Humboldt Park

Humboldt Park is the 23rd of the 77 designated Chicago community areas. The neighborhood lies on Chicago’s Northwest Side and is developed around a 207-acre park by the same name. The Humboldt Park neighborhood got its name in 1869 after German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.

The Humboldt Park neighborhood constitutes a 3.60 square miles (9.32 km2) land area. Most of the Humboldt Park neighborhood comprises low-income working-class families with an average annual household income of $39,492. They fall among the lower class families, considering Chicago’s average annual household income of $58,247.

Known for its magnificent green space, the Humboldt Park neighborhood doesn’t have a shortage of attractions. The community is loaded with restaurants, cafes, grocery stores and shopping centers. Residents also have access to the various arts and entertainment centers, including the Urban Theater Company, the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture and the Bream Box Art Gallery. The most famous site in the neighborhood, the Humboldt Park, features a ten feet tall monumental statue of Alexander von Humboldt. 

Humboldt Park is also suitably located for commuters. The neighborhood is 6.8 miles (10.9 km) away from the Downtown Chicago Loop – it only takes fourteen minutes to reach the city’s business hub. The public transport options are excellent and more convenient than driving. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) operates a bus service that departs from the Walton and Clarke every twenty minutes. 

Map

According to the recognized community boundaries set by the City of Chicago, the Humboldt Park neighborhood is surrounded by Bloomingdale Ave to the North and the Union Pacific railroad tracks to the south. Railway tracks extending from Kostner and Cicero lie to the region’s west, and the Humboldt Park lies to the east side. 

Apart from its official boundaries, the Humboldt Park neighborhood also includes railyards on the southeast of Grand and Sacramento. The district is divided into two sections: East Humboldt Park (in the West Town Community Area) and West Humboldt Park (in the Humboldt Park Community Area). Sacramento Boulevard separates these parts.

The Humboldt Park neighborhood lies in parts of 60622. 60624, 60647 and 60651 zip codes.

Population

Humboldt Park is known for its dense Puerto Rican population. The neighborhood is home to 54,165 individuals, more than 3/4th (79.5%) of whom are Native Americans. 20.5% of the Humboldt Park residents are foreigners.

The neighborhood is known for its dynamic socioeconomic and ethnic demographic change over time. The Puerto Ricans were the initial settlers of the Humboldt Park neighborhood in the 1950s. Many traveled directly from Puerto Rico, where migration to the United States averaged over ten thousand Puerto Ricans each year in the 1950s and 1960s. They remained the neighborhood’s largest ethnic group till 2009. 

According to the Woodstock Institute, Humboldt Park experienced 550 foreclosures in 2010, substantially reducing the Puerto Rican population. Newer middle-class and wealthy white people and working-class Mexicans took over Humboldt Park’s Puerto Rican majority. Some affluent Puerto Ricans departed Humboldt Park, while others dispersed over Cook County owing to economic hardship. Census results showed that most of these Puerto Ricans shifted to the communities of Belmont Cragin, Hermosa, and Portage Park. 

However, the Humboldt Park neighborhood still has a multiracial environment. The Hispanics and Latinos occupy the largest share of the community (58.4%), following the Blacks (32.0%). The whites come third, constituting 7.7% of the neighborhood’s population. The Asians are a minor racial sector in Humboldt Park, comprising a 0.6% share in the region’s population. People from other non-Hispanic races make up 1.3% of Humboldt Park’s inhabitant structure.

Real Estate

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s recent estimates shows that the neighborhood has 19,072 households. Each household in the community shelters 2.8 persons. 88.1% of these houses are occupied, and 11.9% of the domestic real estate is vacated.

Most of Humboldt Park’s residents (35.3%) prefer to live in two-unit housing. The second best housing option for the neighborhood’s inhabitants is three to four units housing (25.7%). Single-family, detached residential units secure third place occupying a 21.9% share in Humboldt Park’s domestic real estate.

The Hispanic Housing Development Corporation has proposed to develop an affordable housing development plan in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. According to Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th), this housing plan would deliver much-needed affordable housing to Humboldt Park residents. This project is specifically beneficial in circumstances where residents are forced out due to rising home prices and gentrification. According to a briefing from the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Hispanic Housing plans to develop 40 three-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units, and nine one-bedroom units. Apartments would be reasonably priced so that households earning 30% to 60% of the Area Median Income can afford them.

Real estate prices in Humboldt Park have risen dramatically in recent years as the neighborhood has gentrified. Humboldt Park houses are being sold on an average of $387,500. Even though these prices went down by 0.64% compared to 2021, they are still considerably higher than the Chicago average of $335K. 

