Samuel Eberly Gross

Born in Pennsylvania in 1843, he moved to Chicago after the Civil War, studied law, and was admitted to practice in the 1860s. He soon became far better known as a real estate promoter than as an attorney, building his reputation during Chicago’s explosive years of expansion.

He developed subdivisions across the city and suburbs and is remembered as one of Chicago’s most prolific homebuilders. Histories of the city credit him with creating more than 20 subdivisions and building thousands of houses, especially for working- and middle-class buyers. Places and projects associated with him include Gross Park and the suburb once called Grossdale, now Brookfield.

He also wrote and published fiction and plays, which added to his public image as an energetic self-promoter. He died in 1913 and was buried in Chicago’s Rosehill Cemetery, but his name still turns up in the city’s streetscapes and neighborhood history.