East Side
Residential Architecture
The residential growth of the East Side and the surrounding
communities
of South Chicago, South Deering, and Hegewisch closely paralleled the
development
of the steel industry in the area. The first steel mill to open
was
the Joseph H. Brown Mill which opened in 1875 at 109th Street and the
Calumet
River. This mill later became the Wisconsin
Steel Mill and coincidentally was the first major area mill to
close
in 1980. The North Chicago Rolling Mill opened in South Chicago
in
1880 and later became the mammoth United States
Steel
South Works which at its peak employed almost 20,000 workers.
It closed its doors in 1992. Although these two mills were not
technically
located on the East Side, they employed many residents of the
community.
The East Side's own steel mill was the Republic
Steel Mill located on the east side of the Calumet River stretching
over a mile in length. Although the mill is still open it employs
a fraction of its original work force and has also suffered from the
decline
of the domestic steel industry in the "Rust Belt". However when
these
mills and other smaller mills were operating in their heyday the jobs
they
offered were the drawing card which attracted residents to the
community.
Current new home construction on the East Side is
concentrated on the
far southern portion of the community on land that was formerly under
water
and covered by a shallow body of water known as Hyde Lake. This
new
construction is located east of Ewing Avenue and south of 114th
Street.
There are also a couple of other blocks being developed between 110th
Street
and 112th Street on Avenue F since the closing and removal of a
railroad
track that ran through the heart of the community. The railroad
right
of way is scheduled to be converted to a bicycle trail in the near
future.
The new construction includes ranch style, bilevel and trilevel homes,
as well as a few specialty houses which are larger and more luxurious
than
the surrounding homes.
Click on the links at the left to tour
residential
architecture of
Chicago's East Side.
