Altgeld Gardens, Chicago

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Altgeld Gardens, the CHA’s most structurally comprehensive and self-contained development, was built in 1945 with 1,498 units. Murray Homes was built in 1954 with a total of 500 units. The 1,998-unit development, consisting primarily of two-story row houses spread over 157 acres, grew out of the need for post-World War II housing for African-American military personnel. It was originally owned by the federal government but was granted to CHA in 1956. Located in an industrial area on Chicago’s far South side, Altgeld was named after John Peter Altgeld an Illinois governor in the 1890s. As one of the first public housing developments ever built in the United States, it is considered a historic landmark property.

[edit] Existing Conditions

There are 3,400 residents currently living in the Altgeld / Murray complex. This complex includes its own schools, maintenance staff, on-site social services and medical facilities.

Altgeld Gardens' boundaries are 130th Street on the north and 138th Street on the south, from the Calumet Expressway on the east and the Calumet River on the west. Altgeld Gardens is located near numerous manufacturing plants, former steel mills and waste dumps. The residents have a growing concern about the number of deaths annually from cancer and other diseases. The residents fear numerous deaths may be related to their environment.

Altgeld Gardens was named after Democrat John Peter Altgeld, who was the governor of Illinois from 1893-1897. Altgeld Gardens opened for occupancy in September 1944. Altgeld is a low-rise housing development consisting of approximately 1,400 row houses. It was built on land at the edge of the city so many amenities had to be built for the residents, such as schools, stores and medical facilities.

Altgeld has about 2,000 housing units on 1400 acres, half of which are currently occupied. Out of a population of nearly 8,000 about 95% are African-American and nearly 65% live below poverty level. It is surrounded by 53 toxic facilities and 90% of the cities landfills in a city that has more landfills per square mile than any other U.S. city.

It is one of the densest concentrations of potentially hazardous pollution sources in North America. Many of the landfills that surround them are unregulated, and some of those are still being used. Since most of these landfills as well as many industrial plants are located along the waterways surrounding the area, of the 18 miles of rivers and lakes surrounding Altgeld Gardens, 11 miles of them are unfit for human consumption and recreation, though many residents still fish in them citing that “something’s going to kill them anyway.”

Over the years, Altgeld Gardens has experienced various gang problems -- yet the community is not regarded as ridden with the sort of bloody rivalries endemic to the North Side's Cabrini Green community nor to the Robert Taylor Homes, near the historic Bronzeville neighborhood.