The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29, 1889 elections.[1] Regions of the city, referred to as sides, are divided by the Chicago River and its branches.[2][3] The South Side of Chicago was originally defined as all of the city south of the main branch of the Chicago River,[4][5] but it now excludes the Loop.[3] The South Side has a varied ethnic composition, and it has great disparity in income and other demographic measures.[6] The South Side covers 60% of the city's land area, with a higher ratio of single-family homes and larger sections zoned for industry than the rest of the city.[7][8]
Although it has endured a reputation as being poor or crime-infested, the reality is more varied. The South Side ranges from affluent to working class to impoverished.[9][10] Neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, and Pullman tend to be composed of more blue collar residents, while Hyde Park, the Jackson Park Highlands District, Kenwood, and Beverly tend to have middle, upper-middle class, and affluent residents.[11]
The South Side boasts a broad array of cultural and social offerings, such as professional sports teams, landmark buildings, nationally renowned museums, elite educational institutions, world class medical institutions, and major parts of the city's elaborate parks system. The South Side is serviced by bus and 'L' train via the Chicago Transit Authority and a number of Metra lines.[12] In addition, it has several interstate and national highways to serve vehicular traffic.[13]
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There is some confusion as to where the South Side actually begins. Part of the confusion stems from the city's address numbering system which uses a grid demarcating Madison Street (which runs east-west in the middle of the Loop) as the north-south axis and State Street as the east-west axis.[14] For example, much of the downtown "Loop" district is south of Madison Street, but changing geographic and social perspectives over the history of the city now exclude the Loop from the contemporary definition of the South Side.[3][6][15] The Loop's southern boundary is Roosevelt Road (formerly 12th Street), which is where many say that the South Side actually begins, with the community area known as the Near South Side, immediately adjacent Roosevelt Road. However, given that much of the Near South Side is in effect part of the commercial district extending in an unbroken line from the South Loop, there are others who contend that the South Side actually begins immediately south of 18th Street, where Chinatown in the Armour Square district begins. Further confusing are the neighborhoods which are also classified as being part of the southwest side such as McKinley Park, Brighton Park, Archer Heights and Garfield Ridge.[4] Depending on which model is being used, the South Side defined as being south of Roosevelt Road makes it larger than the North and West Sides combined. Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line border provide eastern boundaries that remain constant. The southern border had changed over time because of Chicago's evolving city limits, but the city limits are now no further south than 138th Street.
The exact boundaries dividing the Southwest, South and Southeast Sides vary by source,[15] but following mostly racial lines, the South Side is further divided into a White and Hispanic Southwest Side, a largely Black South Side, and a smaller, more racially diverse Southeast Side centered on the East Side (#52) community area, and including the adjacent community areas of South Chicago (#46), South Deering (#51), and Hegewisch (#55).[16] The differing interpretations about the boundary between the South and Southwest Sides are due to a lack of a definite natural or artificial dividing boundary.[15] However, one source opines that the boundary is best defined as Western Avenue or the railroad tracks adjacent to Western Avenue,[6] and this border extends further south to a former railroad right of way paralleling Beverly Avenue and then Interstate 57.
The Southwest Side of Chicago is a subsection of the South Side comprising mainly residential, predominantly white and Hispanic neighborhoods. Architecturally, the Southwest Side is distinguished by the tract of Chicago's Bungalow Belt, which runs through it.
Archer Heights, a Polish enclave along Archer Avenue, which leads toward Midway Airport, is located on the Southwest Side of the city, as is Beverly-Morgan Park (#72, 75), home to a large concentration of Irish Americans. (107th divides Beverly and Morgan Park, which extend east and west of Western Ave.) Beverly-Morgan Park hosted the annual South Side Irish Parade, which typically drew a larger crowd than the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago's Loop. In fact, the parade is said to be the largest Irish neighborhood St. Patrick's celebration in the world outside of Dublin, Ireland,[18] and it was broadcast on Chicago's CBS affiliate.[19] The parade was founded in 1979.[20] Following the 2009 parade, organizers stated the group was "not planning to stage a parade in its present form".[20] The Southwest Side is also home to the largest concentration of Górals, (Carpathian highlanders) outside of Europe; it is the location of the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America.
The South Side Irish Parade occurs on Western Avenue each year on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day on the southwest side. Another large parade occurs on the South Side every year. The Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, the second largest parade in the United States and the nation's largest African-American parade,[21] runs on Martin Luther King Drive between 31st and 51st Streets in the Bronzeville neighborhood, through the main portion of the South Side.
