Hyde Park, Chicago

This article is about the Chicago community area. For the former Cook County, IL township, see Hyde Park Township, Cook County, Illinois. For other uses, see Hyde Park (disambiguation).

Hyde Park
—  Community area  —
Community Area 41 - Hyde Park
Official Hyde Park community area (bold black), and unofficial Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood extending into the official Kenwood community area (thin black)
Location within the city of Chicago
Coordinates: 41°48′N 87°35.4′W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Cook
City	Chicago
Neighborhoods	List Hyde Park East Hyde Park
Area
• Total	1.65 sq mi (4.27 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	25,681
• Density	16,000/sq mi (6,000/km2)
Demographics2000
• White	43.5%
• Black	37.6%
• Hispanic	4.11%
• Asian	11.3%
• Other	3.39%
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	parts of 60615, 60637
Median income	$44,142
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

Hyde Park is a neighborhood and community area located on the South Side of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois, United States, seven miles (11 km) south of the Chicago Loop. Established in the 1850s by Paul Cornell, Hyde Park Township was incorporated in 1861 and independent of Chicago until it was annexed to the city in 1889.

As a neighborhood, Hyde Park's definition has shrunken to a core area grouped closely around Cornell's development on E 53rd Street and the lakefront. Today, the name Hyde Park is officially applied to E 51st Street-E Hyde Park Blvd. to the Midway Plaisance (between E 59th and 60th), with eastern and western boundaries being Lake Michigan and Washington Park.

Some consider Hyde Park to include the area between E 47th and 51st Street-E Hyde Park Blvd., although this area is actually the south half of the Kenwood community area. The area encompassing Hyde Park and South Kenwood is also referred to as Hyde Park-Kenwood. It hosts two of the four Chicago Registered Historic Places from the original October 15, 1966 National Register of Historic Places list (Chicago Pile-1 and Robie House). A large part of the neighborhood is in the Hyde Park-Kenwood Historic District.

The Hyde Park Herald is a local newspaper that has covered neighborhood news since 1882. The neighborhood has gained particular notability as the former home of President Barack Obama, who now owns a home in neighboring Kenwood.

History

Founding

In 1853, Paul Cornell, a real estate speculator and cousin of Cornell University founder Ezra Cornell, purchased 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land between E 51st and 55th Streets along the shore of Lake Michigan near Illinois Central Railroad, with the idea of attracting other Chicago businessmen and their families to the area. The neighborhood being seven miles south of downtown Chicago, enjoyed weather tempered by Lake Michigan - cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Some of Cornell's associates, including the sheriff, used their houses in Hyde Park as stops on the Underground Railroad.^{[citation needed]} Cornell successfully negotiated land in exchange for a rail station at E 53rd St to lure guests to the Hyde Park House, a hotel he built to serve as a neighborhood resort. The hotel served as a popular focal point of most community activity from the 1850s, and was visited or lived in by well-to-do guests including Mary Todd Lincoln. It burned in an 1879 fire, with the new Sisson Hotel being built on site in 1918, and eventually converted into condominium building, Hampton House.

Growth and notability

University of Chicago seen from Cornell Avenue.

The Hyde Park Bank

In 1892, the University of Chicago was established in Hyde Park by the philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller. With leadership from William Rainey Harper, the university grew into one of the world's most prestigious universities, and is now associated with eighty-seven Nobel prize laureates. In 1893, Hyde Park hosted the World's Columbian Exposition. While the fair covered hundreds of acres, the only structure left today is Charles Atwood's Palace of Fine Arts, which has since been converted into the Museum of Science and Industry.

By the 1930s, Hyde Park was prospering as a resort area boasting over a hundred hotels, including nearly a dozen elaborate, lakefront structures. Following the Depression and during the war, some of these hotels began to serve a more transient population. Most of the hotels were later converted to apartment and condominium buildings. A thriving artists' colony on E 57th Street led to the establishment of the 57th Street Art Fair in 1948, which continues as Chicago's oldest juried art fair.

Economic decline

By the 1950s, Hyde Park was suffering from the economic decline that was affecting much of the South Side, which began during and after World War I, with the Great Migration of African Americans from the southern to the northern states. Hyde Park saw rapid expansion of those settling in the area, which then offered inexpensive but substandard housing. In 1955, civil rights activist Leon Despres was elected alderman of Hyde Park and held the position for twenty years. Despres argued passionately for racial integration, fair housing, and historic preservation.

Urban renewal

Hyde Park hosts 1700 East 56th Street the tallest building in Chicago south of 13th Street.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the University of Chicago, supported by the community in the name of "Fight Against Blight," sponsored one of the largest urban renewal plans in the nation. In coordination with the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, the plan resulted in the demolition and redevelopment of entire blocks of decayed buildings with the goal of creating an "interracial community of high standards." Jack Meltzer was a leader of this effort.

