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Chatham-Grand Crossing Community Collection

 Collection
Identifier: spe-nhrc-cgc

Scope and Contents

The Chatham-Grand Crossing Community Collection contains a selection of items that fall into the following topical areas: biography, business, clubs and organizations, historical sketches, municipal agencies, religious institutions, schools, transportation and wartime activities. The materials include articles, correspondence, flyers, news clippings and reminisces.

Dates

  • 1852 - 1989

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Please consult staff at Chicago Public Library Special Collections to determine ability to reuse materials from collection.

Biographical / Historical

The Chatham neighborhood is 10 miles south of the Loop. The neighborhood extends from 79th Street south to 95th Street where its east and west borders intersect at Cottage Grove Avenue and 95th Street. The Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood is just north of Chatham. The boundaries of this community extend from 79th Street north to 63rd Street. As its name suggests, the area encompasses several smaller neighborhoods including Grand Crossing, Park Manor, Brookline, Brookdale, and Essex. Both community areas were annexed into Chicago as part of Hyde Park Township in 1889. Chatham is number 44 and Greater Grand Crossing is number 69 of the 77 official communities that make up Chicago.

Chatham was settled by European farmers and along the tracks for the Illinois Central Railroad in the 1860s. Nearby industrial development attracted subsequent waves of European immigrants. In the 1920s, the area’s population swelled with the construction of new bungalows and it evolved into a middle class neighborhood.

Settlement began in Grand Crossing in the 1850s. In 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition stimulated the growth of single-family homes, two-flats, and apartments in Grand Crossing. In 1912, the Calumet electric street railway at 63rd and Grand Boulevard (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) was extended to Cottage Grove and 93rd Street. In 1904, the White City amusement park opened in the northern section between Grand Boulevard, Calumet Avenue, 63rd Street and 67th Streets. It closed in 1933 and the structure was torn down in 1950 to make way for the Parkway Gardens, a public housing project.

Chatham and Grand Crossing were popular residential destinations for Black residents looking to expand out from the crowded Bronzeville (Douglas) neighborhood in the years after World War II when the waves of southerners relocated to Chicago in what is known as the Second Great Migration.

Extent

.75 Linear Feet (in 2 boxes and 2 oversize folders)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Chatham-Grand Crossing Community Collection contains a selection of items that fall into the following topical areas: biography, business, clubs and organizations, historical sketches, municipal agencies, religious institutions, schools, transportation and wartime activities. The materials include articles, correspondence, flyers, news clippings and reminisces. The bulk of the items are from the 1920s-1950s.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into alphabetically by topic and then alphabetically within topic.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The original materials in this collection were gathered by the Chatham Branch Library at 822 E. 79th Street. They were transferred to the Special Collections and Preservation Division and processed in January of 1989.

Related Materials

Chicago Department of Urban Renewal Records

Chicago Park District Records, Photographs

Chicago Park District Records, Drawings

David Gremp Photographs

Hyde Park Community Collection

Eugene Sawyer Records

Harold Washington Archives & Collections. Mayoral Records. Press Office Photographs

Harold Washington Archives & Collections. Mayoral Records. Finance and Administration Sub-Cabinet Records

Title
Guide to the Chatham-Grand Crossing Community Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Original author unknown. Updated and ingested into ArchivesSpace by Michelle McCoy, 2021
Date
1989
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Unit at Harold Washington Library Center Repository

Contact:
Harold Washington Library Center, 9th Floor
Chicago Public Library
400 S. State Street
Chicago IL 60605 United States
(312) 747-4875