Roseland, Chicago

Roseland
—  Community area  —
Community Area 49 - Roseland
Location within the city of Chicago
Coordinates: 41°42.6′N 87°37.2′W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Cook
City	Chicago
Neighborhoods	list Fernwood Lilydale Princeton Park Roseland West Chesterfield (portion)
Area
• Total	4.86 sq mi (12.58 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	44,619
• Density	Bad rounding here9,200/sq mi (Bad rounding here3,500/km2)
Demographics 2010
• White	0.42%
• Black	97.37%
• Hispanic	1.03%
• Asian	0.06%
• Other	1.12%
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP Codes	parts of 60619, 60620, 60628
Median household income	$40,142
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

Roseland, located on the far south side of the city, is one of the 77 official community areas of Chicago, Illinois. It includes the neighborhoods of Fernwood, Princeton Park, Lilydale, the southern portion of West Chesterfield, Rosemoor, Sheldon Heights and West Roseland.

History

First Reformed Church of Roseland was founded by the Dutch immigrant population

Roseland was settled in the 1840s by Dutch immigrants, who called the area "de Hooge Prairie", the High Prairie, because it was built on higher, drier ground than the earlier Dutch settlement several miles further south of the Little Calumet River, which was called "de Laage Prairie", the Low Prairie, now South Holland, Illinois.

The community was entirely agrarian until the late 19th century, when the town of Pullman, Chicago was built between Roseland and Lake Calumet. George M. Pullman planned a model industrial city built around a factory that manufactured his "Palace" railway coaches. Modern brick homes were built with electricity, plumbing and gas utilities. Skilled tradesmen from all over Europe immigrated to the town of Pullman with many settling in nearby Roseland. Roseland was annexed into Chicago in 1892. The Roseland area became a very cosmopolitan community made up of multi cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. There was large population of Italian Americans just east of Roseland in the Kensington community. Most came to the area from the Little Italy neighborhood on Taylor Street making Kensington the center of South Side Italian life. San Antonia de Padua (St. Anthony's) cathedral was a cultural landmark of the area. Supporting businesses flourished rapidly changing the farmland into commercial and residential communities surrounded by a number of industries. Stores on Michigan Avenue served the entire south side of Chicago.

Fortunes began to change in the 1960s when industry patterns lead to economic decline. Steel mills to the east were shuttered. Pullman scaled back production and eventually closed for good in 1981. The huge Sherwin-Williams paint factory closed for good in 1995. A period of rapid ethnic succession took place. Skyrocketing crime rates, gang violence, racial tension and urban decay forced longtime residents and businesses to flee, a phenomenon referred to as white flight. Some new residents purchased homes with federal subsidies and FHA backed mortgages and by the mid-1980s Roseland had one of the highest HUD repossession rates in the city. In the mid-1990s, Roseland gained notoriety as the stomping ground of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, the child who was executed by his gang at age eleven. Much needed economic and social revival remains elusive.

The much lauded mural "I Welcome Myself to a New Place: Roseland Pullman Mural," by Olivia Gude, Jon Pounds, and Marcus Jefferson, 1988, was designed to unite the predominantly African American community of Roseland with its nearest neighbor, the predominantly white Pullman community.

Roseland has yet to recover from the economic decline and gang violence. Community leaders and residents are attempting to restore the community through programs like Kids off the Block.

Education

The Kids off the Block memorial featuring hundreds of simple stone blocks, one for each child killed by violence in Roseland

Chicago Public Schools operates public schools.

K-8 schools in Roseland and serving sections of Roseland include Bennett, Cullen, Curtis, Dunne, Gillespie, Haley, L. Hughes, Kohn, and Lavizzo. K-8 Schools outside of Roseland and serving sections of Roseland include Evers, Fernwood, Pullman, Ryder, and Smith.

Two high schools, Fenger High School and Harlan High School, are located in Roseland and serve Roseland. Some Roseland residents are zoned to Corliss High School in Pullman, while others are zoned to Julian High School in Washington Heights.

Harlan Academic Center and Turner-Drew, K-8 magnets, are in Roseland. Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, a magnet school, is located in Roseland.

Roseland Christian School, a private school, is in Roseland.

The main campus of Chicago State University at 95th and Martin Luther King Drive, is in the northeast portion of Roseland.

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1930	43,206		—
1940	44,009		1.9%
1950	56,705		28.8%
1960	58,750		3.6%
1970	62,716		6.8%
1980	64,372		2.6%
1990	56,493		−12.2%
2000	52,683		−6.7%
2010	44,619		−15.3%

External links

• Official City of Chicago Roseland Community Map
• Roseland photos, videos and message board
• Torgan, Allie. "Grandmother helping Chicago kids 'off the block'." CNN. April 7, 2007.