Tag Archive
Best of the South Side 2008: Chinatown
Chicago’s Chinatown district has changed a substantial amount since the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the beginnings of a Chicago Chinatown were born. In the late 1800s, most of the Chinese immigrants in Chicago lived near Clark and Van Buren in downtown Chicago. However, Chinese-Americans faced substantial housing discrimination in Chicago, and established... »
Best of the South Side 2008: Woodlawn
In 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition brought economic prosperity to Woodlawn. Unfortunately, it left economic hardship in its wake that would persist for much of the next century, especially as a sudden racial succession turned the neighborhood from 87% white in 1930 to 89% black in 1960. Racial issues and class tensions, particularly with... »
Best of the South Side 2008: Bridgeport
Historically, Bridgeport has been known both as a working-class Irish neighborhood and a home to well-connected politicians, including both Mayors Daley. However, there is another side to Bridgeport: a diverse, artistic neighborhood that welcomes outsiders without losing its strong community feel. A study, conducted by the Chaddick Institute at DePaul University, ranked Bridgeport the... »
Best of the South Side 2008: Pilsen
In the late 1800s, a restaurant opened up in this formerly German and Irish neighborhood called “At the City of Plzen,” in honor of the second largest city in West Bohemia (the modern-day Czech Republic). But with World War I came vast labor shortages, which attracted a variety of immigrant groups, most notably the... »
Best of the South Side 2008: Grand Crossing & Chatham
In some ways, Grand Crossing and adjacent Chatham are like a case study in urban history. Both were originally settled by European immigrants working on the railroads and, later on, in factories. Both neighborhoods prospered during the first half of the 20th century. And starting in the 1950s, both were integrated; but here is... »
Best of the South Side 2008: South Shore
South Shore has spent much of its history as a solidly middle-class neighborhood—which is not to say that the area has remained unchanged the entire time. Like many South Side neighborhoods, it saw an outburst of growth with the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and continued prosperity through the 1920s and ’30s, followed by white... »
Best of the South Side 2008: Beverly
Often overlooked due to its distance from the nearest CTA stop and its location straddling 100th Street, hanging over into the triple digits, Beverly is a quiet and at times suburban neighborhood on the southwestern edge of the city. It was annexed to the city along with most of the South Side in 1889,... »
Best of the South Side
Between the prairie and the lake, fate and happenstance, Chicago was built by the twin American tastes for the freedom of the wild frontier and the promise of the metropolis. The historic South Side of the city has been witness to the result: the grit and the glitz, industry and commerce, social injustice and... »
