6th ward, Chicago

19th century

At its incorporation as a city in 1837, Chicago was divided into six wards. The 6th ward represented areas north of the Chicago River, and east of North Clark Street. Beginning February 16, 1847 (when the city increased its number of wards to nine), the ward represented areas west of the Chicago River and north of Randolph Street.^[1] The Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed in 1848, running through the district.^[2]

Beginning February 16, 1857 (when the city increased its number of wards to ten), the ward represented areas of Chicago's West Side that were to the north of West Randolph Street.^[1] Beginning in 1863 (when the city increased its number of wards to sixteen) the ward was bounded by Van Buren Street (at its north), Jefferson Street (at its east), and the south branch of the Chicago River (at its south).^[1]

Beginning in 1869 (when the city expanded its number of wards to twenty),^[1] the "6th ward" numbering was given to a ward which represented much of the area that had been in the previous incarnation of the 7th ward.^[3] The ward's northern boundaries were defined by 16th street and the south branch of the Chicago River (including a segment of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal). Its southern boundary was defined by Egan Street (the former 39th Street, which was later renamed Pershing Road). Its eastern boundary was defined by Clark Street.^[1] This district was on the South Side. Located within its boundaries were the neighborhoods of Bridgeport, Mt. Pleasant (today known asM McKinley Park), as well as the area that is today home to the Armour Square neighborhood (including the land today occupied by Wentworth Gardens and Rate Field, and Chinatown).

Beginning on March 22, 1876 (when the city decreased the number of wards to 18) the district's boundaries were defined at its north by 16th street as well as the South Branch of the Chicago river (including a portion of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal); at its east by the city limits (the lakeshore), at its south by Pulaski Road/40th Avenue, and at its west by the city limits and the south branch of the Chicago River.^[1] This included all of the areas that had been in 1869 incarnation of the district, and also included further territory. The new territory added to the ward included Oakland, the area that is today known as "Douglas", and the Near South Side.

Beginning in 1890 (when Chicago expanded its number of wards to thirty-four) the ward's boundaries were defined at its north by 33rd street and portions of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (along the south branch of the Chicago River); on its east by Halsted Street, on its south by 39th Street (today known as "Pershing Road"); and on its west by Western Boulevard.^[1] This contained the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood (today known as McKinley Park) and a portion of the Bridgeport neighborhood.

20th century

21st century

Before 1923

Before 1923, wards were represented by two aldermen.

More information Aldermen, # Council ...

