High-Low Foods on E. 111th Street #tbt

Via Pete Kastanes of Vanished Chicagoland. This store was located at 409 E. 111th in the Roseland neighborhood. This is the corner of 111th & King Drive and the building itself is still standing, the business itself is still a neighborhood corner store.

Here is a photo of a High-Low Foods Store. Once located at 409 E 111th St in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago. pic.twitter.com/5MNegwpQuD

— Pete Kastanes (@PeteKastanes) January 6, 2021

Here is a Google Streetview look at the same location in 2019

CTA Red Line extension update

Rendering 103rd Street Red Line station - CTA 

Over at The Sixth Ward on Tuesday I shared a tweet to a Curbed Chicago article with regards to various upcoming transit projects throughout the city. One project that many who live near the 95th terminal is the planned CTA Red Line extension. One reason that Curbed article was of interest to me is the seeming progress in which case is to merely fund engineering & design work.

Of course the reason for this interest is mainly the safety and activity of the area. The 95th terminal is one of the busiest of the CTA. The CTA Red Line connects with not only CTA and Pace suburban bus routes, also intercity bus services with Greyhound and Indian Trails buses. So there's definitely a lot of activity there especially during the week.

The main thing is building this extension further south to the city's southern limits might mean less activity at 95th. Or perhaps hopefully for local leaders in the community less opportunities for criminal activity. Either way another stated and important purpose for this extension is to cut commuting times for those individuals who must use public transit who must travel to other parts of the city.

Governor's mansion history from Curbed...

I liked this history of the state's Governor's Mansion and of all the work done to that Springfield house since it was first built. Of course all is noted in light of the renovations that will start this month and end just in time for the holidays. Via Curbed Chicago

After $15 million update in 2018, the Governor’s Mansion will close for more renovations. https://t.co/ktq0b7Th5o pic.twitter.com/Iqjcl1NPJ0

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) October 4, 2019

One thing to remember is that Gov. J.B. Pritzker will pay for these renovations out of his pocket!

Former CPS school to be adapted into a community center

I posted a quick blurb at The Sixth Ward about a community center to be located in a former CPS school named for an illustrious late president of the prestigious Morehouse College. It's a shame that the school had been closed since 2013, but it's great that it had found a reuse as a community center in Englewood.

As so far there have been no further updates that I know of with regards to the now closed Shedd School, I've always maintained this as one idea to reuse that property. Of course, it has to be reused with the right team to execute their plan. Here's hoping there are some updates as far as what's next for the former "John G. Shedd Public School".

Time for an updated pic of Shedd School

#tbt Decision at 83rd Street

[VIDEO] Last year at The Sixth Ward I posted this above video from a YouTube channel that refers to itself as Fuzzy Memories - which mostly posts old footage from Chicago TV stations. This documentary is 57 years old and illustrates the racial change that took place in the city during the 1960s.

On this blog and at The Sixth Ward I've showed a number of old pics of how various neighborhoods on the south side used to look like. As happens over time buildings are torn down, schools or churches close down, a streetscape looks vastly different from what it was decades ago. Or indeed looking at aspects of our transportation infrastructure which is vastly different from what we know about today.

Marynook on a map

In this case, WBBM-TV (or we can call them CBS 2 today) took a look at the racial change taking place in the Marynook area (which is the area between 87th and 83rd Streets north to south and the IC railroad tracks to Dorchester west to east. At issue here is the implications of the integration taking place and we hear a lot about things we associate with "white flight". We hear about "block busting" where unscrupulous real estate agents urge white homeowners to sell before the racial change of the neighborhood causes the value of their homes to depreciate.

These days Marynook is mostly Black, however, the character of that area is still basically middle class. It's often gotten attention for its mid-century architecture and could often be describes as a neighborhood that could resemble a suburban area.

BTW, as a side note I'm glad Fuzzy Memories is back. They were down for a while since YouTube tends to take down channels that are found to be uploading copyrighted materials. I've gotten away from following their channel in recent years, however, it's time to start back. It's fascinating what people saw on their TV years before I was even born. 

