 |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Improvements to the Calumet River and an establishment of a harbor in the early part of the 1800's were the beginning of Southeast Chicago’s development. As canals were built and railroads extended, the area soon became a home to many factories and industries helping to build Chicago into the city it would become. The availabilty of jobs led to increased settlement in the area. In 1865, the East Side, located on the east bank of the Calumet River, was part of the Village of Hyde Park which extended from 39th Street to 138th Street. In 1889, the area was added to Chicago when Hyde Park was incorporated into the City of Chicago. Throughout the 1800’s the steel industry, using the many waterways and rail lines as a mid continental shipping center, built and opened plants in Southeast Chicago. Iroquois Steel, U.S. Steel, Republic Steel, Wisconsin Steel, and other steel-associated businesses operated here for over 90 years,and were the biggest employers in the neighborhood. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Two real estate developers, Charles Colehour and Douglas Taylor, both built residential housing for the many millworkers who continued to immigrate to the area. Douglas Taylor's mansion was located on 98th Street on the current site of the Calumet Park Field House. The Colehour house still stands at 10261 S. Avenue H. During the 1920's more plants were constucted along the eastern bank of the river and the railroad was again expanded. People had settled the southern portion of the the East Side between 95th and 109th Streets, and the western portion from Ewing to Burley Avenue. The East Side was busy with steelworks, oil refineries, railroad equipment shops, and chemical plants until the decline of the steel industry in the late 1980’s.
|
|
 |
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Today the East Side is meeting the challenges of this century. Although the area is unknown to many Chicagoans, those who reside here consider it to be one of the best kept secrets in City. The East Side offers affordable housing, easy access to downtown, lakes and rivers, fishing and hunting, and schools within walking distance of prairies, marshes, and woodlands. We also have the only state park located in Chicago. Environmental advocates view Southeast Chicago with new eyes.The Calumet Open Space Reserve now consists of 4,877 acres of open lands used for nature preservation and recreation. The Illinois Port Authority converted one capped landfill into the Harborside International Golf Course. Bicycle trails connect with the Burnham greenway and the bike path along Lake Michigan’s shore.More than 200 species of birds migrate through or stay and nest in the Calumet wetlands. Indian Ridge Marsh supports the Upper Midwest’s largest rookery for black-crowned night herons, with more than 800 birds making nests and raising young there. Docking slips along Lake Calumet hold the largest nesting colony of ring-billed gulls in Illinois, numbering more than 5,000 birds. Several pairs of yellow-headed blackbirds, a species threatened with extinction in Illinois and in trouble in much of its natural range, continue to raise young in the wetlands of Eggers Woods and Hegewisch Marsh.
|
|
|
Dedicated to the Development of Business, Industry, Transportation and Community Improvement |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3658 East 106th Street Chicago, Illinois 60617 (773) 721-7948 E-mail: eastsidechamber@sbcglobal.net
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
