Calumet Heights

From a swampy, largely unoccupied land in the 19th century, Calumet Heights has evolved to become a community noted for its liberalism and support of African-American rights in American history.

During the Chicago Freedom Movement, Calumet Heights was one of the few communities which positively received Martin Luther King, Jr. In the 2012 Presidential Elections, 98.9% of Calumet Heights voted for Barack Obama and helped elect the first African-American President of the United States into office. The Bronzeville Children’s Museum, the only children’s museum in the United States focused on African-American history and culture, moved to Calumet Heights from Evergreen Park, Illinois in the early 2000s.

Also formerly called “South Shore Valley” or “South Shore Gardens” in the 1960s, Calumet Heights, or Chicago’s Community Area 48, is named after the nearby Calumet River and the ridge of Niagara limestone that runs through 91st Street to 92nd Street, where the top of the hill was and where affluent families built their homes on the inclining street slope. The name, “Calumet“, refers to a North American Indian peace pipe highly revered by the Illinois tribes and used as a powerful tool for diplomacy to end disputes, strengthen alliances, and ensure peaceful relationships with strangers.

Calumet Heights is 14.2 miles from Chicago. Traveling by car via I-90 W and I-90 Express W/I-94 Express W takes 20 to 25 minutes.

Map

Located on the South Side of Chicago, Calumet Heights is bounded by 87th Street on the north, South Chicago Avenue on the East, and railroad lines on the west and south, along 95th Street. Its zip code is 60616.

Population

As of 2020, Calumet Heights has a population of 13,088 individuals and 5,518 households. Predominantly Black (94.7%), it also houses residents who are Hispanic (3.4%), White (1.1%), Asian (0.1%), and of mixed and other ethnicities. With a median age of 46, the age distribution of its residents leans more towards the middle-aged groups with 66.7% aged 35 and older.

Its racial and ethnic composition hasn’t always been this way. Originally settled in by Irish and German immigrants in the last quarter of the 19th century, it later received the next wave of settlers who were Italian, Polish, and Yugoslavian. In 1920, Calumet Heights’ population was 3,248, many of whom were foreign-born. By 1930, the population doubled to 7,343, comprised mainly of Italians, Irish, Polish, and Yugoslavians. In the 1960s, with the flourishing of the civil rights movement, the first African-American families moved in. By 1970, African-Americans made up 45% of the population. By 1980, they comprised 86% of the population.

Real Estate

Generally, middle class, with well-kept homes, 40.6% of Calumet Heights’ residents belong to the 95th percentile of household income groups who are earning $131,400 annually, even if its median household income of $49,478 is a little less than the $50,641 minimum threshold to be considered as middle-class in 2020. The median home value in Calumet Heights is $160,491, significantly less than Chicago’s median of $335,000, making it attractive for professionals who work in Chicago but want to live in a community with a more suburban feel.

In fact, over one-third of Calumet Heights’ residents commute to Chicago’s central business district. Community residents are mostly employed in healthcare (17.5%), education (13%), administration (11.2%), public administration (11%), and retail trade (8.3%). Most (72.6%) of housing types are single-family detached, with 3-or-4-unit housing coming in next at 11%. Close to half (45.8%) of houses have 3 bedrooms, and a third (30.7%) have 2 bedrooms. Three-quarters (74.4%) of houses were built between 1940 to 1969, compared to Chicago’s 31%, although both Calumet Heights and Chicago houses’ median year built are both in 1949. Close to three-quarters (71%) of residents own their homes.

Locals rate Calumet Heights highly for its many sidewalks (90%), so it’s walkable to restaurants (67%) and grocery stores (62%). Yards are well kept (87%), parking is easy (84%), and streets are well-lit (81%), which are among its several attractive features.

Since 2015, Calumet Heights has been a part of the Commercial Avenue Revitalization Plan for South Chicago. Along with other Calumet River communities, the plan aims to revitalize their commercial and industrial corridors, while coordinating with each other as well as local partners in addressing both economic and environmental issues shared by these communities.

Schools

Calumet Heights residents are highly-educated, with 41% having attained some college education or an associate’s degree, 19% with bachelor’s degrees, 8% with master’s degrees or higher, and 24% with a high school diploma or its equivalent. Only 8% have less than a high school diploma, compared to the 12% national average, which can be attributed to the 17% of its population being 17 years old and below.

Calumet Heights is part of the City of Chicago’s School District no. 299 which covers 648 schools, and the City Colleges of Chicago District no. 508 which is a system of seven separately-accredited schools offering associate degrees, industry certifications, and other programs. The nearest city college campus is Olive-Harvey College in Pullman.