Aldermen							# Council	Aldermen
Alderman			Term in office	Party	Notes	Cite		Alderman			Term in office	Party	Notes	Cite
		Samuel Jackson	1837–1838			[1]	1st			Bernard Ward	1837–1838			[1]
		George W. Dole	1838–1839			[1]	2nd			Grant Goodrich	1838–1839			[1]
		John H. Kinzie	1839–1840		Later elected alderman again in 1852 in 9th ward	[1]	3rd			Buckner Stith Morris	1839–1840	Whig		[1]
		R.J. Hamilton	1840–1841	Democratic	Later elected in 1849 in the 9th ward	[1][4]	4th			William B. Ogden	1840–1841	Democratic	Later elected alderman again in 1947 in 9th ward	[1]
		George F. Foster	1841–1842		Later elected alderman again in 1850 in 8th ward	[1]	5th			James J.H. Howe	1841–1842		Later elected alderman again in 1855 in 7th ward	[1]
		George O. Bryan	1842–1843			[1]	6th			George W. Dole	1842–1844			[1]
		J. Marback	1843–1844			[1]	7th
		Michael Diversey	1844–1845		Later elected alderman again in 1856 in 9th ward	[1]	8th			Buckner Stith Morris	1844			[1]
										James H. Rees	1844–1845			[1]
		Mahlon D. Ogden	1845–1846		Later elected alderman again in 1871 in 19th ward	[1]	9th			Richard C. Ross	1845–1847			[1]
		William M. Larrabee	1846–1847			[1]	10th
		Asahel Pierce	1847–1849		Previously served in 4th ward	[5]	11th			Henry Smith	1847–1849			[1]
							12th
							13th			G.W. Wentworth	1849–1851			[1]
		Daniel Richards	1849–1851			[1]
							14th
		Daniel Elston	1851–1852			[1]	15th			James M. Hannah	1851			[5]
										Read A. Williams	1851–1852			[1]
		A.C. Ellithorpe	1852			[1]	16th			Henry Smith	1852–1853			[1]
		Thomas B. Dywer	1852–1854			[1]
							17th			William Carpenter	1853–1855			[1]
		William Wayman	1854–1856			[1]	18th
							19th			A.C. Ellithorpe	1855–1857			[1]
		Henry Greenbaum	1856–1858	Republican		[1][6]	20th
							21st			George Sitts	1857–1859			[1]
		John Van Horn	1858–1860			[1]	22nd
							23rd			C.A. Reno	1859–1861			[1]
		James W. Cobb	1860–1862			[1]	24th
							25th			Edward S. Salomon	1861–1863	Republican		[1][7]
		Francis C. Brown	1862–1863		Redistricted to 9th ward in 1863	[1]	26th
		Malcolm McDonald	1863–1864		Previously served in 10th ward	[1]	27th			David Walsh	1863–1865			[1]
		John Wallwork	1864–1868			[1]	28th
							29th			Thomas C. Hatch	1865–1867			[1]
							30th
							31st			David Walsh	1867–1869			[1]
		Michael Keeley	1868–1869			[8]	32nd
							33rd
		Mark Sheridan	1869–1870		Redistricted from 5th ward; later elected alderman again in 1876 in 5th ward	[1][8]	34th			William Tracy	1869–1873			[1][8]
		Daniel Heenan	1870			[1][8]
		Michael Schmitz	1870–1874			[1]	35th
							36th
							37th
							38th			Phillip Reidy	1873–1976			[1][9]<
		Fred Sommer	1874–1876		Redistricted to 5th ward in 1876	[1]	39th
		Edward Cullerton	1876–1888	Democratic	Redistricted from 7th ward, redistricted to 9th ward in 1888	[1][10]	40th			Fred Lodding	1876–1879			[1]
							41st
							42nd
							43rd			John J. Altpeter	1879–1883	Socialist Labor		[1][11]
							44th
							45th					Republican and Socialist Labor
							46th
							47th			Charles F. L. Doerner	1883–1887	Democratic		[12][11]
							48th
							49th
							50th
							51st			Charles A. Monear	1887–1888	Independent Democrat	Redistricted in 1888 to 8th ward	[1][11]
		Edward P. Burke	1888–1892		Previously served as alderman in the 5th ward	[1]	52nd			George Emmerich	1888–1889			[1]
							53rd			William H. O'Brien	1889–1893			[1]
							54th
							55th
		Henry Stuckart	1892–1894		later represented same ward again	[1]	56th
							57th			Thomas Reed	1893–1895			[1]
		Charles Martin	1894–1901	Democratic	Redistricted to 5th ward in 1901	[1]	58th
							59th			Henry Stuckart	1895–1897		previously had represented the same ward; later represented the 4th ward	[1]
							60th
							61st			William H. O'Brien	1897–1899			[1]
							62nd
							63rd			James J. McCormick	1899–1901		Later elected alderman again in 1904 in the 5th ward	[1]
							64th
		William Mavor	1901–1904	Republican	Redistricted from 32nd ward; Died in office	[1][13]	65th			Linn H. Young	1901–1909	Republican		[1][13]
							66th
							67th
		Edward C. Potter	1904–1906	Independent Republican		[1][14]	68th
							69th
		Arthur S. McCoid	1906–1910			[1]	70th
							71st
							72nd
							73rd			Theodore K. Long	1909–1915			[1]
		William R. Parker	1910–1912			[1]	74th
							75th
		Willis O. Nance	1912–1918	Republican		[1][15]	76th
							77th
							78th
							79th			Alexander A. McCormick	1915–1921	Republican		[1][16]
							80th
							81st
							82nd
							83rd
		Charles S. Eaton	1919–1923	Republican	Continued as alderman after 1923, but redistricted to 5th ward	[1][17]	84th
							85th
							86th

Close

Since 1923

Since 1923, wards have been represented by a single alderman. Elections have also been nonpartisan, though officeholders often still publicly affiliate with parties.

More information Alderman, Term in office ...

Alderman			Term in office	Councils served in	Party	Notes	Cite
		Guy Guernsey			Republican	Redistricted from the 7th ward	[1][15]
		John F. Healy			Democratic		[18]
		Patrick Sheridan Smith
		Francis J. Hogan
		David R. Muir	1951-1955
		Sydney A. Jones Jr.	1955-1959
		Robert H. Miller	1959-1967
		A. A. Rayner Jr.	1967–1971	98th		retired from council	[19]
		Eugene Sawyer	February 28, 1971 – December 2, 1987	98th-103rd	Democratic	Resigned after being appointed mayor	[20]
		Ronald Robinson	1987–1989	103rd	Democratic	Appointed by Mayor Eugene Sawyer	[21]
		John O. Steele	1989–December 1997	103rd-105th	Democratic	Elected in a special election; resigned after being appointed an associate judge for the Cook County Circuit Court in December 1997	[21][22]
n		Freddrenna Lyle	February 8, 1998 – May 16, 2011	105th–109th	Democratic	Appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1998; subsequently elected to three full terms; lost re-election in 2011
		Roderick Sawyer	May 16, 2011 – May 15, 2023	110th–113th	Democratic	Son of Eugene Sawyer, who formerly held the same aldermanic seat; retired in 2023 in order to (unsuccessfully) run for mayor	[23][24]
		William Hall	May 15, 2023–present	114th, 115th	Democratic

Close