Six Corners is a shopping district in the Portage Park neighborhood on Chicago's Northwest Side. The area's name is from the intersection of three streets -- Irving Park Road, Cicero Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue1. Its history as an urban center began in the 1840s, eventually becoming the largest commercial center in Chicago outside of the Loop2. There is evidence that Native Americans used a ridge along Milwaukee Avenue as a campsite, 3 which would have been higher than the generally swampy surrounding land. The area is host to a number of examples of prominent architecture, including the Art DecoSears and Klee Buildings, the Classical RevivalPortage Theater and the Landmark Peoples Gas Irving Park Neighborhood Store. Although the shopping district had fallen on hard times in recent years, the area has been slated for redevelopment as an urban pedestrian shopping district with the recent reopening of the Portage Theater, the upcoming construction of several retail-condo buildings and a street beautification project.