The Chicago Neighborhoods

Want to do a Pullman strike tour?

Credit: The Chicago Neighborhoods

I was awfully slow in sharing this. On July 13, 2019 there was a tour in Pullman related to the 125th anniversary of the Great Strike of 1894 and there are more scheduled through October. I believe this strike caused the President of the time a man by the name of Grover Cleveland to sent federal forces to end it.

I found out about this event through Curbed Chicago earlier this month, however, all I did was retweet this information. It would've been cool for me to take part in this as I know more about Pullman's story and architecture, but very little of some of the labor drama that took place there.

Tour the site of the Great Pullman Strike on its 125th anniversary https://t.co/IxFHGZDoQo pic.twitter.com/NkOtsl9jWh

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) July 5, 2019

According to the above link:

Labor history tends to get short shrift in history books.

The Pullman National Monument Preservation Society, created by Barack Obama’s presidential proclamation in 2015, is trying to change that. During the Great Pullman Strike’s 125th anniversary, the group is giving guided tours each month through October.
...
The next tour is scheduled for July 13 at noon. Admission is $25, and each ticket includes post-tour reception and dessert.

WTTW has more on the history of this strike in 1894 with regards to the perfect company town that was Pullman.

The site of the former Halsted Indoor Mall #tbt

I snapped these shots of the site of the former shopping center on 115th & Michigan during the summer of 2014. I never released the shots back then, but I wanted to share the context of this site with this article from the Chicago Reader which was actually published in 2003.

It illustrated the history of the former Halsted Indoor Mall which was once housed in a building that once contained a Zayre store. The shopping center here contained both a Foot Locker store and a beauty supply as well as a Jewel-Osco. However at some point all these stores have since closed. The Jewel-Osco closed once a new store was built at the new shopping center located at 119th Street and Marshfield (or on the west side of I-57) should be around 2007 or 2008.

I do remember shopping with my family at the old Zayre store and the old Jewel store you see in the photos below was another shopping destination over the years until the new store opened across the I-57 expressway. One ominous piece of information I learned shopping here one day, my mother was told by another customer that they did snatch purses in that store. YIKES!

At some point after 2012 the former Halsted Indoor Mall was razed, I see this looking at Google Streetview. And that largely ends the saga of the former space which seemed to riddled with some issues involving it's management by the people who operated the space and certainly the people who owned it. The property itself remains vacant with the idea of at some point perhaps something else will be developed here. Perhaps more retail or even some mixed-use retail and residential.

Below are the photographs from summer 2014. I wish I had a pic of the sign on the corner of 115th & Halsted which even the last time I drove by here still had a sign for the Halsted Indoor Mall although the building no longer stands.

Here's a Google Streetview of this property before the Indoor Mall building was razed from 2012 after this you see it's no longer standing. And as stated already the above photos were shot in the summer of 2014.

Recent shot of the Gately's ruins #Ward09

Drove through earlier this week. Sad to see this great big building along Michigan Avenue being demolished. I see the sign's gone, excited to find out any news of this local landmark. It's reminder of a business that no longer exists but many of a certain age still remember.

A posted this recent pic on ig embeded below

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Jun 27, 2019 at 10:43am PDT

Gately's Peoples store...destroyed... #Ward09

[VIDEO] This past Friday I posted about the former Gately's store located at 113th & Michigan. The store from what I can tell doing some Googling had long closed in 1981, with another store located in Tinley Park until 1994.

Usually me and my family would drive on Michigan Avenue to head to River Oaks Mall in Calumet City, we'd often pass this store. Of course by the time I came of age all I would recognize is that antiquated sign for a store that was no longer there. Whoever owned this property if it wasn't the Gately family who previously operated their location there never removed this sign. It was just a great reminder of the history of the retail strip of south Michigan Avenue between at least 107th Street to 1115th Street.

