Austin

Austin is the third largest community among the 77 other communities in Chicago, Illinois, after the Lake View community. Austin is the second largest after South Deering, according to the geographical area. The border to the north is at the Milwaukee District while at the Roosevelt Road to the south. On the other side, the Belt railway on Cicero Avenue borders Austin to the east. Besides some communities that border Austin in Oak Park, Cicero and Elmwood Park.

When people think of Austin, one of the most famous landmarks is the Laramie State Bank, located on Laramie and Chicago avenue. The building represents Austin’s architecture in 1920 with the ornamentation and interior terracotta tiles. People also like to visit the Greenbelt, a greenside of the community with streams where people swim and waterfalls. Other nature things in the area include tents, woods, hidden tents, cliffs and many more. The south congress bridge also gives a beautiful sight of the flying bats.

Austin is also not far from the Chicago loop. People have to travel for 9.1 miles and drive for 17 minutes to get there. The Chicago loop contains the office of the governor of Illinois and some of Chicago’s government. There is also the millennial and Grant park along the Chicago loop where the Cloud Gate sculpture sits, and the Lollapalooza events are hosted.

Besides, the community is further divided into North Austin, Galewood, South Austin and The Island.

North Austin

The North Austin district hosts the Robert LeFlore jr post office, located on West Division Street. This neighborhood also borders the Milwaukee District and Armitage Avenue to the north and Division street to the south. Besides, the area also has Cicero Avenue neighboring the East while Austin Avenue neighbors to the West.

Galewood Community

In 1828, Abraham Gale bought a farm in the area. Therefore people named the area Galewood. Initially, people who lived in the area were Italian Americans, but the community grew as more people with different cultural backgrounds settled over the years.

This community neighbors Milwaukee District to the north and North Avenue to the south. On the other hand, Harlem Avenue neighbors the East and Narragansett avenue to the West of Galewood.

One shared community structure is the Chicago Library System with the Montclare district. Galewood also has two train stations. Another train station is the Mars train station that services people from Montclare and Mars.

South Austin

The South Austin Neighborhood is the largest with the Austin Neighborhood. The community started with the white people being the majority in the area. During the transition, the neighborhood was the first to transition, with African- American people being the majority.

South Austin has six major landmarks: Austin Town Hall Park, Austin Historic District, Joseph.J.Walser House, First Congregational Church of Austin, Austin Town Hall Park Historic District, Austin Historic District, Columbus Park, and Midway Park.

South Austin also borders Division street to the north and the Roosevelt road to the south. On the other hand, the neighborhood borders Austin Boulevard to the West and Cicero to the East.

· The Island

People can only get in and out of The Island through Roosevelt Road and Austin Boulevard. The Island has railway tracks to the north and an industrial corridor to the East that limits the movement. Generally, this neighborhood is found in the South West of the Austin community. So, Cicero borders to the south and Oakland to the West.

Although The Island is diverse today, African Americans were not allowed to settle in the 1980s. However, things changed when Harold Washington became the first African-American Mayor.

The Chicago Studio City, the largest studio in the Midwestern US, is located here. Some of the great films like Empire and Shameless were filmed in the studio.

Map

Austin is located in Chicago City, in Cook county, found in Illinois State. Austin’s eastern boundary is the Belt Railway located just east of Cicero Avenue. Its northernmost border is the Milwaukee District / West Line. Its southernmost border is at Roosevelt Road from the Belt Railway west to Austin Boulevard. North of North Avenue, the northernmost portion extends West to Harlem Avenue, abutting Elmwood Park. In addition to Elmwood Park, Austin also borders the suburbs of Cicero and Oak Park.

The coordinates are 4154′N 8745.6′W, and the zip code is 60644

Population

In the 1960s, many middle-class white communities lived in this area. The great migration led to more African Americans relocating to Austin. There was an increase in black prejudice, insecurity and economic decline, which led to the white people fleeing the community. The white community reduced, and Africa-Americans grew to 73% in 1980.

According to the 2020 demographics, there are 5.6% white non-Hispanic and 15.1% Hispanic or Latino living in Austin. The majority are blacks, with 77.8%, and the lowest is 0.5% in the Asian community. Other multiple races living in Austin who are non- Hispanic are 1.1%.

Austin has the second-largest population after Lake View. The community has a total population of 96,557 people as of 2020. 27% percent of the people are 19 and below, while 39.9% are individuals between 20-49. Also, people over 50 are 31.2% of the total population.

