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Community area in Chicago

In 1835, Henry DeKoven purchased prairie land in the region. In 1857, a group of citizens formed the Town of Cicero, a ten member local governing body that covered modern day Cicero, Oak Park, Berwyn and Austin. Eight years later, DeKoven's land was bought by Henry W. Austin. Austin, a businessman and real estate speculator, developed the namesake Austinville subdivision. Its population grew exponentially as the area's attractive amenities and access to suburban railroad service drew in population. In 1870, the Town of Cicero placed its town hall in Austin. However, by the 1890s, the heavily populated Austin area dominated town politics, but did not constitute a majority of voters. The Austin controlled township government allowed the Lake Street Elevated to extend into Oak Park. Outraged, the other residents of Cicero Township voted to allow Chicago to annex the Austin area in an 1899 referendum. The residents of Austin voted against the referendum. In 1926, it was estimated the area had approximately 140,000 residents. The Austin community became known for violence after the loss of free flowing capital during white flight when prostitution, drug dealing, gang activity, and shoot outs became commonplace in the Austin neighborhood. Many trace the problems that impacted this community to the crack cocaine epidemic, as well as the opioid crisis, mass incarceration, and the HIV epidemic, which resulted in further economic decline and the loss of many social safety nets. This led to many middle and upper middle class African Americans leaving for the suburbs. In 1992, the 15th District (Austin) of the Chicago Police Department located at 5327 West Chicago Avenue at the time recorded about 48 homicides which covers most of the Austin neighborhood, making the Austin District the 4th Deadliest Police District at the time, before the 11th District (Harrison) which had 93 Homicides, 7th District (Englewood) which had 80 Homicides, & the 2nd District (Wentworth) which had 69 Homicides. The latter half of the twentieth century further municipal saw significant divestment from the community. The Central station of the Chicago Transportation Agency's Congress Line was closed on September 2, 1973. In 1988, West Side Health Authority was formed after the closure of St. Anne's Hospital. In 1991, the Sisters of Saint Casimir gave control of Loretto Hospital to a management company. During the development of the property, then Alderman Ike Carothers solicited a bribe to allow the permitting process and zoning changes to move forward. The subsequent trials created a political scandal, and ended with the conviction of the developer and Carothers on various felony charges. The $60 million development ultimately brought new homes and a movie theater to the neighborhood.

Austin is Chicago's second largest community area both by population and by land area. The Austin community area is made up of four neighborhoods; Galewood, The Island, North Austin and South Austin.

Galewood is named for Abram Gale who bought a farm on the area in 1838. Since the 1980s, it has seen an increase in African American and Latino residents, but this integration has occurred peacefully in contrast with other areas of Chicago. Galewood has two stations on the Milwaukee District West Line. The first station, Mars station functions as a stop for employees of the nearby Mars, Incorporated factory, closing in 2024, and Shriners Hospitals for Children, the latter of which is located in Montclare. The Mars station only stops during traditional commuting hours. The second, Galewood station is located east of Mars station and is a regular service station. Canadian Pacific (which operates in the U. S. Midwest as the Soo Line Railroad) operates freight trains on the line via trackage rights. The neighborhood has strong ties with neighboring Montclare, including sharing a namesake library in the Chicago Public Library system, and is sometimes considered as part of that neighborhood and not the Austin community. Galewood is significantly whiter than the remainder of Austin. Galewood is 22.51% White, 50.17% African American, and 1.77% from two or more races. Residents who self identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.96% of the total Galewood population with the western half of Galewood being 36% white and 31% African American.

The Island neighborhood is located in the southwest corner of the Austin community. It has a population of approximately 1,700 residents. It encompasses roughly a square mile and its western and southern borders are to the suburbs of Oak Park and Cicero respectively. It is further isolated from the rest of Austin by an industrial corridor to its east and railroad tracks and Interstate 290 to the north. It is only accessible from Austin Boulevard & Roosevelt Road.

One of Austin's neighborhoods is North Austin, its boundaries starts north at Milwaukee District/West Line and Armitage Avenue, Western boundaries are Austin Avenue or Austin Boulevard south of North Avenue, Eastern boundaries to Cicero Avenue, and Southern boundaries to Division Street.

South Austin is the area's largest neighborhood. It is bordered by Division Street to the north, Austin Boulevard to the west, Roosevelt Road to the south and Cicero Avenue to the east. During the Austin area's transition from a predominantly white community to a predominantly African American community, the South Austin neighborhood was the first neighborhood to become African American majority.

As of 2023, there is a general lack of food oriented retail in Austin, and many people living in Austin go to suburban communities to the west to buy groceries. The Austin Town Hall City Market is held to stave off the food desert complex.

Austin is served by three free weekly newspapers. The West Suburban Journal, founded in 2004, published by black owned press Trottie Publishing Group, based in the West Cook County suburb of Westchester. L. Nicole Trottie, founder and publisher of West Suburban Journal, is the first black woman in Illinois' 190 year history to found an accredited weekly newspaper. Trottie is also the first African American woman ever elected to serve on the Illinois Press Association's Executive Board of Directors in its 150 year newspaper rich history. The Austin Voice has been published in Austin since 1988. The Austin Weekly News, founded in 2005, is published by The Wednesday Journal, a publisher of free weekly newspapers based in Oak Park, Illinois. Both papers are published on Wednesdays and distributed in stores, office buildings and recreational venues throughout the community. Austin is also served by Austin Talks, an online publication maintained by journalism students at Chicago's Columbia College and underwritten in part by the Chicago Community Trust.

St. Anne's Hospital, located in the Austin community area, had a capacity for 437 patients. Its property had seven buildings on of land. In August 1988 the Chicago Tribune reported that it was "expected" to end operations. In September of that year, it closed. In 1997 it was announced that it would become apartments for elderly people who are financially disadvantaged. In the 2012 presidential election, Austin cast 44,734 votes for Barack Obama and 965 votes for Mitt Romney. It was Obama's 24th largest margin of victory by percentage points in the 76 community areas he won. At the local level, Austin is located in Chicago's 28th, 29th, and 37th represented by Democrats Jason Ervin, Chris Taliaferro, and Emma Mitts respectively.