The South Side hosts two major professional athletic teams: Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox play at U.S. Cellular Field in the Armour Square neighborhood, while the National Football League's Chicago Bears play at Soldier Field, adjacent to the Museum Campus on the Near South Side.[22][23] Former pro teams to call the South Side home include the Chicago American Giantsbaseball club of the Negro National Leagues, which played at Schorling's Park, and the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League, which originally played at Normal Park but eventually moved to Comiskey Park in the late 1920s.[6]
The South Side would have played a prominent role in Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Olympic Village was planned in the Douglas (#35) community area across Lake Shore Drive from Burnham Park.[24] In addition, the Olympic Stadium was expected to be located in the Chicago Park District's Washington Park located in the Washington Park (#40) community area.[25] Many Olympic events would have been hosted in these community areas as well as other parts of the South Side if the plan had succeeded.[26]
With its factories, steel mills, and meat-packing plants, the South Side saw a sustained period of immigration which began around the 1840s and continued through World War II. Irish, Italian, Polish and Lithuanian immigrants, in particular, settled in neighborhoods adjacent to industrial zones. African Americans resided in Bronzeville (around 35th and State Streets) in an area called "the Black Belt", and after World War II they spread across the South Side. The Black Belt, which gave a new meaning to the term ghetto, arose from discriminatory real estate practices and the threat of violence in nearby ethnic white neighborhoods.[27]
Post-Reconstruction black southerners migrated to Chicago in large numbers and caused the African American population to nearly quadruple from 4,000 to 15,000 between 1870 and 1890.[28] The population was concentrated on the South Side.
In the 20th century, the numbers expanded with the Great Migration as African Americans voted with their feet and left the South's lynchings, disfranchisement, poor job opportunities and limited education. By 1910 the black population in Chicago reached 40,000, with 78% residing in the South Side's "Black Belt". It extended for 30 blocks along State Street and was only a few blocks wide.[28] The South Side had problems but was also the place where African Americans created a vibrant community with their own businesses, music, food and culture. Compared to their previous conditions in the rural South, many saw opportunities for themselves and their children in Chicago.
After some time, as more blacks moved into the South Side, descendants of earlier immigrants, such as ethnic Irish, began to move out. Later housing pressures and civic unrest caused more whites to leave the city, a complexity of what was a succession of different ethnic groups. Older residents of means moved to newer housing developed in suburbs as new migrants entered the city.[29][30], driving further demographic changes in the south side.
The South Side has had a history of racial segregation. During the 1920s and 1930s, housing cases on the South Side created legal debate in cases such as Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940), which went to the U. S. Supreme Court. It challenged racial restrictions in the Washington Park Subdivision.
Later, during the tenure of then Mayor Richard J. Daley, the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway added further controversy. Many perceived the highway's location as a physical barrier between white and black neighborhoods, [31] particularly as the Dan Ryan divided Daley's own neighborhood, the traditionally Irish Bridgeport from Bronzeville.[32]
After decades in the late 20th century of sustaining some of the poorest housing conditions in the United States, the Chicago Housing Authority has begun replacing the old high-rise public housing with mixed-income, lower-density developments in the Plan for Transformation.[33] Many of the CHA's massive public housing projects, which lined several miles of South State Street, have been torn down. Among the largest were the Robert Taylor Homes.[34]
Private sector redevelopment is occurring rapidly. Neighborhood rehabilitation (and, in some cases, gentrification) can also be seen in parts of Washington Park, Woodlawn (#42) and Bronzeville, as well as in Bridgeport and McKinley Park. Historic Pullman's redevelopment is another example of a work in progress. Chinatown is located on the South Side and has seen a surge in growth. It has become an increasingly popular destination for both tourists and locals alike and is a cornerstone of the city's Chinese community. The South Loop's booming mid-decade construction suggests that the South Side will be populated with more Caucasians in the coming years.[35] The South Side offers many outdoor amenities, such as miles of public lakefront parks and beaches, as it borders Lake Michigan on its eastern side.