There are 5.6% white non-Hispanic and 15.1% Hispanic or Latino living in Austin. The majority are African-Americans with 77.8%, and the lowest is 0.5% in the Asian community. Other multiple races living in Austin who are non- Hispanic are 1.1%.

Real Estate

According to the 2020 data, Austin has 60.8% of family household types while 15.8 % are single parents with children. On the other hand, we have people living in non-family households who are 32.9% of the total population.

The officials of Austin are actively improving the living conditions of people in the area. The Mayor selected Austin as part of the initial improvement strategy among ten other communities. The INVEST South/West commercial corridor improvement strategy was formed in October 2019. This strategy mainly focuses on public spaces and quality of life amenities for pedestrians like shopping centers, transportation and other services.

The previous planning in Austin was to improve the streetscape, CDOT planned improvement, Formers Laramie state Bank site and Chicago Avenue Buildings. The Chicago avenue buildings include the Mixed-Use Building and the Repurpose garage building. The mixed-use building is a three-story building with the first floor having 6000s.f while the 2nd and 3rd floor have 24 units, each having 750 s.f per unit. For now, the INVEST South/West plan has given priority to the Laramie State Ban, New Moms, Chicago Boombox, Laramie Green Line station and Austin Intersection.

Austin has a yearly Chicago Blue event at Millennium Park. The Chicago Blues is all about embracing local music in the Blues genre, which DCASE and its partners organize every year.

The Median listing home prices in December 2021 were lower than Chicago’s median average price of $335,000. The average median listing in Austin was $260K while the median home selling price was $250K.

Schools

Survey conducted shows that more people have a High School Diploma or Equivalent. These people were at 35.8% with a high school certificate as their highest level of education. People who attended a college but not a degree followed with 23.3%. People who had no high school degree but went to school were 18.7%.

Statistics also show that only 9.8% have a bachelor’s degree, and 7.1% have an associate’s degree. The least number of people had a graduate or professional degree of 5.2%.

There are 179 public schools in Austin and 189 private schools near Austin. The best school is Payton Preparatory High School. The school is the number 1 public and magnet high school. The school is also ranked as the best number 2 as the best college prep public high school. Besides, 96% of the children that join end up graduating. Some of the other best schools include:

STEM Magnet Academy Elementary School

Rating A-

Student population: 488

Teacher to student ratio: 14: 1

Hawthorne Scholastic academy

Rating A-

Student population: 568

Teacher to student ratio: 15:1

NorthSide Preparatory High School

Rating A+

Student population: 1078

Teacher to student ratio: 18:1

British International School of Chicago, South loop

Rating A+

Student population: 604

Teacher to student ratio: 8:1

Crime Rating

According to Chicago police reports, there have been 83 total crimes in 2022. Forty-three of these crimes happened between 10 January 2022 and 16 January 2022. The total average crime rate change in 2021 is -48%.

The robbery complaint has reduced from 38 in 2018 and is currently at 10. If you compare the robbery percentage change from last year, you will see a decrease of -29%.

Shooting incidents have also reduced from 7 in 2020 to now 2. Therefore, the percentage decrease is by -71%.

History

Henry DeKoven purchased the prairie land in 1835 but later sold it to Henry W Austin after 10 years. Henry then named the subdivision after him. Over the years, the subdivision grew in population and improved in infrastructure. An example is the suburban railway service which also attracted more people to live in the area.

Cicero town placed its town hall in Austin. By 1890 Austin population took charge of Chicago’s politics, but they didn’t have the majority of votes. During the rule of Austin, they allowed Lake street Elevated to extend to Oak Park. The other citizens of Cicero were furious by Austin’s move, and they voted in the 1899 referendum for Chicago to rule the Austin area. Austin’s citizens denied the vote by voting against the referendum.

Austin’s citizens won the referendum vote, and they remained independent. The town continued to attract more Europeans, and by 1920, the community had 140,00 people. The infrastructures improved, and the people built structures like the Loretto Hospital and Eisenhower Express.

Initially, only middle-class Europeans lived in the area, and there were no crimes. African- Americans started moving to Austin after the second world war and the great migration. The racial prejudice, economic decline and insecurity increased leasing to the white flight movements. As a result, the African-American population increased by 73% in 1980. In Austin, crimes like drug dealing, shoot-outs, gang activity, and homicides were common. The rise of the HIV pandemic, mass incarceration and middle and upper class move to suburbs led to further decline of the economy.