Washington Park, Chicago

Washington Park (Chicago, Illinois)

Community Area 40 - Washington Park Location within the city of Chicago
Latitude Longitude	41°47.4′N, 87°37.2′W
Neighborhoods	Washington Park
ZIP Code	parts of 60609, 60615, 60621, 60637
Area	3.83 km² (1.48 mi²)
Population (2000) Density	14,146 (down 27.18% from 1990) 3,690.4 /km²
Demographics	White Black Hispanic Asian Other	0.52% 97.5% 0.95% 0.04% 0.95%
Median income	$15,160
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

See also: Washington Park, Chicago

DuSable Museum - 2007Jan07

Horse drinking fountains like this Grand Blvd. entrance one were common. 1800s and early 1900s park visitors commonly arrived in horse-drawn carriages.^[1]

St. Mary's African Methodist Episcopal Church, established in 1897, is Washington Park's oldest black congregation.^[2]

Washington Park is a well-defined community area (neighborhood) on the South Side of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, USA. It includes the park named Washington Park, stretching east-west from Cottage Grove Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expressway, and north-south from 63rd Street to 51st. The park is the proposed site of the Olympic Stadium in Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Half of the neighborhood's lots are vacant, reflecting the fact that Washington Park is one of the poorest in Chicago, with a median household income of only $15,000 a year, although there has recently been a surge in gut rehab and new construction condominiums, signaling the fact that the neighborhood is amidst change. As of the turn of the century nearly half of the residents lived below the poverty level.^[3]

History

In the mid to late 19th century, a large number of Irish and German railroad workers and meatpackers made Washington Park home. There was a sprinkling of African American residents in the working-class district south of Garfield Boulevard/55th Street. Affluent American-born whites settled the wide North-South avenues that provided a direct route into the Loop 7 miles to the north. Cable cars, The Chicago 'L' and wide boulevards contributed to late 19th century prosperity. The wide avenues, especially Grand Boulevard (now named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive), provided popular locations for mansions and grand apartments built by many wealthy Chicagoans.^[3]

Changing demographics

A turn-of-the-century apartment construction boom allowed the expansion of Chicago's African American ghetto southward, and the original inhabitants mostly left the area. The transition was rapid and marked with conflicts such as the Race Riot of 1919.^[3] Some white Protestants left to form an exclusive residential community in the South Shore community area. In 1906 they formed the South Shore Country Club, which excluded Blacks and Jews from membership.^[4]

The area rapidly changed from white to African-American in the 1920s. By 1930, the population was only 7.8% white. By 1960, the population was 0.5% white.^[5] From 1950 to 2000 the total population of the neighborhood declined from 57,000 to 14,146.^[3] This population decline is partly due to initiatives of the Chicago Land Clearance Commission.^[3]

In keeping with the racial transformation, the cultural and religious institutions, including those of Irish Catholics, Greek Orthodoxy and the Jewish faith, converted to African American institutions. The DuSable Museum of African American History, founded in 1961, moved to Washington Park in 1973. It is a Washington Park landmark and one of the largest African American museums in the country.^[3]

The neighborhood once contained many public housing complexes including about a third of the nations largest, the Robert Taylor Homes.^[2] The Taylor homes have been demolished because of the socioeconomic problems that they perpetuated. The area has minimal industry or commerce at the current time.^[2] However, there is hope that the prospects of the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid will change the lack of commerce.

In literature

James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan trilogy is set in Washington Park.

In Richard Wright's novel Native Son, Bigger Thomas drives the drunken Jan Erlone and Mary Dalton around Washington Park, as the two embrace.

External links

• Official City of Chicago Washington Park Neighborhood Map
• Chicago Park District: Washington Park
• DuSable Museum
• St. Anselm Parish

See also

• Washington Park, Chicago (park)

Notes

1. ^ Graf, John, Chicago's Parks Arcadia Publishing, 2000, p. 85., ISBN 0-7385-0716-4.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Best, Wallace (2005). Washington Park. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Best, Wallace, Washington Park (community area), Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 859. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
4. ^ Best, Wallace, South Shore, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 770. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
5. ^ Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 1044. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9

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