![]() ![]() ![]() The Illinois Institute of Technology, U.S. Major employers in these categories include the Chicago Police Department (with its headquarters located in Bronzeville), Chicago Public Schools, and social service providers. 3īronzeville’s current economic base relies heavily on public sector, institutional, and nonprofit employers. While Bronzeville has a significant low-income population, the area has seen a steady increase in middle-income households likely drawn to the area due to its proximity to downtown and Lake Michigan. Approximately 43 percent of these residents live in low-income households earning less than $25,000 a year (compared to a rate of 23 percent in Cook County overall). ![]() 2įrom a peak of over 75,000 in 1950, Bronzeville’s population now sits at 42,696. In 1999, the Chicago Housing Authority’s “Plan for Transformation” began a large-scale demolition process that promised to replace the worst of the high-rise public housing units with mixed-income communities. Ultimately, the city gave up on its high-rise public housing experiment. Wells Homes-became synonymous with urban blight. However, poor maintenance, disinvestment, and neglectful bureaucracy reduced many of these structures into magnets for crime, and their names-the Robert Taylor Homes, Stateway Gardens, the Ida B. In addition to the stable housing they offered, these units facilitated a kind of intentional community building, providing public spaces for congregating, playgrounds for children, and greenspace for residents to enjoy. Initially, these new buildings were beacons of hope to Bronzeville’s low-income population. In the 1950s and 1960s, 7,000 units of public housing were built to accommodate the neighborhood’s growing population. In 1962, the Dan Ryan Expressway opened on Bronzeville’s western border, physically and economically isolating the community from other neighborhoods and perpetuating a cycle of disinvestment, decline, and urban renewal efforts to combat those trends that in many ways continue to this day. Easing segregation policies in the 1950s and 1960s also allowed middle and upper-class black residents to move from the overpopulated area, leaving behind a disproportionately low-income community with high unemployment and high crime rates. Large swathes of Bronzeville’s housing stock were demolished, replaced with dense clusters of public housing. Post-World War II housing policies further weakened its economic base. The Great Depression brought wide-scale unemployment to the neighborhood and the closure of many black-run businesses and financial institutions. However, Bronzeville’s status as a thriving economically diverse community was dealt a blow beginning in the 1930s. Many of the most important cultural figures of the 20th century lived in Bronzeville or frequented its storied venues and community spaces, including Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, Richard Wright, Ida B. Bronzeville was also an epicenter of entertainment and intellectualism. The Chicago Defender and Chicago Bee were Bronzeville-based daily newspapers that had widespread influence and distribution, helping to establish the neighborhood as a national center for black journalism. The nation’s first black-owned bank, the Binga State Bank, opened there in 1921. These residents, confined to the area by restrictive covenants that aimed to prevent African-Americans from purchasing homes in other parts of the city, created a flourishing city within a city. Most of these newcomers settled in and around Bronzeville and it came to be known as one of America’s great black metropolises. During the early to mid-20th century, the Great Migration brought hundreds of thousands of African-Americans north to Chicago in search of economic opportunity and relief from racial violence and oppression. History and contextīronzeville has been the heart of Chicago’s black community for over a century. This profile looks at Chicago’s Bronzeville area, a dynamic and culturally rich community well positioned for growth, which continues to be challenged by the lasting effects of disinvestment, population loss, and policies that stymie economic opportunity. Director of Outreach and Engagement - National Main Street Center
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