30) Saint Michael Archangel Polish Catholic Church  (83rd and South Shore Drive)
 

Aerial View of Bush Neighborhood US Steel at top St. Michael Church in Center Russell Square Park in Foreground

St. Michael’s Parish, Eighty-third Street and South Shore Drive, South Chicago, was organized in 1892 from a division of the parish in the Immaculate Conception.  St. Michael’s was founded as a national parish to serve the Polish families of the “Bush”.  The work of organizing the new parish out of a nucleus of about 300 families was at first entrusted to the Rev. John Zyla.  However, he was soon succeeded by the Rev. Adolph Nowicki, who immediately, with the help of his parishioners, constructed a small temporary building, in which services were held until the completion of the large brick building on Eighty-third and Brandon Avenue, in September, 1892.  The parsonage was built in the same year.  The current Gothic revival church structure with a 250 foot steeple was built in 1907 by architect William Brinkman. It is a masonry building constructed of brown brick with limestone trim.  The building is cruciform in plan with large Gothic-arched stained glass windows designed by F. X. Zettler of Munich, Germany. 

31)  The “Bush”   (Area east of South Shore Drive (US Route 41) from 79th Street to 85th Street)
The “Bush” was named for the small plants which grew on the sandy soil of this area which originally was on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Originally it was a favorite picnic spot for Chicagoans from other neighborhoods, especially Hyde Park.  Once a steel mill was built in the area it became a working class neighborhood predominantly populated by Polish immigrants, most of whom worked in the nearby mill.  As the mill grew, landfill was added extended the shoreline of Lake Michigan several blocks into the lake. 

32)  U. S. Steel Site  (79th Street to 92nd Street along the shore of Lake Michigan)
 

U.S. Steel Aerial East View

U.S. Steel Aerial North View

The first steel plant in South Chicago which began operations in 1880 was the North Chicago Railway Mill Company.  The lake offered economical shipping routes for iron ore, coke, and limestone that could be shipped here by boat or barge to  various industrial markets.  Fresh water needs were met by Lake Michigan and the Calumet River. Ground breaking for the mill was March 22,1880, with the first steel produced on June 14, 1889.  North Chicago’s Steel Companies: Union Steel, Joliet Steel, and the Bayview plant of the Milwaukee Iron Companies later merged to form the Illinois Steel Co.  In 1890 the company merged with the Union Steel Co. to form Illinois Steel.  In the year 1901, U.S. Steel South Works, Illinois’ largest steel mill, was Incorporated It occupies about 576 acres of lake front property.  In 1913, steel production in the U.S. was 31,300,874 tons, more than Britain and Germany combined.  In 1917, production of steel in the U.S. was 45,060,607 tons, more than two-thirds of the world output.  At its peak of production South Works employed close to 20,000 workers.  In 1979 the number of employees was down to about 10,000, and layoffs became common.  On Thursday, January 9, 1992, when the shutdown became official there were less than 700 workers.  On April 10,1992 South works was permanently shut down.  The plant was closed partly because of the stagnation of the economy, which had depressed demand for the structural steel that was South Works’ only remaining product. 

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