Hyde Park, Chicago

This article is about the Chicago community area. For the former Cook County, IL township, see Hyde Park Township, Cook County, Illinois. For other uses, see Hyde Park (disambiguation).

Hyde Park
—  Community area  —
Community Area 41 - Hyde Park
Official Hyde Park community area (bold black) and unofficial Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood extending into the official Kenwood community area (thin black).
Location within the city of Chicago
Coordinates: 41°48′N 87°35.4′W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Cook
City	Chicago
Neighborhoods	List Hyde Park East Hyde Park
Area
• Total	1.65 sq mi (4.27 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	25,681
• Density	Bad rounding here16,000/sq mi (Bad rounding here6,000/km2)
Demographics (2010)
• White	46.7%
• Black	30.4%
• Asian	12.4%
• Hispanic	6.3%
• Other	4.1%
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	parts of 60615 and 60637
Median household income	$45,335
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1930	48,017		—
1940	50,550		5.3%
1950	55,206		9.2%
1960	45,577		−17.4%
1970	33,531		−26.4%
1980	31,198		−7.0%
1990	28,630		−8.2%
2000	29,920		4.5%
2010	25,681		−14.2%

Hyde Park is a neighborhood and community area on the South Side of Chicago. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan seven miles (11 km) south of the Chicago Loop. Established in 1853 by Paul Cornell, Hyde Park Township was incorporated in 1861 and remained independent of Chicago until it was annexed to the city in 1889.

The definition of Hyde Park as a neighborhood has been restricted to the historic core of the former township, centered on Cornell's development on 53rd Street near the lakefront. Today, the name Hyde Park is officially applied to the area between 51st Street/Hyde Park Boulevard and the Midway Plaisance (between 59th and 60th streets), with its eastern and western boundaries being Lake Michigan and Washington Park. According to another definition, a section to the north between 47th Street and 51st Street/Hyde Park Boulevard is also included as part of Hyde Park, although this area is officially part of the Kenwood community area. The area encompassing Hyde Park and the southern part of Kenwood is sometimes referred to as Hyde Park-Kenwood.

Hyde Park hosts the University of Chicago and two of Chicago's four historic sites listed in the original 1966 National Register of Historic Places (Chicago Pile-1 and Robie House). Hyde Park has recently gained particular notability as the home of U.S. President Barack Obama, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than twenty years and represented Hyde Park and several surrounding neighborhoods in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Barack Obama currently owns a house on the corner of Greenwood Avenue and 51st Street/Hyde Park Boulevard.

History

Founding

In 1853, Paul Cornell, a real estate speculator and cousin of Cornell University founder Ezra Cornell, purchased 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land between 51st and 55th streets along the shore of Lake Michigan near the Illinois Central Railroad, with the idea of attracting other Chicago businessmen and their families to the area. The land was located seven miles south of downtown Chicago in a quiet rural area that enjoyed weather tempered by Lake Michigan – cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Some of Cornell's associates, including the sheriff, used their houses in Hyde Park as stops on the Underground Railroad.^{[citation needed]} Cornell successfully negotiated land in exchange for a railroad station at 53rd Street to lure guests to the Hyde Park House, a hotel he built to serve as a neighborhood resort. The hotel served as a popular focal point of most community activity starting in the 1850s, and was visited or lived in by well-to-do guests, including Mary Todd Lincoln. Hyde Park House burned down in an 1879 fire. Sisson Hotel was built on the site in 1918 and was eventually converted into a condominium building (Hampton House).

Growth and notability

In 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition was held in Hyde Park.

In 1892, the University of Chicago was established in Hyde Park through the philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller. With leadership from William Rainey Harper, the University of Chicago grew into one of the world's most prestigious universities, and is now associated with eighty-seven Nobel Prize laureates.

In 1893, Hyde Park hosted the World's Columbian Exposition. While the fair covered hundreds of acres, the only structure left today is Charles Atwood's Palace of Fine Arts, which has since been converted into the Museum of Science and Industry.

