Grand Boulevard

Grand Boulevard is the 38th of the 77 designated Chicago community areas. The neighborhood is located on the South Side of Chicago. The community area is now more commonly known as the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. However, its official name remains the Grand Boulevard. It constitutes a total land area of 1.73 square miles (4.48 km2).

This is one of two community sections that make up the Bronzeville neighborhood, with Douglas being the other. The Washington Park Court District area, designated as a Chicago Landmark on October 2, 1991, is also located along Grand Boulevard.

Throughout the late nineteenth century, Grand Boulevard’s neighborhood grew steadily, attracting more middle- and working-class whites and a small African-American population. As of 2019, the average household income in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood was $33,503 compared to the Chicago annual minimum of $58,247. 

The Grand Boulevard neighborhood offers plenty of recreational opportunities to the residents. There are various parks in the region, like Metcalfe (Ralph) Park, Harding (George) Playground Park, Jackson (Robert) Park and Comiskey Park. These parklands offer a serene environment and ample picnic sites for the locals to relax. The South Side Community Art Center is another famous landmark in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood.

The residents of Grand Boulevard also benefit from rapid transportation routes. The neighborhood is only 4.34 miles (7 kilometers) away from the Downtown Chicago Loop. The Chicago Transit Authority administers the Chicago “L” system in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood. The Indiana, 43rd Street, 47th Street, and 51st Street stations on the Green Line provide efficient transportation service to the Grand Boulevard residents.

Map

The region is bordered on the north and south by 39th Street and 51st Street. On the east of the Grand Boulevard neighborhood lies Cottage Grove Avenue, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad tracks border the region on the west.

The Grand Boulevard neighborhood is part of the 60609, 60615 and 60653 zip codes.

Population

According to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s recent demographics, the Grand Boulevard neighborhood is 24,589 people. 97.4% of the population comprises Native Americans, and 2.6% have foreign nationality.

More than 50,000 blacks from the South relocated to Chicago between 1916 and 1920, settling along Grand Boulevard. The street was lined with businesses and social organizations owned and operated by black people. Numerous black artists, singers, writers, and intellectuals settled in the neighborhood, transforming it into African-Americans’ cultural and historical city. The town was dubbed “Bronzeville,” and it became a national model of African-American success.

Blacks still dominate the racial makeup of the Grand Boulevard neighborhood. They constitute nearly 90.7% of the total population, following whites at 3.7%. The third-largest racial sector in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood that comprises 2.6% of the population is other non-Hispanic cultures, while Hispanics and Latinos follow immediately after at 2.3%. The smallest ethnic background is the Asians forming 0.7% of the Grand Boulevard population. 

Real Estate

The Grand Boulevard neighborhood has 11,278 households; the average household size is 2.2 persons. The Grand Boulevard Housing Occupancy data shows that 85% of houses are occupied. Around 3/4th (74.7%) of the residential units are renter-occupied, and owners occupy 26.5% of these housing units.

One of its more recent and well-known structures is the Harold Washington Cultural Center. It formed on the site of the Regal Theater, a well-known hub of African American cultural life from the 1920s until the 1970s. The Daniel Hale Williams House, the Robert S. Abbott House, and the Oscar Stanton De Priest House are among the neighborhood’s other prominent properties.

The Grand Boulevard residents can also avail shopping, dining and miscellaneous services at the Grand Boulevard Town Center. Other than that, the area has a farmer’s market that operates on Saturdays all year round for the convenience of the locals.

The Grand Boulevard real estate market comprises 3 to 4 unit houses (22%), followed by single-family, detached houses constituting 11.1% of households. Two-unit houses occupy the most insignificant share in the market (6.2%).

The Grand Boulevard real estate has an average listing price of $315,000. This amount is slightly less than the Chicago average real estate selling price of $335,000. The Grand Boulevard housing prices experienced a 28.6% hike from the previous year.

Schools

The literacy levels in the Grand Boulevard neighbourhood are excellent. Around 22.1% of the area’s residents have a high school diploma, while 22.4% have attended some college but don’t have a degree. Associate’s degree holders occupy 8.7% of the Grand Boulevard population, and around 19.2% have a Bachelor’s degree. Moreover, 14.4% of the neighbourhood’s residents hold a graduate or professional degree.