Schools

The educational attainment rate in the Humboldt Park neighborhood is below average. The majority of the individuals (29.0%) have less than a high school diploma. Around 28.3% of the neighborhood’s residents have a high school diploma, while 20.6% have attended some college but don’t hold a degree.

On the tertiary educational level, 6% of Humboldt Park’s residents have an Associate’s degree while 10.3% have a Bachelor’s degree. Graduate and Professional degree holders occupy a 5.8% share of Humboldt Park’s knowledgeable population.

Chicago Public Schools operate various schools in the Humboldt Park district, including:

1- Chopin Elementary School

Student population: 333 students in grades PK, K-8

Teacher-student ratio: 10-to-1

2- Laura Ward STEM Elementary School

Student population: 334 students in grades PK, K-8

Teacher-student ratio: 13-to-1

3- Chicago High School for the Arts

Student population: 617 students in grades 9-12

Teacher-student ratio: 16-to-1

4- Rowe Clarke Math and Science Academy

Student population: 416 students in grades 9-12

Teacher-student ratio: NA

5- Polaris Charter Academy

Student population: 360 students in grades K-8

Teacher-student ratio: 72-to-1

6- Pathways in Education – Humboldt Park High School

Student population: 31 students

Teacher-student ratio: NA

Crime Ratings

Humboldt Park was one of the most dangerous areas in the 1970s. Gang activities, crima and violence were at its peak. Located in District 11 of the Chicago Police Station, Humboldt Park still isn’t the safest Chicago community area. For instance, the locals reported eight murder cases in the first three months of 2022, while nine murder complaints were reported in 2021. 

Robbery cases decreased from 129 to 118, but burglary cases rose from 39 to 46. Theft cases also increased considerably, from 69 in 2021 to 102 in 2022. Motor vehicle theft cases experienced a decline from 122 to 119.

History

In 1869, Humboldt Park became the territory of Chicago. Originally marshland, Humboldt Park became the Park District’s “crown gem.” Humboldt Park was in the heart of the legendary Boulevard system, housing the offices of famed landscape architect Jens Jenson, widely regarded as the father of contemporary landscape architecture. Settlement and development transformed this grassland marsh into two-flats, cottages, and modest apartment buildings after the Great Chicago Fire.

As the downtown commercial center grew in the 1870s, Chicago’s Danish and Norwegian populations spread northwest along the Milwaukee Avenue corridor, with many relocating to Humboldt Park in the 1880s and 1890s. During the 1920s and 1930s, Italian Americans, German and Russian Jews, and others also moved into the neighborhood to take advantage of the newer and larger apartments.

Over the next few decades, many Germans, Scandinavians, and Italians settled in from the east. Other nations, including Polish and Russian Jews and Ukrainians, began to settle in Humboldt Park. By the 1940s, the population had risen to 80,000 people. This was the most people who lived in Humboldt Park at the time. 

In the mid-1950s, Puerto Ricans became a part of Humboldt’s diversified community. The first of two riots in the neighborhood happened on June 12, 1966. The “66 Division Street Riots” erupted in response to the Chicago Police Department’s shooting of a young Puerto Rican male. This ignited a three-day riot that resulted in numerous organizations that are still fighting for social change in the community today.

Many components of the national urban crises were reflected by the deteriorating economic conditions faced by Puerto Ricans and new African Americans. At the same time, ethnic confrontations, particularly those between young Puerto Ricans and Polish Americans, existed during the transition period.

The majority of the Jewish residents of Humboldt Park had relocated to Albany Park and North Park in the late 1960s. Mexican immigrants joined the town in lesser but growing numbers; by 1980, they accounted for about one-third of Humboldt Park’s 29,000 Hispanics and Latinos (with Latinos constituting 41 per cent of the total population). Latinos made up 48 per cent of the people in 2000, with half of them being of Mexican descent. Meanwhile, the black population has slowly grown to equal the Latino population. The entrance of Dominican immigrants in the northwestern section most recently demonstrates the community’s continual ethnic change.

Like the rest of Chicago, Humboldt Park is a diverse neighborhood rich in history and culture. Many changes have occurred in the community. It has seen good and bad days, but it continues to strive as a neighborhood committed to providing a stable environment for its long-term residents and developing community. For instance, various community organizations like the Greater Humboldt Park Community for Wellness and the East Humboldt Park Neighborhood Association (EHPNA) advocate for residents’ rights.