Douglas | |
|---|---|
| Community Area 35 - Douglas | |
 Prairie Shores in Bronzeville | |
 Location within the city of Chicago | |
| Coordinates:41°50′05″N87°37′05″W / 41.83472°N 87.61806°W /41.83472; -87.61806[1] | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| County | Cook |
| City | Chicago |
| Named after | Stephen A. Douglas |
| Neighborhoods | |
| Area | |
• Total | 1.67 sq mi (4.33 km2) |
| Elevation | 597 ft (182 m) |
| Population (2023)[2] | |
• Total | 21,756 |
| • Density | 13,000/sq mi (5,020/km2) |
| Demographics 2023[2] | |
| • White | 9.1% |
| • Black | 63.5% |
| • Hispanic | 7.3% |
| • Asian | 13.6% |
| • Other | 6.6% |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP Codes | parts of 60609, 60616 and 60653 |
| Median household income 2023[2] | $44,426 |
| Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services | |
Douglas, on theSouth Side ofChicago, Illinois, is one of Chicago's 77community areas. The neighborhood is named forStephen A. Douglas, Illinois politician andAbraham Lincoln's political foe, whose estate included a tract of land given to the federal government.[3] This tract later was developed for use as the Civil War Union training and prison camp,Camp Douglas, located in what is now the eastern portion of the Douglas neighborhood. Douglas gave that part of his estate at Cottage Grove and 35th to theOld University of Chicago.[4] TheChicago 2016 Olympic bid planned for theOlympic Village to be constructed on a 37-acre (15 ha) truck parking lot, south ofMcCormick Place, that is mostly in the Douglascommunity area and partly in theNear South Side.[5]
The Douglas community area stretches from 26th Street, south to Pershing Road along the Lake Shore, including parts of the Green Line, alongState Street and the Metra Electric and Amtrak passenger railroad tracks, which run parallel toLake Shore Drive.Burnham Park runs along its shoreline, containing31st Street Beach. The community area also contains part of the neighborhood ofBronzeville, the historic center of black culture in the city, since the early 20th century and theGreat Migration.
Bronzeville is the area comprising the Douglas,Grand Boulevard, andOakland communities on theSouth Side ofChicago, around theIllinois Institute of Technology,VanderCook College of Music, andIllinois College of Optometry. It is accessible via theGreen andRed lines of theChicago Transit Authority, as well as theMetra Electric District Main Line. In 2011, a new Metra station,Jones/Bronzeville Station, opened to serve the neighborhood on theRock Island and plannedSouthEast Service.
Bronzeville is located inChicago's 3rdward, currently represented by AldermanPat Dowell.[6]
In the early 20th century,Bronzeville was known as the "Black Metropolis", one of the nation's most significant concentrations ofAfrican-American businesses, andculture. The groundbreakingPekin Theatre rose near 27th street in the first decade of the 20th century.
Between 1910 and 1920, during an early peak of the "Great Migration", the population of the area increased dramatically when thousands of black Americans escaped the de jure segregation and prejudice rife in theU.S. South and migrated to Chicago in search of industrial jobs. TheWabash YMCA is considered the first black Y in the U.S.[7] It remains active today due to ongoing support from nearby black churches.[8] The Wabash YMCA's work to commemorate black culture was the genesis ofBlack History Month.[9]
In 1922,Louis B. Anderson, a Chicago alderman, had the architects Michaelsen & Rognstad build him a house at 3800 South Calumet Avenue. The surrounding area would take on the name of this house (which he had namedBronzeville).[10]
Key figures in the area include:Andrew "Rube" Foster, founder of the Negro National Baseball League;Ida B. Wells, a civil rights activist, journalist and co-organizer of the NAACP;Pope Leo XIV (bornRobert Francis Prevost), the 267thPope of theRoman Catholic Church;[11]Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, artist, author, and one of the co-founders of theDuSable Museum of African American History;Bessie Coleman, the first black woman pilot;Gwendolyn Brooks,poet laureate and first black American awarded thePulitzer Prize, as well as, other acclaimed authors and artists of theChicago Black Renaissance; actressesSusie Garrett,Marla Gibbs andJennifer Beals; acclaimed R&B singersMinnie Riperton,Sam Cooke andLou Rawls; and cornet player and jazz bandleaderKing Oliver. His protégé, jazz musician, trumpeter and bandleaderLouis Armstrong from New Orleans and his wifeLil Hardin Armstrong, who was a pianist, composer and bandleader, lived in Bronzeville on E. 44th Street and performed at many of the area's night clubs, including theSunset Cafe and Dreamland Cafe. The neighborhood includes theChicago LandmarkBlack Metropolis-Bronzeville District.[12]
| External videos | |
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 The 77: A City of Neighborhoods - Bronzeville, Choose Chicago |
47th Street was and remains the hub of the Bronzeville neighborhood. In the early 21st century, it has started to regain some of its former glory. Gone for good is theRegal Theater (demolished in 1973), where many great performers took the stage. The Forum Hall building was built in 1897 designed by Chicago architect Samuel Atwater Treat (1839-1910) and may contain the oldest hardwood ballroom dance floor in Chicago. It filled a significant role in Bronzeville's cultural scene, being the venue for famous musicians From the 1940s and 1960s, high-risepublic housing projects were constructed in the area, which were managed by theChicago Housing Authority. The largest complex was theRobert Taylor Homes. They developed severe social problems exacerbated by concentrated poverty among the residents and poor design of the buildings. This project was demolished in the late 1990s and early 21st century. The nickname "Bronzeville" was first used for the area in 1930 by James J. Gentry, a local theater editor for theChicago Bee publication. It refers to the brown skin color of black Americans, who predominated as residents in that area. It has become common usage over decades.[13]
The Bronzeville community features in various literary works set in Chicago, includingRichard Wright'sNative Son, Gwendolyn Brooks'A Street in Bronzeville,Lorraine Hansberry's stage playA Raisin in the Sun,Leon Forrest'sThere is a Tree More Ancient than Eden [The Bloodworth Trilogy],Bayo Ojikutu's crime novel47th Street Black, andSara Paretsky's detective mysteryBlacklist, part of theV. I. Warshawski series.