I've read up on the history of this strip and it was an important commercial areas though perhaps it didn't have the volume of another great south side commercial area such as 63rd & Halsted (which is experiencing a slow resurgence). Still there are plenty of people who grew up in Roseland and patronized this area before the decline starting in the 1980s. You can find YouTube channels that offer videos of people who grew up in Roseland during the 1950s & 1960s. It's fascinating how the area changed from a great place to grow up to what it's generally known today as a crime ridden area.

And then on Friday the former Gately's Peoples store was destroyed by fire. It seems we may never really know due to the damage what caused the fire, unfortunately the damage has been done. Who knows what will happen with the sign, however, the building that formerly housed the store which provided so many memories for those who shopped there has a date with the wrecking ball.

For me, I've never known the store and have never shopped there. I've never even shopped at the small storefronts that had occupied the ground floor of the building. Still, it's a little sad that this longtime sign is coming down and thus this won't be a landmark any longer. And now to figure out what will ultimately go up in its place along Michigan Avenue. What will be the new landmark to be located there?

Here's an ig post I did on the Gately's store once I learned of it's condition. I shot this just about a month before the fire.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Jun 8, 2019 at 10:43am PDT

#fbf 111th Street & Michigan Avenue

The photo above was taken in 1907 and the building you see in the front foreground according to Chicago history blogger J.R. Schmidt remains at the corner of 111th & Michigan Avenue. If I recall correctly for many years it was a Walgreen's until that location moved across the street. Though now the former Walgreen's store on the north side of 111th Street is now a dollar store.

Of course the progress of time over the course of 111 years ago (111th street and 111 years ago hmmm), we see a lot of the buildings are no longer standing. And of course the city ran its last streetcar in 1958. Even better according to Schmidt who posted this late last month:

A century ago traffic was so light on this stretch of Michigan that small children could wander around aimlessly in the street—not advisable today, in the era of the automobile.

Yeah totally agree with that statement! Click the link to see the photo Schmidt took in 2018 of this same area.

Pullman Communicy Center opened on Thursday

[VIDEO] Sorry to have missed this. The new Pullman Community Center located near 103rd & Woodlawn has finally opened. We start with the above video from CBS 2 and then excerpt from this Sun-Times article

After nearly a decade of planning and a frenzied round of corporate fundraising, a $20 million, 135,000-square-foot sports, recreation and educational center opened its doors at 10355 S. Woodlawn Ave.

The massive U.S. Bank Pullman Community Center is one of the largest indoor sports facilities in Illinois and the fifth-largest in the country. It includes three basketball/tennis courts and three synthetic turf fields that can be used for baseball, football and soccer.

The facility also includes community meeting rooms and classroom space.

“We’re looking at keeping 1,100 kids a week off the streets, doing something positive and constructive. A facility that’s gonna be open probably 12 to 14 hours a day. That gives people opportunity. It gives ’em hope,” Beale said Thursday.

“If you’re struggling in school and you’re enrolled in this facility, we’re gonna provide free ACT, SAT and tutoring in whatever subject that you need.”

Chicago Mag: Pullman’s Renaissance #Ward09 #BuildingwithBeale

Published on October 26th, 2018 I'm sorry that I only found out about it recently. A lot of good things is going on in that part of the city.

The iconic South Side neighborhood is on the brink of a transformation.https://t.co/hDbTfQbe15

— Chicago magazine (@ChicagoMag) October 26, 2018

In the coming weeks, construction crews will begin meticulously restoring the roof and upper floor windows of the landmark Pullman Clock Tower and Administration Building, the former headquarters of the company that developed the neighborhood and forever changed rail travel in the 19th century.

Nearly lost in an arson attack in 1998, the structure is being overhauled for its next life as the visitor center for the Pullman National Monument, Chicago’s first ever site in the national park system. The roof work, funded by a $2.2 million grant from the National Park Service, is expected to take six months.

Construction on the old administrative building comes more than three years after President Obama dedicated the site as a national monument, setting into motion a restoration that Pullman residents and preservationists have long called for. According to Kathleen Schneider, the first superintendent of Pullman National Monument, there are a mix of public and private funds earmarked for the restoration, including more than $13 million from the National Park Foundation.

