Chicago Lawn

Unlike many communities, what’s striking about Chicago Lawn is that it thrived during the Great Depression era. Not only did its population balloon, but also in 1941, the National Biscuit Company (NABISCO) even announced plans to build a bakery here. When it was finished in 1954, it turned out to be the largest bakery in one location in the world, baking over one million Oreo cookies every day at 73rd Street and Kenzie Avenue. A local reminisces, “When the wind was right, I use to be able to smell it (from) 91st and Pulaski.”

Chicago Lawn, or Community Area no. 66, is also called “Marquette Park” by the locals, because of the 320 acres of parkland by this name dominating the southern part of the neighborhood. Chicago Lawn is 8.1 miles (13 kilometers) southwest of The Loop– the seat of Chicago’s city government, the main business district, and the official downtown of Chicago. It takes 24 minutes to travel by car to The Loop from Chicago Lawn, via W. Marquette Road and I-90 W/I-94 W.

Map

Part of Cook County, Illinois, Chicago Lawn is located on the southwest side of the city. It is bounded by Bell Avenue on the east, Central Park Avenue on the west, 59th Street on the north, and 75th Street on the south. Its zip codes are 60629 and 60636, depending on which part of Chicago Lawn belongs to the area each postal code covers. Its nearby community neighbors are Ashburn, Gage Park, West Englewood, and West Lawn.

Population

Its racial and ethnic composition transformed in waves across the decades. From predominantly White up to the 1960s, it shifted to predominantly Black by the 2000 census, reflecting historical, political, and cultural waves of change. Today, it has more Hispanics/Latinos (51.6%), than Blacks (43.25% ), non-Hispanic Whites (3%), those from Other/Multiple Races (1.8%), and Asians (0.5%).

Founded in 1871 by John F. Eberhart who was a Cook County superintendent of schools in 1859, Chicago Lawn was mostly farmland with a sprinkling of settlements until the 1920s, when the housing market boomed in the United States. Developers lured working class and middle class professionals to this growing bungalow belt community. “Bungalow belt” is a popular Chicago term to describe the bungalow-style, single-family houses built in the 1910s and 1920s which combined modern architecture, housing distribution, race, and politics. In a decade, Chicago Lawn’s population grew from 14,000 in 1920 to 47,000 in 1930.

Germans and Irish, mostly from the Back of the Yards and Englewood communities moved to Chicago Lawn, followed later by Poles, and Lithuanians. They formed tightly-knit communities around their respective Protestant and Catholic churches and schools. The Lithuanians, particularly, formed the richest savings and loans businesses in the city, and established a network of wealthy and influential institutions that earned them the monicker, Lithuanian Gold Coast.

In the 1960s, during the race riots, many white Americans fled from the nearby Englewood and West Englewood communities, swelling Chicago Lawns’ population to 51,000. Chicago Lawn became a target for civil rights groups’ open housing marches of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1966, a march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. was met with violence, where King himself was hit by a rock. Spates of violence also erupted in the neighborhood when Gage Park High School attempted integration, and the American Nazi Party opened a headquarters in the area to further fan the racial tension.

People were afraid of integration and what it could mean to the disruption of their ethnic bonds, as well as the potential decline in the property values of the homes and buildings they put their life savings into, so they joined the white flight. Many Lithuanians re-established themselves in Lemont.

Chicago Lawn’s population peaked at 61,412 in 2000. Today, as of the 2020 census, it stands at 55,931, with non-Hispanic Whites comprising only 3% of the population mostly peopled now by Hispanics/Latinos (51.6%) and Blacks (43.25%).

With a median age of 32.1, Chicago Lawn’s residents are mostly native (77.1%), with a third foreign-born. Their median annual income is $34,273, lower than the City of Chicago’s $58,247. Almost half (44%) of the residents are employed outside of Chicago, with 14.1% in The Loop. Top industry sectors employing them are in healthcare (13.2%), administration (12.5%), manufacturing (11.6%), accommodation and food service (10.8%), and retail trade (10.8%).

Real Estate

Close to half (40.9%) of Chicago Lawn’s housing is the single-family detached type, followed by the 2-unit (24.3%) and 3-or-4-units (19.3%) housing types, with a median number of 5.6 rooms including living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. This indicates fairly working-middle-class type of homes, with a median year built in 1952. Most residents (57%) rent their homes rather than own them, though, with median rent at $961.

