South side, chicago

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1. Stepan Marina South Side, Chicago

2. This article is about the southern part of the city of Chicago. For the region south of Chicago, see  Chicago Southland . South Side District The   Victory Monument , which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places , is located in the  Black Metropolis- Bronzeville District  near the starting point of the  Bud Billiken Parade Coordinates:  41.8671°N 87.6216°W Coordinates :  41.8671°N 87.6216°W Country USA State Illinois County Cook County City Chicago Time zone CST  ( UTC−06:00 ) • Summer ( DST ) CDT  ( UTC−05:00 ) The  South Side  is a major part of the  city of Chicago , which is located in  Cook County ,  Illinois . It is one of the three major parts of the city, the others being the  West Side  and the  North Side . Much of it 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," historically have been divided by the  Chicago River  and its branches

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. It has great disparity in income and other  demographic measures . [6]  Although it has a reputation for being poor or crime-infested, [7] [8]  the reality is more varied. The South Side ranges from affluent to  middle class  to  working class  to impoverished. [9] [10]  Neighborhoods such as  Armour Square ,  Back of the Yards , Bridgeport  and  Pullman  host more  blue collar  residents, while  Hyde Park , the  Jackson Park Highlands District ,  Kenwood   and Beverly  feature affluent,  middle  and  upper-middle class  residents. [11]

4. The South Side boasts a broad array of cultural and social offerings, such as professional sports teams, landmark buildings, museums, educational institutions, medical institutions and major parts of Chicago's parks system. The South Side is serviced by bus and  'L'  train via the  Chicago Transit Authority  and a number of  Metra  lines. [12]  It has several  interstate  and  national highways . [13]

5. Boundaries There is some debate as to the South Side's boundaries. The city's  address numbering system  uses a grid demarcating  Madison Street  as the East-West axis and  State Street  as the North-South axis. Madison is in the middle of the Loop. [14]  As a result, much of the downtown "Loop" district is south of Madison Street, but the Loop is excluded from the definition of the South Side. [3] [6] [15] Community areas  by number (top) and side One definition has the South Side beginning at  Roosevelt Road  (formerly 12th Street), at the Loop's southern boundary, with the  community area  known as the  Near South Side immediately adjacent. Another definition, taking into account that much of the Near South Side is in effect part of the commercial district extending in an unbroken line from the South Loop, locates the boundary immediately south of 18th Street, where Chinatown in the Armour Square district begins. [4] A typical  Chicago Bungalow , examples of which are found in abundance on the South Side. Lake Michigan  and the  Indiana  state line provide eastern boundaries. The southern border changed over time because of Chicago's evolving city limits; the city limits are now at 138th Street (in  Riverdale  and  Hegewisch ). [16]  Using the Roosevelt Road boundary, the South Side is larger than the North and West Sides combined.

6. Subdivisions [ edit ] The exact boundaries dividing the Southwest, South and Southeast Sides vary by source. [15]  If primarily  racial  lines are followed, the South Side can be 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). [17] The differing interpretations of the boundary between the South and Southwest Sides are due to a lack of a definite natural or artificial boundary. [15]  One source states that the boundary is Western Avenue  or the railroad tracks adjacent to Western Avenue. [6]  This border extends further south to a former railroad right of way paralleling Beverly Avenue and then  Interstate 

7. History [ edit ] 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 ,  Lithuanian and   Yugoslav  immigrants, in particular, settled in neighborhoods adjacent to industrial zones. [20] The  Illinois Constitution  gave rise to townships that provided municipal services in 1850. Several settlements surrounding Chicago incorporated as townships to better serve their residents. Growth and prosperity overburdened many local government systems. In 1889, most of these townships determined that they would be better off as part of a larger city of Chicago. Lake View, Jefferson, Lake, Hyde Park Townships and the Austin portion of  Cicero  voted to be annexed by the city in the June 29, 1889 elections. [1] [21] [22] After the  Civil War  freed millions of slaves, during  Reconstruction  black southerners migrated to Chicago and caused the black population to nearly quadruple from 4,000 to 15,000 between 1870 and 1890. [23] In the 20th century, the numbers expanded with the  Great Migration , as blacks left the agrarian South seeking a better future in the industrial North, including the South Side. By 1910 the black population in Chicago reached 40,000, with 78% residing in the Black Belt. [23] [24]  Extending 30 blocks, mostly between 31st and 55th Streets, [25]  along  State Street , but only a few blocks wide, [23]  it developed into a vibrant community dominated by black businesses, music, food and culture. [24]  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 area and the city. Older residents of means moved to newer  suburban  housing as new migrants entered the city, [26] [27]  driving further demographic changes.

8. Housing By the 1930s, Chicago boasted that over 25% of its residential structures were less than 10 years old, many of which were  bungalows . These continued to be built in the working-class South Side into the 1960s. [33] [34]   Studio apartments , with  Murphy beds  and  kitchenettes  or  Pullman kitchens , comprised a large part of the housing supply during and after the  Great Depression , especially in the "Black Belt". [35]  The South Side had a history of  philanthropic  subsidized housing dating back to 1919. [36] The  United States Congress  passed the  Housing Act of 1949  to fund  public housing  to improve housing for the disadvantaged. 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. [37]

9. Gentrification Gentrification of parts of the  Douglas  community area has bolstered the  Black Metropolis- Bronzeville District . [38]  Gentrification in various parts of the South Side has displaced many blacks. [39]  The South Side offers numerous housing  cooperatives . Hyde Park has several  middle-income  co-ops and other South Side regions have limited equity (subsidized, price-controlled) co-ops. [40]  These regions experienced  condominium  construction and conversion in the 1970s and 1980s. [40] Last  Robert Taylor Home , 2005 In the late 20th century the South Side had among the poorest housing conditions in the U.S., but the  Chicago Housing Authority  (CHA) began replacing the old high-rise public housing with mixed-income, lower-density developments, part of the city's Plan for Transformation. [41]  Many of the CHA's massive public housing projects, which lined several miles of South State Street, have been demolished. Among the largest 

10. Demographics [ edit ] The South Side has a population of 752,496, of which over 93% are black. [43] [ citation needed ]  Some  census tracts  (4904 in  Roseland , 7106 in Auburn Gresham ) are 99% black. [44]  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. [ citation needed ] Hyde Park is home to the  University of Chicago , as well as the South Side's largest  Jewish  population, centered on Chicago's oldest  synagogue , the  Chicago Landmark   KAM Isaiah Israel . [45]  The Southwest Side's ethnic makeup also includes the largest concentration of  Górals , ( Carpathian  highlanders) outside of Europe; it is the location of the  Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America . [46]  A large  Mexican-American  population resides in Little Village (South Lawndale) and areas south of 99th Street. [47]