gigantic mound, known as Monks Mound near Cahokia, is about the same height from its base as the Pyramid of Giza. Built around 1050 AD by an immense marshaling of human labor, this huge earth-work faced the site of a palisaded city that contained more than one hundred small artificial mounds marking burial sites. This Mississippi valley city of Cahokia is estimated to have had a population of about 16000 to 20000, the most concentrated population north of the Rio Grande until the late 1700s. Radiating out from Cahokia for many miles were tilled fields that supplied the corn for the urban dwellers. That civilization vanished circa 1400–1500 for unknown reasons. 

The Northwest Territory, aka the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio was formed in the United States after the American Revolutionary War. The region was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Throughout the Revolutionary War, the region was part of the British Province of Quebec. Established in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation through the Northwest Ordinance. It was the nation's first post-colonial organized incorporated territory.

At the time of its creation, the territory included all the land west of Pennsylvania, northwest of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River below the Great Lakes. It spanned all or large parts of six eventual U.S. States (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the northeastern part of Minnesota). Reduced to present-day Ohio, eastern Michigan and a sliver of southeastern Indiana with the formation of Indiana Territory July 4, 1800, it ceased to exist March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio, and the remainder attached to Indiana Territory.

The Illinois Territory was created on February 3, 1809, with its capital at Kaskaskia, an early French settlement. In 1818, Illinois became the 21st U.S. state. The capital remained at Kaskaskia, headquartered in a small building rented by the state. In 1819, Vandalia became the capital, and over the next 18 years, three separate buildings were built to serve successively as the capitol building. In 1837, the state legislators representing Sangamon County, under the leadership of state representative Abraham Lincoln, succeeded in having the capital moved to Springfield, where a fifth capitol building was constructed. A sixth capitol building was erected in 1867, which continues to serve as the Illinois capitol today.  Today, Illinois has the fifth largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth largest population, and the 25th largest land area of all US states.

Chicago located on the shores of Lake Michigan-Huron, was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century and by 1860, Chicago was the youngest U.S. city to exceed a population of 100,000. Even after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, Chicago's population grew to 503,000 by 1880 — and then doubled to more than a million within the decade. The construction boom accelerated population growth throughout the following decades, and by 1900, less than 30 years after the great fire, Chicago was the fifth-largest city in the world. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and zoning standards, including new construction styles (including the Chicago School of architecture), the development of the City Beautiful Movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper.

Portage Park is located on the northwest side of the City of Chicago and is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Portage Park is bordered by the community areas of Jefferson Park and Forest Glen to the north, Dunning and the suburb of Harwood Heights to the west, Irving Park to the east and Belmont-Cragin to the south. The area is notable for its Six Corners outdoor shopping district, centered at the intersection of Irving Park Road, Cicero Avenue and the diagonal Milwaukee Avenue, the Portage Theater and for its namesake - Portage Park. The name of the park was taken from the major portage linking the Des Plaines and Chicago rivers along what is today Irving Park Road. The area was so swampy that in wet weather, Native Americans and trappers were easily able to paddle through the area in either direction without leaving their canoes. In those days, the Des Plaines was perhaps the most significant way to the Illinois, and then on to the Mississippi (and to return).

The Portage Park Bungalow Historic District is a residential historic district in the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The district includes 225 buildings, 189 of which are brick Chicago bungalows built between 1915 and 1930. We bought our 1926 brick octagon bungalow in 1985. As homeownership became broadly accessible to Chicagoans in the early twentieth century, the bungalow emerged as a popular and affordable house design, and tens of thousands of the homes were built throughout Chicago. Portage Park was one of the many outlying neighborhoods of Chicago which grew dramatically as a result of the housing boom; new residents were also attracted to the neighborhood's eponymous park. While the district was developed by many different builders and architects, the use of a single home type with uniform setbacks from the street gives the neighborhood a consistent appearance.

Chicago Bungalow

The majority of Chicago bungalows were built between 1910 and 1940. They were typically constructed of brick (some including decorative accents), with one-and-a-half stories and a full basement. With more than 80,000 bungalows, the style represents nearly one-third of Chicago's single-family housing stock. One primary difference between the Chicago bungalow and other types is that the gables are parallel to the street, rather than perpendicular. Like many other local houses, Chicago bungalows are relatively narrow, being an average of 20 feet (6.1 m) wide on a standard 24-foot (7.3 m) or 25-foot (7.6 m) wide city lot. Their veranda (porch) may either be open or partially enclosed (if enclosed, it may further be used to extend the interior rooms).