6739 North Ashland, 1901
The Bart Bemus house was constructed just as the neighborhood was seeing substantial commercial and residential development.
After Rogers Park's annexation into Chicago in 1893, the city was investing heavily into the new neighborhood's future, including money for streetlights, sewers, concrete sidewalks, and fire hydrants. These improvements were sorely needed, since much of the land the Bemus House sits on was swampy, with deep ditches on the roadsides for drainage.