Mystery Surrounds Western Springs Shopping Center's Address

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – The stores in the Garden Market Shopping Center list their address as 4700 Gilbert Ave.

The problem: The address makes little sense.

The center should more logically be listed as 4700 Willow Springs Road. That's because north of 47th Street is Gilbert, south is Willow Springs Road. Garden Market is just south of 47th.

Patch stumbled on this issue last week. The weekly police blotter listed Garden Market's address as 4700 Willow Springs. That seemed like the wrong address, given that Western Springs had listed the shopping center in its blotters as being on Gilbert for years.

Asked about the address, Selmin Cicek, the village's communications manager, said the address perplexed her, saying Garden Market should be on Willow Springs Road.

She then checked with her colleagues, but she said they, too, couldn't shed light on the address. She said she would consult others.

"The mystery remains," Cicek said.

The shopping center was built in 1959, so the decision-makers at the time are likely long gone.

But perhaps records exist that could explain the situation. Cicek suggested contacting the Western Springs Historical Society.

In response to a Patch inquiry, the society emailed ads and other materials from the center's early years that indicated it was either on Gilbert Avenue or Willow Springs Road. At least one ad indicates it was on 47th Street.

"We always assumed people and the center consider it Gilbert because Gilbert is a road identified as a Western Springs street," the historical society's Leslie Walters said in an email. "Willow Springs is identified as a road to the south. We would guess that they just thought it was better marketing to call it Gilbert. Or maybe new owners of the center were just ignorant."

Patch left messages with representatives of Federal Realty Investment Trust, Garden Market's current owner.

In 2012, a Patch contributor wrote about Garden Market's history.