South Chicago Chamber Of Commerce Business Directory Nov 2013 | Page 6

Born where the 50-mile long Calumet River meets the 307-mile long
Lake Michigan on Chicago’s Southeast Side, South Chicago grew to
become a transportation hub of waterway, rail and road connections,
and an industrial giant providing the nation with the steel it needed
to win two World Wars, and Chicago with material for its stunning
skyscrapers.
For most of the 20th century, its mills, plants and factories were
a mecca for native and foreign-born labor whose ethnic identities
were etched into the built environment, outlasting their places of
employment.
In the aftermath of the cataclysmic loss of the century-old mill
and related industries in the early 1990s, the community assessed its
assets and found among them:

South Chicago: Past and Present

• A largely intact walkable Commercial Avenue with retail
specialty shops, and restaurant facilities, mostly in original
building stock meeting the criteria of the “New Urbanism”
model (combining retail with residential space).

• A “Heart and Soul” street along 91st Street between Exchange
and Mackinaw, where churches and social service agencies,
a community library, the YMCA and two out the five of the
community’s senior residence facilities collaboratively provide
for many of the community’s ongoing needs. 92nd Street also
houses the National Shrine of St. Jude, “patron of lost causes.”
• Century and near-century old beautifully-designed banks and
churches; two landmark buildings, one designed by George
Elmslie, a craftsman who worked with Louis Sullivan, and the
Bessemer Park Field House, designed by Daniel Burnham.

• Markers and monuments: the Columbus Statue and Drake Fountain
at 92nd St. and South Chicago Ave.; the Viet Nam War Memorial
and mural at 91st St. and Brandon Ave.; murals on the SEDCOM
building at 90th St. and Commercial Ave. and Metropolitan Family
Services on East 91st St.; and a 40-foot-high and quarter-mile-long
ore wall remnant on the former steel mill property.