Historical images of Bronzeville are in Explore Chicago Collections, a digital repository made available byChicago Collections archives, libraries and other cultural institutions in the city.[14]
Originally a five-building, 1677-unit public housing project erected in 1962 byMichael Reese Hospital, Prairie Shores has been adapted as a market rate, middle-class community. Along with the adjacent Lake Meadows development, this was part of the city's largest urban renewal project at the time of its inception in 1946. The total project included construction of theIllinois Institute of Technology andMercy Hospital. The development was funded under the Title I of theHousing Act of 1949, usingUS$6.2 million ($64.4 million today) of subsidies.[15]
Of all the sections of Douglas originally developed byStephen A. Douglas, only Groveland Park survives. Its homes are built around an oval-shaped park. Groveland Park is located between Cottage Grove Avenue, 33rd Street, 35th Street and theMetra Electric railroad tracks.
The Douglas community area has supported theDemocratic Party in the past two presidential elections. In the2016 presidential election, the Douglas cast 6,342 votes forHillary Clinton and cast 187 votes forDonald Trump (97.13% to 2.80%).[16] In the2012 presidential election, Douglas cast 8,206 votes forBarack Obama and cast 158 votes forMitt Romney (98.11% to 1.88%).[17]
TheMetra Electric District has aflag stop atEast 27th Street, where trains stop either at the request of a passenger on-board, or if riders are seen waiting on the platform.[18] The CTA Green Line also serves the community area at the35th station.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 50,285 | — | |
| 1940 | 53,124 | 5.6% | |
| 1950 | 78,745 | 48.2% | |
| 1960 | 52,325 | −33.6% | |
| 1970 | 43,731 | −16.4% | |
| 1980 | 35,700 | −18.4% | |
| 1990 | 30,652 | −14.1% | |
| 2000 | 26,470 | −13.6% | |
| 2010 | 18,238 | −31.1% | |
| 2020 | 20,291 | 11.3% | |
| [2][19] | |||
The population of Douglas climbed precipitously through the mid-20th century as a result of the Great Migration of black families to the North. At the time, African American families were primarily limited to an area known as the "Black Belt", which constitutes much of the area of historic Bronzeville.[1] The rapid influx of new residents notoriously contributed to overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in the growing neighborhood.
Following its peak in 1950, the population of the neighborhood began a long decline as racial covenants restricting black settlement were lifted and black families sought residence in other areas. Economic decline in the 1960s and 1970s coinciding with disinvestment further contributed to the flight of families from the area.[20] Furthermore, urban renewal projects led by the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) contributed to the displacement of over 18,000 individuals from Bronzeville.[21]
The turn of the 21st century saw the CHA enact its Plan for Transformation, resulting in the demolition of many of the public housing projects erected in the prior decades. Consequently, the population of the neighborhood plummeted at an even faster clip from 2000-2010, bottoming out at 18,238 residents.[22] Beginning in the 1990s, however, Bronzeville and Douglas began to see renewed interest from middle- and upper-income black professionals attracted to its past.[23] This trend has continued in recent times, with Douglas finally turning the corner on population growth in the 2020 census with an increase of 11.3% over the past decade.
Notably, researchers have identified that Bronzeville contains two of the 193 census tracts nationally that achieved a remarkable decrease in poverty with minimal displacement of the existing communities between 2000 and 2015.[24] This trend has been attributed to the abundance of vacant lots throughout the neighborhood, which encourage development without driving out residents.[25] Furthermore, commentators have noted that Bronzeville is unique among Chicago neighborhoods in that the majority of gentrification has been driven by the black middle class.[26]
The followingChicago Public Schools campuses serve Bronzeville: Beethoven Elementary School,Phillips Academy High School,Dunbar Vocational High School,Bronzeville Scholastic Institute,Chicago Military Academy, andWalter H. Dyett High School. Notable private schools includeDe La Salle High School andHales Franciscan High School.
Young Women's Leadership Charter School, a charter school, is in the community area.[27]
Bronzeville is also home to the renownedIllinois Institute of Technology, which is famous for its engineering and architecture programs. It is home to theVanderCook College of Music and theIllinois College of Optometry. In 2006 the liberal arts schoolShimer College, based on theGreat Books, moved into the neighborhood.
Places adjacent to Douglas, Chicago | |
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