Морган Паркінің тарихы мен дамуы

Community area in Chicago

Comparing this with a modern map will show how the far northern ends of West Crescent and East Crescent (today Oakley and Bell Avenues, respectively) were vacated between Remington and Monticello Avenues (today 107th and 108th Places, respectively) to create Crescent Park.]] The community was initially settled in the mid 19th century and known as North Blue Island because of its geographic relationship to the already established settlement of Blue Island to the south and because of its position on the Blue Island Ridge. Thomas Morgan became the area's largest landholder when he purchased all of the property between what is today 91st St. on the north, 119th St. on the south, Western Avenue on the west, and roughly Vincennes Ave. to the east. Morgan was born in Surrey, England, and came to the United States in 1843, briefly settling in Albany, New York. He was the son of a London banker and was left a large fortune by his father which he used to establish himself on the ridge in 1844. Here he cleared trees and operated a cattle and sheep ranch for the next quarter of a century. Morgan's son Henry was for a time the village president of Hyde Park before that community was annexed to the City of Chicago in 1889. In 1869, the Blue Island Land and Building Company purchased three thousand acres of this property from the Morgan family and laid out streets, planted thousands of trees, and built houses for those who were attracted to the bucolic atmosphere of the new community. The goal of the organization was to create a suburban community " free from smoke and other nuisances that [were] becoming more and more intolerable in the city". Both the president and the treasurer of the Blue Island Land and Building Company were executives of the Rock Island Railroad at the time the former company was incorporated, and they immediately used their influence to have a spur line built to serve the new community. This arrangement lasted until 1889, when the "Suburban Line" as it exists today was built between Gresham and the Vermont Street station in Blue Island, at which time the dummy line, as it was called, was removed, much to the consternation of those who lived immediately nearby. At this point Morgan Park received three handsome passenger depots (at 107th St., 111th St., and 115th St.), with the 111th Street station being an elaborate Queen Ann structure designed by John T. Long that is sited immediately east of Bohn Park. Morgan Park (and especially the area of it depicted in western part of the map included with this article) is primarily an upper middle class community, with a housing stock to reflect this demographic, although there are several estate sized houses on the ridge at Longwood Drive. Many of the buildings in the neighborhood were designed by notable architects, including Dwight Perkins, Dankmar Adler, Murray Hetherington, John Hetherington, Palliser, Palliser & Co., Normand S. Patton and Harry H. Waterman. The community is home to the Beverly Arts Center. Because of its ecclesiastical associations (George Walker's father was affiliated with the old University of Chicago and Walker himself would play an influential role in the creation of the present University of Chicago, both of which were founded by organizations with Baptist connections) Morgan Park prohibited the sale of alcohol east of Western Avenue when it was incorporated as a village in 1882a ban which stands to this day. The suburb became a city neighborhood when it was annexed in 1914.

Morgan Park is located south of the Beverly neighborhood and shares a border at 107th St. with Beverly on the north, Halsted St. (north of 115th St.) and Ashland Ave. (south of 115th St.) on the east, 119th St. on the south, and (roughly) California Ave. on the west, as well as Mount Greenwood Cemetery. Beverly and Morgan Park share the same ZIP Code.

In the early 1840s, a small section of what was to become southern Morgan Park had an unsavory reputation with the settlers in the region. What follows are the recollections of Isaac T. Greenacre, an early 19th century resident who settled at the north end of the ridge. The area he describes below is today what is roughly the stretch of Vincennes Avenue from 115th Street to 121st Street:
"On the edge of the hill on which Morgan Park is situated, and a little south, is a deep and exceedingly steep ravine. This in early times was covered with long grass and thick underbrush, and was not only a very discreet hiding place, but a very formidable fortress for horse thieves. These notable gentry were rather nocturnal in their habits, as they traveled during the night and by day were wont to refresh themselves in Horse Thief Hollow. I imagine it must have been a solitary place as the long grass, thick underbrush, and the forest overhead must have entirely excluded the sunlight from it. The farmers are confident of the character of this den, having found in it bags of oats and other commodities which proved the use of the ravine for horse stealing. The bottom of the ravine was trampled into a mire by horses' hoofs, and once in a while they would find a horse shoe. The farmers have watched these gentry and proved to themselves the purpose of their frequent visitations. The horse thieves generally traveled by the aid of a buggy, in which they kept all the utensils necessary for their business."

Rotary International, the first world wide community service organization, was formed in Chicago in 1905. Rotary's founder Paul P. Harris, married Jean and they moved to Morgan Park at 10856 S. Longwood Drive. Today the house is owned and maintained as a memorial to Paul P. Harris and his wife, Jean, and as an inspiration for Rotarians around the world.

54.8% of the residents were black and 37.2% of the residents were white. As of that year it was, within Chicago, the black majority area with the highest percentage of whites.

The United States Postal Service operates the Morgan Park Post Office.

The Morgan Park community area has supported the Democratic Party in the past two presidential elections. In the 2016 presidential election, Morgan Park cast 10,084 votes for Hillary Clinton and cast 1,708 votes for Donald Trump (82.78% to 14.02%). In the 2012 presidential election, Morgan Park cast 11,848 votes for Barack Obama and cast 2,062 votes for Mitt Romney (84.39% to 14.69%).

Chicago Public Schools operates public schools in Morgan Park. Morgan Park High School, Clissold School, and Esmond Elementary School (one of the Chicago Public School's oldest school buildings, having been being built in the 1890s, and added to in the early years of the 20th century and again in the 1970s) represent the public educational institutions that today call Morgan Park home. Zoned K 8 schools include Clissold, Esmond, Shoop, Mount Vernon, Higgins, and Haley. Morgan Park High serves most of Morgan Park, while small sections of the community area are zoned to Julian High School and Fenger High School. St. Cajetan and St. Walter, both private Catholic schools, are located in Morgan Park.

Lena Younger in "A Raisin in the Sun", reminisces about her early life as a married woman with dreams of buying a "two story house" in the Morgan Park section of Chicago.