There are 152 public schools servicing Calumet Heights residents, with five A+-rated schools listed below:

(1) Payton College Preparatory High School

Population: 1,220 students in grades 9 to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 16 to 1

(2) Northside College Preparatory High School

Population: 1,078 students in grades 9 to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 18 to 1

(3). Whitney M. Young Magnet High School

Population: 2,198 students in grades 7 to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 18 to 1

(4). Jones College Prep High School

Population: 1,968 students in grades 9 to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 18 to 1

(5) Lane Tech College Prep High School

Population: 4,500 students in grades 7 to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 19 to 1

There are 151 private schools serving Calumet Heights residents, with five A+-rated schools listed below:

(1) University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Population: 2,051 students in grades PK and K to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 8 to 1

(2) British International School of Chicago South Loop

Population: 604 students in grades PK, and K to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 8 to 1

(3) St. Ignatius College Prep

Population: 1,480 students in grades 9 to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 16 to 1

(4) GCE Lab School

Population: 5o students in grades 9 to 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 7 to 1

(5) Morgan Park Academy

Population: 423 students in pre-K to grade 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 8 to 1

There are 55 colleges and universities serving Calumet Heights residents, with two A+-rated schools listed below:

(1) Northwestern University

Population: 8,284 undergraduate students

Student-Teacher Ratio: 6 to 1

(2) University of Chicago

Population: 6,847 undergraduate students

Student-Teacher Ration: 5 to 1

Crime Rate

For the 7-day period of the third week of January 2022 in District 5, where Calumet Heights belongs, crime complaints were burglary (11 cases), MTR vehicle theft (9), robbery (7), theft (6), aggravated battery (5). These 38 cases represent a 12% decrease when compared to the same period in 2021. However, if the last 28-day period and the last year are considered, they are part of total cases representing a 16% increase in criminal complaints. By historical comparison over the last three years since 2020, MTR vehicle theft consistently topped the crime complaints record, while burglary topped the list in 2018 and 2019.

History

Also described as a “Land of Smoke and Water“, Calumet Heights is a result of the amalgamation of human-invented industrialization and divine-created natural evolution.

In its history, blue mountains of road salt and black mountains of coal used to line the straight channel of the Calumet River, which is just 3.2 miles from Calumet Heights. Before humans intervened, there was only one Calumet River that flowed from Indiana into Illinois. However, with heavy industrialization, there is now the Little Calumet River, flowing westward from La Porte County, Indiana, making a hairpin turn at Blue Island, and flowing east along the Grand Calumet River into Lake Michigan.

Fourteen thousand years ago, the upper portion of the Lake Michigan basin was still occupied by the Wisconsin glacier. As the glacier melted, it turned into a glacial lake called by water geologists Lake Chicago, which included Lake Calumet. In a couple of thousand years more, Lake Chicago drained eastward towards the Atlantic Ocean, leaving only Lake Michigan’s current bed, Lake Calumet, and Wolf Lake.

In the 1670s, when Father Jacques Marquette and fur trader Louis Joliet passed through the area to follow the path of the Mississippi River, Calumet was flat, grassy, and wet. Two hundred years later, portions of Lake Calumet and the rivers were dredged to make them navigable by deeper draft vessels. Beginning in 1876, the Calumet River channel was straightened. In 1926, during the Burns Ditch construction, the Little Calumet River was also straightened. These and other human-made alterations shifted the natural drainage of the Calumet area from Lake Michigan back towards the opposite way to the Illinois River.

It was during this period, too, that industrialization set in. In 1881, the New York, Chicago, & St. Louis railroad built rail yards at the western border, which then gave rise to a small settlement nearby. A new quarry near 92nd Street further encouraged more settlements. Real-estate developer Samuel E. Gross purchased a portion of the land first acquired by the Calumet and Chicago Canal and Dock Company and turned it into a subdivision named Calumet Heights. However, through the decades up to the Great Depression and the 2nd World War, residential growth in the area was slow, except for a brief period in the early 1930s when the population doubled.

It was only in the post-war era when it grew significantly as the iron and steel industries in the area flourished. The 92nd Street quarry was filled in with a small group of homes constructed in its place. A shopping area developed along Stony Island Avenue and 87th Street. In 1950, Calumet Heights’ population grew to 9,349, which more than doubled to 19,352 by 1960.

The area of the Calumet River from the mouth of Lake Michigan to 106th Street has historically divided the communities around them, as industrial occupants polluted and prevented public access to the river. The Southeast side, particularly, has continued to experience economic disenfranchisement. This is why the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute initiated Calumet Connect. It aims to facilitate capacity-building and collaboration of various stakeholders in the area for what it calls a “Sustainable South Side” in the 21st century characterized by recreation, green industries, and commercial development now.