In the 1960s, as a result of the project, Hyde Park's average income soared by seventy percent, but its Black population fell by forty percent, since the substandard housing primarily occupied by low income minorities had been purchased, torn down, and replaced, with the residents not being able to afford to remain in the newly rehabilitated areas. On the other hand, middle class residents were offered increased opportunities for employment and home-ownership. One notable infrastructure transformation was the two way traffic opening of E 59th Street which goes under the viaduct for the Metra, between Harper and Stony Island. This entryway into the University of Chicago campus was formerly a one way street that allowed travel out of Hyde Park, but not into from surrounding neighborhoods. The renewal project meant that Hyde Park did not experience the same economic depression that occurred in neighboring areas, and also ensured that it remained a racially diverse neighborhood.^{[citation needed]}

Historic structures

Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

The following community area properties have been added to the National Register of Historic Places: Chicago Beach Hotel, Arthur H. Compton House, East Park Towers, Site of First Self-Sustaining Nuclear Reaction, Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments, Isadore H. Heller House, Charles Hitchcock Hall, Hotel Del Prado, Hotel Windermere East, Frank R. Lillie House, Robert A. Millikan House, Poinsettia Apartments, Promontory Apartments, Frederick C. Robie House, George Herbert Jones Laboratory, St. Thomas Church and Convent, Shoreland Hotel, German submarine U-505, and University Apartments. In addition, the NRHP Hyde Park-Kenwood Historic District and Jackson Park Historic Landscape District and Midway Plaisance are located, at least in part, within the community area.

Layout

The even numbered streets in Hyde Park (i.e. E 52nd, 54th, etc.) are almost exclusively residential. E 51st, 53rd, 55th, 57th Streets, and Lake Park Avenue to the west of the Metra tracks host the majority of the businesses in Hyde Park. E 53rd Street is Hyde Park's oldest shopping district, lined with many small businesses, and inexpensive restaurants offering take-out. Harper Court, a small business-oriented shopping center, extends north of E 53rd Street along Harper Ave. A farmers' market is held there during the summertime.

Promontory Point extends out into Lake Michigan at E 55th street, far enough into the lake that it provides spectacular views of both the Downtown Skyline to the north, and the South Chicago and Northwest Indiana skyline to the south. It is a popular place to watch fireworks displays from Navy Pier to the north, during summertime and Independence Day. Sitting on Chicago Park District land, the Point is popular with hikers, bikers, joggers, runners, sunbathers, picnickers, cross-country skiers, and adventurous swimmers. Many residents of Hyde Park and fans of the point show their pride by putting bumper stickers on their cars, bikes, skateboards, etc. that simply read "Save the Point." These indicate opposition to the concrete seawall proposed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers for the Point and neighboring 57th St. Beach. Members of the "Save the Point" campaign prefer a limestone seawall, as currently exists.

The southeast corner of Hyde Park contains the northern end of Jackson Park, home of the Museum of Science and Industry, an original architectural remainder of the Columbian Exposition. Adjacent to the museum is a large park containing a small Japanese garden. Midway Plaisance runs from Stony Island Avenue to Cottage Grove Avenue, and connects Jackson Park to Washington Park.

Lake Shore Drive and Burnham Park provide an eastern boundary against Lake Michigan.

Between the lake and the Metra tracks on 55th street is a series of Asian restaurants, serving Thai, Japanese, Korean, and Middle Eastern cuisine. To the west of the Metra line between 54th and 55th streets lies the Hyde Park Shopping Center. The shopping center is anchored by Treasure Island grocery store. Prior to Treasure Island, the space was occupied by the Hyde Park Co-Op grocery store, which shut down due to financial difficulties in early 2008. The Hyde Park Shopping Center also includes a Walgreens, Ace Hardware, Office Depot, Potbelly Sandwich Works, The Bonjour bakery and outdoor cafe, and an upscale French restaurant, "La Petite Folie." Across from the shopping center on 55th Street are a dry cleaner, computer store (Windy City Computer), Jimmy John's sandwich shop, small bank, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

57th Street is noted for independent bookstores, including the South Side branch of Powell's, an antiquarian bookshop (O'Gara and Wilson's), and the general-readership branch of the Seminary Co-op bookstore, known as "57th Street Books." 57th Street also offers the Medici Restaurant and Bakery, Eduardo's Pizza, and the timeless Salonica Grill, along with small groceries, hairstylists, and dry cleaners. On the first weekend in June, the venerable 57th Street Art Fair takes up 57th Street between Kimbark and Kenwood Avenues.