By the 1930s, Hyde Park was prospering as a resort area boasting over a hundred hotels, including nearly a dozen elaborate lakefront structures. Following the Great Depression, some of these hotels began to serve a more transient population. Most of the hotels were later converted into apartment and condominium buildings. A thriving artists' colony on 57th Street led to the establishment of the 57th Street Art Fair in 1948, which continues as Chicago's oldest juried art fair.

Economic decline and urban renewal

By the 1950s, Hyde Park was suffering from the economic decline which began on the South Side of Chicago during and after World War I, following the Great Migration of African Americans from the South. Hyde Park saw rapid expansion of the working-class African American population into the area, which then offered inexpensive but substandard housing. In 1955, civil rights activist Leon Despres was elected alderman of Hyde Park and held the position for twenty years. Despres argued passionately for racial integration, fair housing, and historic preservation.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the University of Chicago, in its so-called "Fight Against Blight," sponsored one of the largest urban renewal plans in the nation. The plan resulted in the demolition and redevelopment of entire blocks of decayed buildings with the goal of creating an "interracial community of high standards." Jack Meltzer was a leader of this effort. As a result of the project, Hyde Park's average income soared by seventy percent in the 1960s, but its Black population fell by forty percent, since the substandard housing primarily occupied by low-income minorities had been purchased, torn down, and replaced, with the residents not being able to afford to remain in the newly rehabilitated areas. On the other hand, middle-class residents were offered increased opportunities for employment and home-ownership, and the neighborhood remained highly diverse and multiracial. As a result of the renewal project as well as the strong influence of the University of Chicago, Hyde Park did not experience the same economic depression that occurred in neighboring areas and remained a middle-class integrated neighborhood.

Historic sites

Nuclear Energy, a sculpture by Henry Moore located on the site of Chicago Pile-1, the world's first nuclear reactor.

The following community area properties have been added to the National Register of Historic Places: Chicago Beach Hotel, Arthur H. Compton House, East Park Towers, Site of First Self-Sustaining Nuclear Reaction, Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments, Isadore H. Heller House, Charles Hitchcock Hall, Hotel Del Prado, Hotel Windermere East, Frank R. Lillie House, Robert A. Millikan House, Poinsettia Apartments, Promontory Apartments, Frederick C. Robie House, George Herbert Jones Laboratory, St. Thomas Church and Convent, Shoreland Hotel, German submarine U-505, and University Apartments.

In addition, the NRHP Hyde Park-Kenwood Historic District and Jackson Park Historic Landscape District and Midway Plaisance are located, at least in part, within the community area. There is also an apartment building on 57th Street that was once the residence of young Ronald Reagan.

Layout

Subdivisions

The southern part of Hyde Park serves as the campus of the University of Chicago, one of the world's most prestigious universities.

The part of Hyde Park between the Midway Plaisance and 55th Street and between the Metra line to the east and Washington Park to the west is the official territory of the University of Chicago campus. While University of Chicago students and professors reside in all parts of Hyde Park, the portion of Hyde Park that serves as the campus is especially dominated by university life and culture. The part of the campus to the west of University Avenue hosts most of the University of Chicago facilities while the part of the campus to the east of University Avenue is mostly residential, with many of its residents being University of Chicago faculty.

While the parts of Hyde Park located outside of the official campus area are also home to many University of Chicago students and faculty, these areas do not contain any major university facilities (except for a few dormitories). The parts of Hyde Park outside of the campus area host far more shops, restaurants, and other businesses than the campus and tend to have a more urban character than the somewhat bucolic campus area.

The part of Hyde Park located to the east of the Metra line is called East Hyde Park. This area has a large number of high-rise condominiums, many of them facing the lakefront. In this respect, East Hyde Park differs markedly from the rest of Hyde Park, where the vast majority of the residential structures are three-story apartment buildings and single-family homes, with only a small number of high-rise condominiums.

Shopping districts

The courtyard of the Hyde Park Shopping Center.

53rd, 55th, and 57th streets host the majority of the businesses in Hyde Park.

