Living in Ashburn: a neighborhood guide

The lay of the land

Ashburn stayed farmland and airfield, Chicago’s first municipal airport operated here before Midway, until the post-war boom filled it in one long building season. The result is one of the city’s largest continuous stretches of mid-century housing: brick ranches, raised ranches and Georgians from 79th to 87th, with the Wrightwood, Scottsdale and Parkview names attached to its pockets. Two Metra SouthWest Service stops give it rail of its own, a quiet advantage over most of the Southwest Side.

The everyday

87th and Pulaski carry the shopping, Scottsdale’s retail cluster handles the weekly run, and the parks, Scottsdale, Ashburn’s fieldhouse blocks, and Dan Ryan Woods a short drive east, cover leagues and long walks. Midway is minutes north when a flight or an Orange Line ride calls.

The housing stock

Mid-century masonry almost wall to wall: ranches with picture windows, Georgians and Cape Cods, and split-levels on the later blocks, most with garages and real yards. Uniformity makes comparisons clean, so condition decides value; bring our house systems guide and seasonal checklist, and the brick guide covers the tuckpointing every one of these houses eventually needs.

The neighborhoods inside Ashburn

Ashburn is community area 70 of Chicago’s 77, on the Far Southwest Side. The names people use inside it: Ashburn Estates, Beverly View, Crestline, Parkview, Scottsdale and Wrightwood.

The community areas have been the city’s official map since the 1920s; the neighborhood names inside them are the ones people use. All 77 on one interactive map.

Guides worth reading before you tour here

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