Segregation meant that blacks became concentrated on the South Side, especially as some whites left. Mid-century industrial restructuring in meat packing and the steel industry meant that many jobs were lost. African Americans who became educated and achieved middle-class jobs also left after Civil Rights Movement achieved changes in housing, and the South Side became relatively depopulated, with a concentration of poor families. It lost many of the businesses and cultural amenities of its peak days. A large Mexican-American population resides in Little Village (South Lawndale) and areas south of 99th Street. Hyde Park is home to the University of Chicago as well as the South Side's largest Jewish population, which is centered on Chicago's oldest synagogue, the Chicago Landmark KAM Isaiah Israel.[36]
Street gangs have been prominent in some South Side neighborhoods for over a century, beginning with those of Irish immigrants, who established the first territories against other European immigrants and black migrants. Some other neighborhoods have been relatively safe for a big city. By the 1960s, gangs such as the Vice Lords began to improve their public image, moving from thuggish ventures to obtaining government and private grants. By 2000, gangs crossed gender lines to include about a 20% female composition.[37] The South Side has a population of 752,496 that is over 93% African-American and that includes zip codes that are over 98% black or African-American.[38]
Chicago's African American community, which was concentrated on the South Side, experienced an artistic movement following the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. From the 1930s until the 1950s, the movement was concentrated in and around the Hyde Park community area. Prominent writers and artists included Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Burroughs, Elizabeth Catlett, Eldzier Cortor, Gordon Parks, and Richard Wright.[39] Other Chicago Black Renaissance artists included Willard Motley, William Attaway, Frank Marshall Davis and Margaret Walker. St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton represented the new wave of intellectual expression in literature by depicting the culture of the urban ghetto rather than the culture of blacks in the South in the monograph Black Metropolis (ISBN 0-226-16234-6).[28] In 1961, Burroughs founded the DuSable Museum. By the late 1960s the South Side had a resurgent art movement led by Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson and Karl Wirsum, who became known as the Chicago Imagists.
Music in Chicago flourished, with musicians bringing blues and gospel influences up from Mississippi and stops along the way, and creating a Chicago sound in blues and jazz. There was opportunity for independent companies because labels with studios in New York City or Los Angeles only kept regional distribution offices in Chicago.[40] In 1948, Blues was introduced by Aristocrat Records (later Chess Records), and Muddy Waters and Chess Records quickly followed with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, and Howlin' Wolf.[28][41] Vee-Jay, the largest black-owned label before Motown Records, was among the post-World War II companies that formed "Record Row" on Cottage Grove between 47th and 50th Streets. In the 1960s, it was located along South Michigan Avenue.[40][41] Rhythm and blues continued to thrive after Record Row became the hub of gospelized R&B, known as soul. Chicago continues as a prominent city for musical contribution.[41]
Many other artists have left their mark on Chicago's South Side. These include Upton Sinclair and James Farrell via fiction, Archibald Motley, Jr. via painting, Henry Moore and Lorado Taft via sculpture, and Thomas Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson via gospel music.[6] Since the arts have thrived on the South Side, the South Side has numerous art museums and galleries such as the DuSable Museum of African American History,[42] National Museum of Mexican Art,[43] National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum,[44] and the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art (known as the Smart Museum).[45] In addition, cultural centers such as the South Shore Cultural Center, South Side Community Art Center, Harold Washington Cultural Center and Hyde Park Art Center endeavor to avail art and culture to the public while fostering opportunities for artists.[46] The Bronzeville Children's Museum is the first and only African American Children's museum in the United States.[47]
The Illinois Constitution gave rise to townships that provided municipal services in 1850. Several townships surrounding Chicago incorporated in order to better serve their residents. However, growth and prosperity led to an overburdened government system. In 1889, most of these townships determined that they would be better off as part of a larger Chicago. Lake View, Jefferson, Lake, Hyde Park Townships, and the Austin portion of Cicero were annexed by the city.[48][49] Today's South Side is mostly a combination of the former Hyde Park and Lake Townships. Within these townships many had made speculative bets on the future prosperity of the respective regions. Much of the South Side has evolved from these speculative investments. Stephen A. Douglas, Paul Cornell, George Pullman and various business entities have developed South Chicago real estate. The Pullman District, a former company town, Hyde Park Township, various platted communities and subdivisions were the results of such efforts.[50]
The Union Stock Yards, which were once located in the South Side's New City community area (#61), at one point employed 25,000 people and produced 82 percent of the domestic meat consumption.[51] They were so synonymous with the City for over a century that they were mentioned as part of the lyrics of Frank Sinatra's "My Kind of Town", in the phrase: "The Union Stock Yard, Chicago is..." The Union Stock Yard Gate marking the old entrance to stockyards was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 24, 1972[52] and a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1981.[53][54]