53rd Street is Hyde Park's oldest shopping district, lined with many small businesses and inexpensive restaurants offering take-out food. Harper Court, a small-business-oriented shopping center, extends north of 53rd Street along Harper Avenue. A farmers' market is held there in the summer.

Between the lake and the Metra line on 55th Street are a series of ethnic restaurants, serving Thai, Japanese, Korean, and Middle Eastern cuisine. To the west of the Metra line between 54th and 55th streets lies the Hyde Park Shopping Center. The shopping center is anchored by the Treasure Island grocery store. The Hyde Park Shopping Center also includes a Walgreens, Ace Hardware, Office Depot, Potbelly Sandwich Works, the Bonjour bakery and outdoor cafe, and an upscale French restaurant called "La Petite Folie."

57th Street is noted for independent bookstores, including the South Side branch of Powell's, an antiquarian bookshop (O'Gara and Wilson's), and the general-readership branch of the Seminary Co-op bookstore, known as "57th Street Books." 57th Street also offers the Medici Restaurant and Bakery, Eduardo's Pizza, and the Salonica Grill, along with small grocery stores, hair stylists, and dry cleaners. On the first weekend in June, the venerable 57th Street Art Fair takes up 57th Street between Kimbark and Kenwood avenues.

Parks

A trail in Jackson Park.

Promontory Point extends out into Lake Michigan at 55th Street, providing spectacular views of both the Downtown Chicago skyline to the north, and the South Chicago and Northwest Indiana skylines to the south. Sitting on Chicago Park District land, the Promontory Point is popular with bikers, joggers, picnickers, sunbathers, and swimmers.

The southeastern corner of Hyde Park contains the northern end of Jackson Park, home to the Museum of Science and Industry, the only building left from the World's Columbian Exposition. Jackson Park consists of lagoons surrounding an island in the middle (called the Wooded Island), on which a small Japanese garden is located. The Midway Plaisance, a wide boulevard that runs from Stony Island Avenue to Cottage Grove Avenue between 59th and 60th streets, connects Jackson Park to Washington Park (located to the west of Hyde Park).

Demographics

U.S. President Barack Obama, a resident of Hyde Park.

Hyde Park is known for being a highly racially diverse neighborhood. Its population is 46.7% White, 30.4% African American, 12.4% Asian, 6.3% Hispanic, and 4.1% of other races or of more than one race. There are some significant differences between the demographics of the part of Hyde Park south of 55th Street (most of which is part of the University of Chicago campus) and the part of Hyde Park north of 55th Street. Residents south of 55th Street are predominantly White or Asian American, with a relatively small percentage being African American. A large percentage of Hyde Parkers who live south of 55th Street are University of Chicago faculty, students, and people otherwise affiliated with the university. The part of Hyde Park north of 55th Street, on the other hand, is much more racially diverse, and a greater proportion of its residents (compared to the campus area) are not affiliated with the University of Chicago. The vast majority of Hyde Park's African American population lives north of 55th Street, where approximately half of the residents are African American. The northwestern corner of Hyde Park is almost 100% African American.

Hyde Park's location in the center of the South Side of Chicago as well as its large population of well-to-do African American residents have made it one of the cultural and political centers of Chicago's African American community. Many of Chicago's prominent African American activists and politicians, including civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, and U.S. President Barack Obama, currently live or have in the past lived in Hyde Park.

Hyde Parkers of all racial backgrounds are known for being staunchly Liberal in their political views. About 95% of the residents vote for Democratic candidates in general elections. Many of Hyde Park's residents were highly active supporters of the Obama presidential campaign during the 2008 Democratic primaries as well as the 2008 and 2012 general elections.

Transportation

The neighborhood is connected to the rest of the city by both Chicago Transit Authority buses and Metra's Electric Line. CTA buses allow transfers to Red and Green Line trains to the Loop, and they also provide direct express service to the downtown. Metra's Electric Line, located on the tracks of the former Illinois Central Railroad, has several stops in Hyde Park and provides service to Millennium Station in the downtown.