The neighbourhood is a part of the Chicago School District #299 and the City Colleges of Chicago District #508. There are some top-notch public and private educational institutions in the Grand Boulevard neighbourhood. Some of them have been listed below:

1- Woodson South Elementary School

Student population: 294 students in grade PK, K-8

Teacher-student ratio: 16-to-1

2- Beethoven Elementary School

Student population: 219 students in grades PK, K-8

Teacher-student ratio: 11-to-1

3- Bronzeville Classical Elementary School

Student population: 200 students in grades K-3

Teacher-student ratio: 15-to-1

4- Lane Tech Prep High School

Student population: 4,500 students in grades 7 to 12

Teacher-student ratio: 19-to-1

5- Lindblom Math and Science Elementary High School

Student population: 1,357 students in grades 7 to 12

Teacher-student ratio: 16-to-1

6- Decatur Classical School

Student population: 282 students in K-6

Teacher-student ratio: 16-to-1

7- Kenwood Academy High School

Student population: 2,029 students in grades 7 to 12

Teacher-student ratio: 20-to-1

8- Drummond Elementary School

Student population: 311 students in grades PK, K-8

Teacher-student ratio: 16-to-1

9- LaSalle Elementary Language Academy

Student population: 523 students in grades K-8

Teacher-student ratio: 13-to-1

Crime Ratings

The Grand Boulevard neighbourhood lies in District 002 of the Chicago Police Department. It has a safety score of 51 and a safety range between 42 and 56.

The reports covering the last week of February 2022 (from 21st to 27th of the month) were quite satisfactory. Only one murder case and two AGG battery incidents were reported to the local police stations. Other than that, the locals reported 6 burglary cases and 9 theft occurrences. The highest crime recordings during the period were robbery and motor vehicle theft, each of which was complained about 14 times by the Grand Boulevard residents.

History

The Southside of Chicago was a mix of prairie and heavy woodlands until 1874, when the South Parks Commission bordered a roadway called Grand Boulevard (now Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) with trees. The growth of this street, which runs through the heart of the neighbourhood, turned it into a prominent transportation path where many of Chicago’s elite constructed exquisite mansions. Throughout the end of the nineteenth century, the Grand Boulevard community grew steadily, drawing the wealthy and middle- and working-class American-born whites of Irish, Scottish, and English ancestry, German Jews, and a few African Americans.

Grand Boulevard’s business and residential development was driven by excellent transportation that provided easy access to and from Chicago’s Loop. The South Side “L” began making stops in Grand Boulevard at 43rd, 47th, and 51st streets in 1896, sparking the development of tiny commercial strips dominated by Jewish-owned companies. Grand Boulevard had become a solidly middle- and working-class neighbourhood, one of Chicago’s most desired, thanks to good transportation and the construction of many multi-family houses by the turn of the century.

Grand Boulevard had a tiny African American community since the 1890s, but by 1920, blacks were southern migrants, making up 32 per cent of the 76,703 residents. By 1930, African Americans made up 94.6 per cent of Grand Boulevard’s total population of 87,005. Like other Chicago neighbourhoods undergoing fast racial transition, Grand Boulevard saw opposition and rioting. Still, the migration of African Americans continued, and by 1950, blacks made up 99 per cent of the community’s 114,557 people.

Grand Boulevard became the core of “Bronzeville,” the designation given to Chicago’s South Side African American population by the Chicago Bee. Bronzeville, a bustling centre of prosperous black enterprises, civic groups, and churches, was “a city inside a city” in every sense. Bronzeville became a cultural hotspot due to the enormous number of black intellectuals, politicians, sports personalities, artists, and writers who made their homes there. The iconic Regal Theater at 47th and Grand Boulevard served its focal point.

The Grand Boulevard neighbourhood has a long history of religious institutions, many of which are located in some of the city’s most beautiful structures. In 1881, Irish Roman Catholics founded St. Elizabeth of Hungary on the northwest corner of 41st and Wabash. Later came Corpus Christi Catholic Church at 49th and Grand Boulevard. In 1915, the Sinai Temple was built on 46th Street and Grand Boulevard. 

Grand Boulevard was formerly a centre of riches and majesty, but it was more properly described by economic backwardness, poverty, joblessness, and government housing in the late twentieth century. Grand Boulevard had the highest density of government housing in the country by the 1990s, with a poverty rate of two-thirds. Even after some of its buildings were demolished in the late 1990s, the Robert Taylor Homes, mostly located on Grand Boulevard, remained Chicago’s largest public housing project. Several individuals and community-based groups such as Centers for New Horizons have worked to address the issues of Grand Boulevard and its residents since the mid-1980s.