“We’re only three years old with a staff of three people,” Schneider says of the new national monument. “Although it may appear that not a lot is happening, we’ve been working hard with the State of Illinois and community on the 2020 opening of the visitors center.”

Schneider says the site’s educational programming will center on Pullman’s legacy as a planned neighborhood and as an integral site in the labor and civil rights movements. Specifically, the visitor center will spotlight the internal clashes that led to the Pullman Strike of 1894 and formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

As for community partners, Schneider highlights the Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives (CNI) group, a nonprofit developer that has helped bring investment to the greater Pullman area in recent years. While the Clock Tower’s restoration represents a symbolic rebirth of the historic district, newer facilities including a Whole Foods distribution center, an expanded greenhouse by produce supplier Gotham Greens, and soap maker Method have reinvigorated the neighborhood’s identity as an industrial hub.

Great to see the progress in nearby Pullman.

Decline of Black Chicago

I shared a Sun-Times editorial about the decline in the Black population of Chicago Monday morning over at The Sixth Ward.

Decline of Black Chicago https://t.co/Nk2Xoewhlq

— The Sixth Ward (@TheSixthWard) July 30, 2018

Curbed Chicago: Englewood residents organize to take back their block

Via @buyblackeconomics

Over at The Sixth Ward we've discussed the "dreaded G word" especially as it pertained to the now open Whole Foods Market in Englewood. I always figured that the activists of Englewood - I'm mainly referring to the Resident Association of Greater Englewood - would find a way to stop gentrification.

If there was a fear that long-time small businesses or long-time low-income residents could eventually be displaced by long term economic redevelopment then perhaps Englewood residents who "buy the block" will change the direction of redevelopment. For many the Whole Foods store would likely be the beginning of this, but then if I recall the history there were some Englewood residents who fantasized about Whole Foods coming in and they did.

As you see in this article below buying the block is about buying up residential properties. Check it out below from Curbed Chicago.

Englewood residents organize to take back their block https://t.co/yJgcs9KsBA pic.twitter.com/M7wjJjoR3S

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) July 23, 2018

If you bought a whole city block or a vacant lot, what would you like to do with it?

Chicago Reader: Pullman to get first new residential building in nearly 50 years

Via Chicago Neighborhoods

More changes coming to the historically and architecturally significant Pullman neighborhood.

The $18 million Pullman Artspace Lofts will be built on land that's been vacant for 88 years.https://t.co/BlW7gLqdgk

— Chicago Reader (@Chicago_Reader) July 10, 2018

The historic Pullman neighborhood is getting 38 units of affordable housing inside a new $18 million artists' enclave—some 124 years after Pullman railroad car workers went on strike over the company's refusal to lower their rents after cutting their pay.

The Pullman Artspace Lofts, a new apartment building to be built between two long-abandoned Pullman workers' housing units, sits on three-quarters of an acre on Langley Avenue, just south of 111th Street. The three-story, 32,000-square-foot complex sits on land that's been vacant for 88 years. The construction itself marks the first new residential development built in Pullman in nearly half a century. It's unique because it will house 2,000 square feet of community space intended to be used as an art gallery, meeting place, classrooms, and community room. It's expected to open in early fall 2019.

The Artspace Lofts is a home-grown project in a neighborhood that has more than its share of artists, including painters, musicians, filmmakers, sculptors, and ceramicists, said architect Ann Alspaugh, a board member and past president of Pullman Arts, a neighborhood nonprofit whose volunteers have worked on the development for the past eight years.

"It's [the result of] a lot of hard work by a lot of people," she said, noting that the project required meeting and even exceeding local and state landmark and historic district requirements, obtaining unconventional funding, and conducting detailed feasibility studies. 

 I might have a few shots of the land where these lofts are to be located to be shared in the future. There was a period of time that I strolled through Pullman either on foot or driving where I took a series of photographs. And surely the work in Pullman is still not completed at least not yet! 