Very few retailers operate west of Woodlawn, excepting the bookstores at the Chicago Theological Seminary, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and the University of Chicago. The neighborhood south of 55th Street and west of Woodlawn is dominated by the University of Chicago. North of 53rd Street the neighborhood is mainly residential.

Transportation

The neighborhood is connected to the rest of the city by both Chicago Transit Authority and Metra transportation services. CTA buses allow transfers to Red and Green Line trains to the Loop, or provide direct express service downtown. Metra's Electric Line, located on the former Illinois Central, has several stops in Hyde Park and provides service to downtown by way of Millennium Station. South Shore Line trains stop at the 55th-56th-57th Street Station and provide service to Northwest Indiana. Hyde Park is also one of over twenty neighborhoods containing an I-GO Car lot.

CTA bus services: 1 - Indiana/Hyde Park 2 - Hyde Park Express 4 - Cottage Grove 6 - Jackson Park Express 10 - Museum of Science and Industry 15 - Jeffery Local 28 - Stony Island X28 - Stony Island Express 55 - Garfield

Additional CTA bus services, paid for by the University of Chicago: 170 - University of Chicago–Midway 171 - University of Chicago–Hyde Park 172 - University of Chicago–Kenwood 192 - University of Chicago Hospitals Express

Education

Hyde Park is home to a number of educational institutions:

Catholic Theological Union – seminary of Roman Catholic religious orders Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture – nonprofit experiential education program for college students who want to "study abroad" in Chicago Chicago Theological Seminary – seminary of United Church of Christ DuSable Museum of African American History – museum just outside of the neighborhood in Washington Park with long association with Hyde Park Hyde Park Art Center – art center Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago – seminary of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America McCormick Theological Seminary – seminary of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Meadville Lombard Theological School – seminary of Unitarian Universalist Association Museum of Science and Industry – science and industry museum Oriental Institute – archaeology museum within University of Chicago Smart Museum of Art – art museum within University of Chicago Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School – autism school/treatment center founded by controversial psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim University of Chicago – private research university University of Chicago Laboratory Schools – private, coeducational nursery-12 school Note: American School of Correspondence had its headquarters on 58th Street until 1996.

Notable residents

Notable Hyde Park residents have included:

Gertrude Abercrombie – painter Bill Ayers – educator and activist Saul Bellow – writer, 1976 Nobel Prize laureate Lee Botts – environmentalist Carol Moseley Braun – U.S. Senator from Illinois Paul Butterfield – blues musician John H. Cochrane – economist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – astrophysicist, 1983 Nobel Prize laureate James W. Cronin – physicist, 1980 Nobel Prize laureate Clarence Darrow – lawyer Leon Despres – civil rights activist William Dodd – U.S. Ambassador to Germany Bernardine Dohrn – activist Paul Douglas[citation needed] Arne Duncan – United States Secretary of Education Amelia Earhart (day resident as student of Hyde Park High) – aviator Kurt Elling – jazz musician Eugene Fama[citation needed] Louis Farrakhan – activist Enrico Fermi[citation needed] Marshall Field[citation needed]

Francis Fukuyama[citation needed] Dick Gregory – comedian, activist Hugh Hefner – magazine publisher, founder of Playboy Jesse Jackson[citation needed] Mahalia Jackson[citation needed] Elena Kagan[citation needed] George Kirby[citation needed] Kenesaw Mountain Landis[citation needed] Mary Todd Lincoln – First Lady of the United States Roberta Martin[citation needed] Barack Obama – President of the United States Kwame Raoul[citation needed] John Paul Stevens – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court George Stigler – economist, 1982 Nobel Prize laureate James Tiptree, Jr. – author Swami Vivekananda – monk, spiritual leader Harold Washington – Mayor of Chicago Jody Watley[citation needed] Gilbert F. White – geographer Sho Yano[citation needed] Jay Yuenger[citation needed]

Image gallery

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  A view of the Memorial to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk by Albin Polasek on Midway Plaisance.

• 

  Shops and restaurants on E 53rd Street

• 

  Metra station on E 53rd and S Lake Park Ave.

• 

  The courtyard of the Hyde Park Shopping Center

• 

  E 55th St. and S. Everett Ave.

• 

  S South Shore Dr. and E 56th St.

• 

  Banks of Promontory Point

• 

  Museum of Science and Industry

• 

  The dollar store on E 55th St. and S Cornell Ave.

• 

  Looking south toward Hyde Park from the shore of Lake Michigan

External links

• Official City of Chicago Hyde Park Map
• Hyde Park Historical Society
• Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference
• South East Chicago Commission