Южная Сторона Чикаго: История и Современность

Community area in Chicago

Along Lake Shore Drive, the Near South Side includes some of Chicago's best known structures: Soldier Field, home of the NFL's Chicago Bears; McCormick Place, Chicago's primary convention center; the Museum Campus, which contains the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium; and Northerly Island. The area is currently undergoing a major residential and mixed use redevelopment.

The Near South Side is one of the most dynamic of Chicago's communities. It has undergone a metamorphosis from a Native American homeland to a blue collar settlement, to an elite socialite residential district, to a center for vice, to a slum, to a public housing and warehouse district, and finally to the home of a newly gentrified residential district.

The Near South Side was initially noted for wagon trails winding through a lightly populated bend of Lake Michigan. In 1859, a South State Street horse drawn streetcar line, linking the area to downtown, attracted wealthy families to the area.

The Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of the World's Fair held on the Near South Side lakefront from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. More than 40 million people visited the fair, which symbolized for many hope for Chicago and the nation, then in the midst of the Great Depression.

Fairs and exhibitions held on the lakefront sites created demand for an exhibition hall. In 1960, construction was begun on McCormick Place, a huge exposition and convention complex at 23rd Street and Lake Shore Drive named for newspaper magnate Robert R. McCormick. The original building burned in 1967, and was rebuilt and reopened in 1971 at the behest of mayor Richard J. Daley. Large expansions were added in 1986, 1997 and 2007. and it is the annual location for the Chicago Auto Show.

The area includes the Prairie Avenue Historic District (with both the John J. Glessner House and the Henry B. Clarke House) and the historic (former) R. R. Donnelley & Sons printing company building (which now houses network routers and switches for much of the city). The Glessner House, which is perhaps the best known historic structure in this district, is now a museum. William Wallace Kimball's home is now home to the United States Soccer Federation headquarters. Formerly, several important residences were located in this region. Additionally, the Fort Dearborn Massacre sculpture was on the property of the George Pullman residence as a tribute to the massacre, which occurred in the neighborhood. Many of the Prairie Avenue families worship at the historic Second Presbyterian Church on South Michigan Avenue in the heart of the district. Adler Planetarium, R. R. Donnelley and Sons Co. Calumet Plant, Henry B. Clarke House, Coca Cola Company Building (on Wabash), Field Museum of Natural History, John J. Glessner House, William W. Kimball House, Maxwell Briscoe Automobile Company Showroom, Quinn Chapel AME Church, Harriet F. Rees House, Reid House, St. Luke's Hospital Complex, Second Presbyterian Church, Shedd Aquarium, Soldier Field, and Wheeler Kohn House are all located in the community area and are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Raymond M. Hilliard Center Historic District, Motor Row District, and Prairie Avenue District are districts largely within the community area that are also listed on the NRHP.

Beginning in the mid 1990s, factories started being replaced with or converted to loft condominiums. The redevelopment continued through the early 2000s decade. South Loop residential development has expanded to the Dearborn Park neighborhood (between State and Clark Streets South of Roosevelt Road). The new Central Station neighborhood is the site of major mixed use development that includes One Museum Park, One Museum Park West, numerous residential condominiums and luxury townhomes. This development is built on of former rail yards and air space rights east of Indiana Avenue between Roosevelt Road and 18th Street that include the former location of the Central Station terminal. Also, a wave of loft conversions in Printer's Row that has spread to major North South Avenues such as Michigan, Wabash, and Indiana is making them residential streets again in this neighborhood after a century of other uses. In 2006, the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, a non profit organization was formed to provide representation for thousands of South Loop residents, including the Prairie District, Central Station and Museum Park, Motor Row, the South Michigan Ave Corridor, as well as other areas of the Near South Side.

Lake Shore Drive was reconstructed in 1996 so that it no longer cut through the Museum Campus. Previously, the northbound lanes ran east of Soldier Field. After reconstruction, both northbound and southbound lanes ran west of Soldier Field. Its northern boundary (Roosevelt Road) marks the end of consecutively named east–west streets. East–west streets north of Roosevelt Road have street names, except between State Street and Michigan Avenue. There are two block long 8th and 11th Streets and a four block 9th Street. Most streets south of Roosevelt simply use street numbers. Streets in this neighborhood from 13th to 26th are mostly numbered. In the 2012 presidential election, the Near South Side cast 9,252 votes for Barack Obama and cast 2,253 votes for Mitt Romney (79.33% to 19.32%).

Because neighborhood line drawing is sometimes imprecise, there is some confusion regarding where the South Loop neighborhood (which incorporates Printer's Row) begins and ends. Some sources do not define its northern boundary, while defining its southern boundary as Cermak Street (22nd Street) and its western boundary as Canal Street. The Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, a not for profit neighborhood organization, has grown to provide support and representation to thousands of residents living in and around the South Loop and Near South Side of Chicago, including the Prairie Avenue District, Central Station and Museum Park, Motor Row and the South Michigan Avenue corridor, but the organization does not exclude those that are part of the broader South Loop and Near South Side community. The Greater South Loop Association represents residents living between Congress to the North, the Chicago River to the west and the Stevenson Expressway (approximately 25th Street) to the south. South Loop Neighbors serves residents only as far south as "approximately" 15th Street and as far west as the river. Fodor's has its own definition of the South Loop as the area bounded by Cermak, Michigan Avenue, the Chicago River, and Congress Parkway Eisenhower Expressway. The South Loop is described as the neighborhood immediately south of "the Loop", yet "the Loop" has multiple meanings. The Loop is a community area bounded by the Chicago River, Lake Michigan and Roosevelt Road. However, the term is also used to refer to the specific area bounded by the circular portion of the Chicago "L", which goes as far south as Van Buren Street or Congress Avenue (and this is described as the northern border of Printer's Row and the South Loop). Some primary sources cite Printer's Row and the South Loop as part of the Near South Side community area. This transit related area is the northern portion of the community area. Saying it is south of the former places it in the Near South Side, while saying it is part of the latter places it in the Loop. The Official City of Chicago Loop Map supports the latter.

Residents are zoned to schools in Chicago Public Schools. K 8 schools serving sections of the Near South Side include Drake School, National Teacher Academy, and South Loop School. Phillips Academy High School is the zoned high school of the Near South Side.