Washington Monthly: South Side story

The Chicago Neighborhoods

 Sorry to have sat on this since the spring. A story about the Pullman neighborhood. Or "How a historic Chicago neighborhood became a national model for community revitalization."

Yet one lower-income South Side neighborhood manages to defy the ironclad logic of the favored quarter: historic Pullman, a vibrant enclave in the middle of the South Side that is home to equal numbers of African Americans, Latinos, and whites. (Not all South and West neighborhoods are poor, but most of those doing well economically—Hyde Park, the Near West Side, Bridgeport, and Beverly—are predominantly white and Asian.)

Strolling down Pullman’s St. Lawrence Avenue, whose shaded sidewalks are fronted by side-by-side duplexes, you notice the same redbrick charm that characterizes the North Side. Yet in Pullman, you can land a well-kept three-bedroom duplex down the block from a cozy café and around the corner from one of the city’s top-rated public elementary schools at a price that wouldn’t go far in swank precincts across town. Residents enjoy many of the conveniences of North Side living, too. At the new Pullman Park development, there’s a Walmart (watering this former food desert), a clothing store, a Planet Fitness health club, a locally owned dry cleaners, and Pullman’s first sit-down restaurant in decades.

The relative peace and prosperity of Pullman in the midst of the hard-hit South Side highlights the promise of “asset-based” community development—the idea that focusing on the strengths of a particular place is just as important as targeting the problems. This model offers practical lessons for other neighborhoods across the country suffering from economic disinvestment and social unraveling. In Pullman’s case, a remarkable degree of resilience has arisen from these assets: high levels of civic engagement; a physical environment that encourages walking and social interaction; access to resources tied to historic preservation; and an ambitious community developer planting stakes in the neighborhood.

If the name Pullman sounds vaguely familiar, it’s likely because of the legendary railroad sleeping cars built here from 1881 to 1955. Pullman was no grimy slum, but actually one of the most celebrated urban planning projects of the nineteenth century—providing a good place to live was part of owner George Pullman’s mission to elevate the character of his workers. The London Times declared the elegant public buildings and squares flanked by single-family homes for managers and handsome brick townhouses for workers “the most perfect town in the world.” The other reason you may have heard of Pullman is that in 1894 the company’s workers responded to wage cuts with no reduction in rent at company-owned housing with a historic strike.

Read the whole thing!

A look at what $250K get you in Chicago right now

From AJ LaTrace of Chicago Magazine, and one of those pieces of real estate is in Pullman

A look at what $250K get you in Chicago right now @ChicagoMag https://t.co/0Ih0xh7SEc

— Adrian E. LaTrace, Jr. (@ajlatrace) March 27, 2018

525 E. 112th Street, Pullman

An integral community to Chicago’s role in rail, heavy industry, and labor rights, the Pullman neighborhood has another unique designation as the city’s first and only National Monument. And for $250,000, you can purchase a historic row home (pictured above) that has been fully overhauled and updated for contemporary living. It’s worth noting that this property is currently the most expensive on the market in the neighborhood—still a fraction of the amount that wealthy rail enthusiasts are spending on restoring old Pullman Palace Cars for cross-country travel.

Not far away from Roseland and you can get a house for almost a quarter of a million dollars. Pullman is a great neighborhood anyway of great historic value and it's no wonder it's part of a national monument!

Reason: Markets penalize bigotry

[VIDEO] The video you're about to see would've been great for Black History Month. All the same, I pride myself on sharing information that gets you to think. Over the years this wasn't the only video from Reason magazine that I have shared with you. Here's an early one that shares a vastly different from the one above about urban renewal.

In this case a real estate businessman Philip A. Payton knew how to play the game and essentially built a Black community in Harlem. The lesson here at least for early 20th century New York, segregation can become ultimately a very expensive luxury. I recognize times have changed so perhaps the late Philip A. Payton's approach may not work the same way today.

