In 1980, Bob Remer, president of the Edgewater Historical Society and longtime Edgewater resident, was essential in getting the city to recognize Edgewater as its own distinct community area. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Linze Rice

EDGEWATER — Ask any Chicagoan and they'll tell you theirs is a city of neighborhoods.

Even within each neighborhood lies small pockets of micro-communities that help give it a unique flavor.

In Edgewater, you'll find Magnolia Glen, Lakewood-Balmoral, Edgewater Beach, Andersonville, and other small sub-sections of the neighborhood defined by those who live within its borders.

But what about those 77 community areas?

In Edgewater, the city's last (but not least) community area, its designation comes thanks in part to one longtime resident, Bob Remer.

Recently, a WBEZ reader asked how community areas came to be.

WBEZ answered by exploring the origins of Edgewater — Chicago's only neighborhood to be its own community area.

And on Feb. 18, Remer, president of the Edgewater Historical Society, will be honored as Edgewater's "Sweetheart" for his work in the community, including his efforts to get the neighborhood recognized by the city.

By the late 1920s, Edgewater was becoming a thriving community known for its entertainment, affluence and modern design — including sidewalks, street lights and a functioning sewer system, as WBEZ pointed out.

The building of the Edgewater Beach Hotel and Edgewater Beach Apartments drew in entertainers, athletes and politicians from around the world, but as city planners were carving out community areas in the 1920s, Edgewater and Uptown became lumped together.

Residents in the neighborhood worried too tight of a connection to Uptown may hinder its ability to attract outsiders.

Not only did Edgewater precede Uptown in creation and in name, Remer said, but when community organizations would seek out donations to Edgewater programs and developments, people would say they'd "already donated to Uptown."

"Edgewater had been sort of stuck as an appendage to Uptown," Remer said. "We really needed our own identity."

In the 1960s, the Edgewater Community Council was formed, and by the 1970s, the group, which included Remer, was strongly advocating for the city to upgrade Edgewater as a neighborhood into its own community area.

In 1980, the city agreed — Edgewater became the first and only community to be its own city area.

"Edgewater always was sort of this separate community," Remer said. "It really helped Edgewater to sort of firm up its sense of identity and to move forward without having to say, 'Oh yeah, you're part of Uptown.' No, not part of Uptown — we're Edgewater, we're different."

Founded in 1886, just a few years before getting annexed into the city of Chicago, Edgewater has nine census tracts and over 50,000 residents.

Remer continues to live in the neighborhood, and helps document the community's stories for the historical society.

He said being part of the team who pushed for Edgewater's split is one of his proudest achievements.

Check out WBEZ's illustrated article below on how Edgewater became a community area.

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