By the 1930s, Chicago boasted a composition which included over 25% residential structures less than 10 years old, many of which were bungalows. These continued to be built in the working-class South Side into the 1960s.[55][56] Kitchenettes, often including Murphy beds and Pullman kitchens, also composed a large part of the housing supply during and after the Great Depression, especially in the Black Belt.[57] Chicago's South Side had a history of philanthropic subsidized housing dating back to 1919.[58]
In 1949, the United States Congress passed the Housing Act to fund public housing to try to improve housing in many cities. The CHA produced a plan of citywide projects, which was rejected by some of the Chicago City Council's white aldermen who opposed public housing in their wards. This led to a CHA policy of construction of family housing in black residential areas, concentrated on the South and West Sides of the city.[59]
Gentrification of parts of the Douglas community area has bolstered the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District.[60] Gentrification in various parts of the South Side has displaced many African Americans.[61] The South Side hosts numerous cooperatives. Hyde Park has several middle-income co-ops, and other South Side regions have limited equity (subsidized, price-controlled) co-ops.[62] These regions have experienced condominium construction and conversion in the 1970s and 1980s.[62] In addition, the South Side has regions that have been known for great wealth, such as Prairie Avenue. Its 21st century redevelopment includes One Museum Park and One Museum Park West.[63]
The South Side has accommodated much of the city's conference business with various convention centers. The current McCormick Place Convention Center is the largest convention center in the United States, and the third largest in the world.[64] Previously, the South Side hosted conventions at the Chicago Coliseum and the International Amphitheatre.[6] The Ford City Mall and the surrounding shopping district includes several big-box retailers.
The South Side has been home to some of the most significant figures in the history of American politics. These include the first African-American United States President, Barack Obama; the first female African-American United States Senator, Carol Moseley Braun; and the first African-American presidential candidate to win a primary, Jesse Jackson. Before them, Harold Washington, a Congressman and the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, as well as groundbreaking Congressman William L. Dawson, achieved political success from the South Side.[65]
Chicago's reputation for political corruption stems in part from tolerance of vices such as prostitution. Early prostitution occurred in the central business district. However, the disreputables were eventually pushed to the South Side, creating the Levee, one of the nation's most infamous sex districts. Although Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison II closed the Levee in 1912 and much of the trade moved to the suburbs, nightclubs on the South Side had an ample supply of prostitutes.[66] Among those who cared for and rehabilitated persons charged with prostitution were a small group of the Good Shepherd Sisters, who became the first nuns to serve African Americans on Chicago's South Side.[67]
With the University of Chicago, the South Side hosts post-secondary educational institutions that are elite.[68] In addition to being one of the world's top ranked universities, the University of Chicago has also had 16 Nobel Prizes awarded to persons of research or on faculty at the university at the time of the award announcement, placing it 6th among U.S. institutions.[69] At Chicago Pile-1 at the university, the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved under the direction of Enrico Fermi.[70] The University of Chicago hosts one of the nation's best medical centers at the University of Chicago Medical Center.[71]
Other four-year educational institutions are the Illinois Institute of Technology, St. Xavier University, Chicago State University, and Shimer College.[68] The South Side also hosts its share of community colleges such as Olive-Harvey College, Kennedy-King College, and Richard J. Daley College. Concentrations of residents with post baccalaureate degrees are found on the South Side in Hyde Park, Kenwood, Beverly, and Ashburn.[72]
Chicago Public Schools operates the public schools serving the South Side. Zoned public high schools serving the South Side include DuSable High School, Englewood Technical Prep Academy, John Hope College Prep High School, and Phillips Academy High School.[73][74][75] The De La Salle Institute, located in the Douglas, Chicago community area across the street from the Chicago Police Department headquarters, has taught many notable celebrities and 5 Chicago Mayors:[76] Richard J. Daley, Michael A. Bilandic, Martin H. Kennelly, Frank J. Corr, and Richard M. Daley. Three of these mayors hail from the South Side's Bridgeport community area, which has itself produced 5 Chicago Mayors.
Magnet public high schools in the South Side include Simeon Career Academy.[77] University of Chicago Lab School, affiliated with the University of Chicago, is a private school located in the South Side.[68]
The South Side is home to many official landmarks and other notable buildings and structures.[78][79] It hosts three of the four Chicago Registered Historic Places from the original October 15, 1966 National Register of Historic Places list (Chicago Pile-1, Robie House, & Lorado Taft Midway Studios).[80] Since its construction in 1968, 1700 East 56th Street has been the tallest building on the South Side.[81] However, One Museum Park, which is along Roosevelt Road, the northern border of the South Side, will soon take over this title.[82] One Museum Park West, which will be next door to One Museum Park, will also be one of the tallest buildings in Chicago. 1700 East 56th in the Hyde Park community will continue to be the tallest building south of 13th Street. There are also several other highrises in this neighborhood.