CTA bus services: 1 - Indiana/Hyde Park 2 - Hyde Park Express 4 - Cottage Grove 6 - Jackson Park Express 10 - Museum of Science and Industry 15 - Jeffery Local 28 - Stony Island X28 - Stony Island Express 55 - Garfield

Additional CTA bus services, paid for by the University of Chicago: 170 - University of Chicago–Midway 171 - University of Chicago–Hyde Park 172 - University of Chicago–Kenwood 192 - University of Chicago Hospitals Express

Education

Hyde Park is home to a number of educational institutions:

Catholic Theological Union – a seminary of Roman Catholic religious orders. Chicago Theological Seminary – a seminary of the United Church of Christ. DuSable Museum of African American History (located just outside of Hyde Park on the eastern edge of Washington Park) Hyde Park Art Center Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago – a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. McCormick Theological Seminary – a seminary of the Presbyterian Church.

Museum of Science and Industry Oriental Institute – a museum of the ancient Near East (part of the University of Chicago). Smart Museum of Art – an art museum within the University of Chicago. University of Chicago – a private research university. University of Chicago Laboratory Schools – a private coeducational nursery-12 school founded by educational reformer John Dewey in 1896.

Notable current and former residents

Gertrude Abercrombie – painter Muhammad Ali – boxer Bill Ayers – educator and activist Saul Bellow – writer, 1976 Nobel Prize laureate Lee Botts – environmentalist Carol Moseley Braun – U.S. Senator from Illinois Paul Butterfield – blues musician Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – astrophysicist, 1983 Nobel Prize laureate James W. Cronin – physicist, 1980 Nobel Prize laureate Clarence Darrow – lawyer Leon Despres – civil rights activist William Dodd – U.S. Ambassador to Germany Bernardine Dohrn – activist Paul Douglas – U.S. Senator from Illinois Arne Duncan – U.S. Secretary of Education Amelia Earhart (day resident as student of Hyde Park High School) – aviator Kurt Elling – jazz musician Louis Farrakhan – leader of the Nation of Islam. Enrico Fermi – physicist, 1938 Nobel Prize laureate Marshall Field – founder of Marshall Field's Susan Fiske – social psychologist

Francis Fukuyama – political scientist Dick Gregory – comedian, activist Hugh Hefner – magazine publisher, founder of Playboy Jesse Jackson – civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson – gospel singer Elena Kagan – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court George Kirby – comedian Mary Todd Lincoln – wife of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln Roberta Martin – gospel composer and singer Albert Abraham Michelson – physicist, 1907 Nobel Prize laureate Elijah Muhammad – former leader of the Nation of Islam Barack Obama – President of the United States Toni Preckwinkle – Cook County Board President, activist John Paul Stevens – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court George Stigler – economist, 1982 Nobel Prize laureate James Tiptree, Jr. – author Swami Vivekananda – monk, spiritual leader Harold Washington – Mayor of Chicago Jody Watley – singer Henry Clay Work – composer

Gallery

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  The University of Chicago as seen from the Midway Plaisance, a wide boulevard connecting Jackson Park and Washington Park.

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  The Robie House, a National Historic Landmark designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908.

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  Rockefeller Chapel, located on the University of Chicago campus and named after University of Chicago founder John D. Rockefeller.

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  The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, founded by the prominent educational reformer John Dewey in 1896.

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  The Museum of Science and Industry as seen from the northern edge of Jackson Park.

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  Hampton House, a condominium located on the property that once housed the Hyde Park House (Hyde Park's first hotel). In the 1980s, Hampton House was home to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.

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  Shops and restaurants on 53rd Street.

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  Monument to the first kiss between Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, located on the corner of 53rd Street and Dorchester Avenue.

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  Osaka Garden, a Japanese garden in Jackson Park.

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  The banks of Promontory Point.

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  Downtown Chicago and lakefront condominiums in Hyde Park as seen from the northern side of Promontory Point.

External links

• Official City of Chicago Hyde Park Map
• Hyde Park Historical Society
• Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference
• South East Chicago Commission