South Side Weekly: Repurposing Shedd School #Ward09

Shedd School on Christmas Day 2017

Sorry to have missed out on this article from last year, it's still a contentious issue after almost five years. What to do with the former Shedd School. Well there were some proposals that were rejected:

The Rescue Missionary Christian School then presented their information to the district and 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale, along with another bidder (“We never got a name. All we knew was that it was a [housing] developer,” Tucker said). Both bids were rejected. “The highest bidder did not get community approval so my thought was, ‘Shouldn’t it go to the second highest bidder since you only had two?’ But no, he rejected both bids and put it back up for sale. At least that’s the story we got,” said Tucker.

In fact, because Shedd was not officially considered one of the schools closed in 2013, there was no district requirement for community input or public meetings at the time (now, that requirement has been lifted for many schools closed in 2013 as well).

According to Beale, the bid by the Rescue Missionary Christian School was denied because he felt they did not have “the resources to accomplish what the community is looking to have done,” he said. “If the building needs redoing, they really don’t have the capital to rehab the building, keep up with the maintenance of the building, keep up with the landscaping, all those types of things.”

According to a Freedom of Information Act request, Shedd Elementary accumulated approximately $5,430 in gas and electricity costs from July 2015 to June 2016, which has residents wondering why taxpayers are still paying to keep the lights on in a closed building.

Beale explained that some buildings are secured by alarm systems. “You don’t want a school just sitting there open. You might want to make sure the heat stays at a certain temperature so the pipes don’t freeze. There’s a lot of things going on, just because a building is vacant doesn’t mean that there’s no activity in the building. There’s still a light amount of maintenance being done,” he said.

The building is still in good condition and has yet to become an eyesore in the neighborhood. But residents still want to see the building repurposed.

Too bad they didn't send a photographer to this property. When the weather warms up and the leaves on trees grow ago there are vines growing on what used to the the kindergarten class room. That's an eyesore enough although yes, the building itself may well still remain in good condition. Here's hoping a satisfactory plan will be created for the former Shedd School.

Update on the planning for CTA Red Line extension

CTA Red Line extension

Recently got an update with regards to where the Chicago Transit Authority is currently with the planned Red Line extension south from 95th Street to 130th St. near Altgeld Gardens. You can read a two sheet update here from their official website.

With this in mind there are two videos with regards to the extension which in my opinion is beneficial to the far south side of Chicago. However, what I strive to do on this blog is to be fair and the first video is a local homeowner who is opposed to the Red Line extension because it's construction means the destruction of homes as far as whatever alignment the CTA will choose.

This first video is courtesy of The Chicago Reporter - and posted to YouTube in December 2016 - and shows commentary by Shari Henry who opposes the extension as the project could threaten her family home. We see a drive around through the communities that are affected by this proposed project. As I may hope there could be further development Henry uses 95th as a guide with little business development around the 95th Terminal. [VIDEO]

The next video shows a proposal for the revitalization of the intersection at 115th & Michigan - although yeah they refer to this as 116th & Michigan. This is geared towards transit oriented development with mixed use buildings that hopefully will include storefronts, low-income housing, a grand entrance to the nearby L station, and greenspace to be used for community events. Seems like a great plan that should be considered even if it must be refined. The video was posted to YouTube in May 2017. [VIDEO]

Here's yet another video which was posted to YouTube in Dec. 2012 - 4 years ahead of The Chicago Reporter video with Shari Henry. Of course this is a video that is in favor of the Red Line extension to 130th Street and certainly wants us to know the benefits of building this extension. An hour commute to downtown Chicago for cultural, education, or even jobs. The far south side won't be so disconnected or it won't take so long to take advantage of all the opportunities the city of Chicago has to offer. [VIDEO]

Forgot to add the above video was before the 2013 Red Line south reconstruction and before the current redevelopment of the 95th Red Line terminal.

What you see below is the project development phase which is the final environmental impact statement and record of decision as far as the Red Line alignment along the Union Pacific Railroad route. I suppose this means which side of the tracks will have their properties impacted which is also explained in the two-page report from CTA.