Chicago Lawn has an urban suburban mix and feel, with lots of parks. Locals rate it high for having lots of sidewalks (87%), with well-kept yards (775), being walkable to restaurants and having well-lit streets (both 70%). It’s rated low, though, for people walking alone at night (35%) and having friendly neighbors (32%).

Median Chicago Lawn home price is at $215,950, lower than nearby Chicago’s median price of $335,000, making it attractive for those who want to live near Chicago but don’t want the big-city prices. Redfin rates its housing market with a 69 out of 100 competitive score, making it “somewhat competitive”, where average homes sell for around list price and go pending in around 11 days.

The Neighborhood Housing Service (NHS) of Chicago, Inc., is a member of the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP), a collaboration of organizations working together for improvement of the Chicago Lawn/Gage Park community. It has been involved in educating landowners about predatory lending and getting banks to reinvest in the community, as Chicago Lawn has been undergoing various cultural and economic shifts since the 1990s.

Schools

Almost half (40.9%) of Chicago Lawn residents have earned a high school diploma or its equivalent and around a fifth (19.4%) have attended some college but have not earned a degree, while around a tenth have earned an associate’s degree (5.5%), a bachelor’s degree (6%), or a graduate or professional degree (2.4%).

The Chicago Public Schools (City of Chicago School District No. 299) operates public schools in Chicago Lawn. As of 2012, K-8 schools and elementary schools serving sections of Chicago Lawn include Claremont, Eberhart, Fairfield, Marquette, McKay, Morrill, Tarkington, Tonti, Hernandez, and Sandoval. However, most of the Chicago Lawn community is zoned to Gage Park High School, with some to Harper High School, Hubbard High School, and Bogan High School.

There are 158 public schools in the Chicago metropolitan area that can serve Chicago Lawn 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 125 private schools in the Chicago metropolitan area that can serve Chicago Lawn residents, with two 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

(5) Morgan Park Academy

Population: 423 students in pre-K to grade 12

Student-Teacher Ratio: 8 to 1

There are 55 colleges or universities in the Chicago metropolitan area that can serve Chicago Lawn 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

Chicago Lawn belongs to the 8th District of the Chicago Police Office. As of the 4th week of 2022 ending on January 23, it’s top crime complaints were for theft (17 cases) and MTR vehicle theft (10 cases). This is consistent with its last 28 days and last year’s pattern. Compared to the previous four years since 2018, different cases topped its crime record: MTR vehicle theft (69) and robbery (65) in 2018; burglary (50) and theft and MTR vehicle theft (49 each) in 2019; theft (56) and burglary (54) in 2020; and MTR vehicle theft (48) and robbery (22) in 2021.

In general, as of 2020, Chicago Lawn crime rates are 78% higher than the national average. Its property crime rate is 54% higher and its violent crime rate is 197% higher than the national average. AreaVibes assigns it a

livability score of 58 out of 100.

History

Since it’s also called Marquette Park by its locals, the park itself deserves discussion in Chicago Lawn’s history. The largest park in the southwest side of Chicago at 323 acres, Marquette Park is named after Father Jacques Marquette, an French Jesuit missionary who founded the first European settlement in Michigan.

In 1673, together with fur trader Louis Joliet, her mapped mapped the northern portion of the Mississippi River Valley, In late 1674, they returned to the Illinois territory and were warmly welcomed by the Illinois Confederation, which were the 12 to 13 Native American tribes living near the Mississippi River Valley. They became the first Europeans to winter in what is now known as the City of Chicago.

Part of a system of fourteen parks designed in 1903 by the Olmstead Brothers, a landscape architectural firm, Created by the South Park Commission, it was aimed to provide “beautifully landscaped breathing spaces that would provide educational and social services to the city’s congested immigrant neighborhoods.”

Marquette Park and the surrounding Chicago Lawn area became infamous for being the scene of several racially charged rallies between the 1960s and the 1980s and the 1972 United Airlines Flight 553 plane crash two blocks west of the park.

It’s famous, though, for its Ashburn Prairie, showcasing nearly 100 species of native plants from the pre-settlement period more than three centuries ago, which dedicated volunteer stewards continue to maintain.