There is a large concentration of landmark buildings in the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District.[83] Also, buildings such as Powhatan Apartments, Robie House and John J. Glessner House are among the South Side landmarks.[84][85][86] The South Side has many of Chicago's landmark places of worship such as Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist, First Church of Deliverance and K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple.[36][87][88] The South Side also has several landmark districts including two located in Barack Obama's Kenwood community area: Kenwood District, and North Kenwood District as well as one partially located in the community area: Hyde Park-Kenwood Historic District.[89][90] In addition to its art museums the South Side hosts the Museum of Science and Industry, which although not an art museum has its place in the artistic fabric of the city.[91] The Museum of Science and Industry is located in the Palace of Fine Arts, one of the few remaining buildings from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition,[92] which was hosted in South Side.
In addition to hosting Obama, the South Side is the residence of other currently prominent black leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. It is also place where United States Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Bobby Rush (a former Black Panther leader) serve.[70]
The South Side has been a place of political controversy. Although the locations of some of these notable controversies have not become officials landmarks, they remain important parts of Chicago history. The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer of 1919 and required 6000 National Guard troops to quell.[93] As mentioned above, segregation has been a political theme of controversy for some time on the South Side as exhibited by Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940).
The South Side is served extensively by mass transit as well as major roads and highways. In addition, Midway International Airport, which provides connections between the South Side and the world, is located on the South Side. Among the highways through the South Side are I-94 (which goes by the names Dan Ryan Expressway, Bishop Ford Freeway, and Kingery Expressway on the South Side), I-90 (which goes by the names Dan Ryan Expressway, and Chicago Skyway on the South Side), I-57, I-55 U.S. 12, U.S. 20, and U.S. 41. Several Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus and train lines and Metra train lines link the South Side to rest of the city. The South Side is serviced by the Red, Green and Orange lines of the CTA, and the Rock Island District, Metra Electric, and South Shore Metra lines and a few stops on the SouthWest Service Metra line. In addition to standard local metropolitan bus service by the CTA, several South Side CTA express service bus routes provide the South Side with direct service into the Chicago Loop by running without stops along Lake Shore Drive.[94]
The Chicago Park District boasts 7,300 acres (30 km2) of parkland, 552 parks, thirty-three beaches, nine museums, two world-class conservatories, sixteen historic lagoons, ten bird and wildlife gardens.[95] Many of these are on the South Side, including several large parks that are part of the legacy of Paul Cornell, the father of Hyde Park, and his service on the South Parks Commission.
Chicago Park District parks serving the South Side include Burnham Park, Jackson Park, Washington Park, Midway Plaisance and Harold Washington Park. Away from the Hyde Park area, large parks include the 69-acre (28 ha) McKinley Park, 323-acre (131 ha) Marquette Park, the 198-acre (80 ha) Calumet Park, and the 173-acre (70 ha) Douglas Park. The parks of Chicago foster and host tremendous amounts of athletic activities.
The South Side also has the only Illinois state park within the city of Chicago: William W. Powers State Recreation Area. Other opportunities for more "natural" recreation are provided by the Cook County Forest Preserve's Dan Ryan Woods and the Beaubien Woods on the far south side, along the Little Calumet River [96]
In addition, several events cause the closure of parts of Lake Shore Drive. Although the Chicago Marathon causes many roads to be closed in its route that goes as far north as Wrigleyville and to Bronzeville on the South Side, it does not cause any closures to the drive.[97] However, on the South Side, the Chicago Half Marathon necessitates closures,[98] and the entire drive is closed for Bike The Drive.[99]
Beginning in 1905, the White City Amusement Park, located on 63rd Street provided a recreational area to the citizens of the area.[100][101] Until the early 1920s, a dirigible service ran from the park, which was also the location that Goodyear Blimps were first produced, to Grant Park. This service was discontinued after the Wingfoot Air Express Crash.[102] Although a fire destroyed much of the park in the late 1920s and more was torn down in the 1930s, in some form or another the park continued to exist until the 1950s.
The South Side's gritty reputation often makes its way into popular culture.
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