Questions and Answers (Q&A) Forgotten Chicago Forum
Have a question about a specific element in Chicago's history? Ask Away!
New City?
Posted by:
nordsider
()
Date: September 19, 2013 08:48AM
I know that the New City community contains the Canaryville and Back of the Yards neighborhoods; but why was it named "New City?"
New City is approximately bounded by Pershing Road on the north; Normal Ave, on the east; Garfield Boulevard on the south; and Western Ave, on the west. The University of Chicago, in 1920, established a map of communities wherein they named this area New City . . . and I wonder why?
This map "Seventy Statistical Areas of Chicago 1920 to 1929" also shows an area west of New City called Mexico.
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/collections/maps/chisoc/G4104-C6E625-1910-R4.html
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2013 05:48PM by nordsider.
New City is approximately bounded by Pershing Road on the north; Normal Ave, on the east; Garfield Boulevard on the south; and Western Ave, on the west. The University of Chicago, in 1920, established a map of communities wherein they named this area New City . . . and I wonder why?
This map "Seventy Statistical Areas of Chicago 1920 to 1929" also shows an area west of New City called Mexico.
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/collections/maps/chisoc/G4104-C6E625-1910-R4.html
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2013 05:48PM by nordsider.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: September 19, 2013 10:34AM
[b]That's a good one.[/b]
Re: New City?
Posted by:
bowler
()
Date: September 19, 2013 06:40PM
Still looking but according to an old Tribune article it was originally called Arnoldsville. Also the Armour company workers put up frame cottages on company property on 43rd St., these developments were called Armour Patch and New Patch. Perhaps that is part of the origin.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2013 06:54PM by bowler.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2013 06:54PM by bowler.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
bowler
()
Date: September 19, 2013 07:02PM
The Chicago Community Factbook in its history of New City states,
"...New City, a name derived from an early housing development and attached to the entire district by sociologists in the 1920's..."
"...New City, a name derived from an early housing development and attached to the entire district by sociologists in the 1920's..."
Re: New City?
Posted by:
bowler
()
Date: September 19, 2013 07:04PM
Notice also from your map, the two areas marked "Clearing", one encompasses Garfield Ridge and the other is South of Marquette Park!
Re: New City?
Posted by:
nordsider
()
Date: September 19, 2013 07:35PM
bowler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Chicago Community Factbook in its history of
> New City states,
>
> "...New City, a name derived from an early housing
> development and attached to the entire district by
> sociologists in the 1920's..."
Bowler,
Thanks for your search. You may well have found the only existing clue.
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Chicago Community Factbook in its history of
> New City states,
>
> "...New City, a name derived from an early housing
> development and attached to the entire district by
> sociologists in the 1920's..."
Bowler,
Thanks for your search. You may well have found the only existing clue.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
nordsider
()
Date: September 21, 2013 11:06AM
bowler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Notice also from your map, the two areas marked
> "Clearing", one encompasses Garfield Ridge and the
> other is South of Marquette Park!
I too now see on my map that Clearing is also shown bordered by Cicero, 87th, Western and 63rd or 69th.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Notice also from your map, the two areas marked
> "Clearing", one encompasses Garfield Ridge and the
> other is South of Marquette Park!
I too now see on my map that Clearing is also shown bordered by Cicero, 87th, Western and 63rd or 69th.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
bowler
()
Date: September 23, 2013 06:15PM
Due to the Clearing rail yards extending to almost Pulaski calling that are Clearing is explainable, but it's interesting to see the area east and south of there as well. I've never seen that before.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
Mr Downtown
()
Date: September 24, 2013 02:38AM
Along the lakefront, the Community Areas track pretty closely our perception of neighborhoods, but many of the inland designations (Lower West Side, New City, North Center) are catchalls of convenience.
"Armour Square" is a perfect example of how much the Community Areas could be forced marriages. Even at the time it was drawn, it was a bizarre mashup of Chinese at the north, Italians in the middle, and Germans, Bohemians, Swedes, and Irish at the south—with Negroes along the eastern edge. They each had their own community institutions and businesses, their own leaders and politics. The only thing they had in common was that they lived between a pair of railroad viaducts, isolating their communities from the ones around them. But that didn't mean they had much in common with each other.
"Armour Square" is a perfect example of how much the Community Areas could be forced marriages. Even at the time it was drawn, it was a bizarre mashup of Chinese at the north, Italians in the middle, and Germans, Bohemians, Swedes, and Irish at the south—with Negroes along the eastern edge. They each had their own community institutions and businesses, their own leaders and politics. The only thing they had in common was that they lived between a pair of railroad viaducts, isolating their communities from the ones around them. But that didn't mean they had much in common with each other.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
davey7
()
Date: September 25, 2013 06:24PM
Wasn't Lakeview called New City (or was it New Town) at one point, as well?
Re: New City?
Posted by:
Mr Downtown
()
Date: September 26, 2013 11:51PM
[i]New Town[/i] was used for the area around The Great Ace, at Clark, Diversey, and Broadway, in the 1970s-80s. I think the name was bestowed by gay bars that had migrated north from Old Town.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
davey7
()
Date: September 27, 2013 02:51PM
Yes, New Town. Many gay men of a certain age (those who are left of their cohort) often still call it that. And the migration north continues.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
Mr Downtown
()
Date: September 29, 2013 01:33AM
Well, the funny thing is that the migration stopped in the 1980s, and Roscoe's and Sidetrack have been in the same place for nearly 30 years!
Re: New City?
Posted by:
nordsider
()
Date: September 29, 2013 09:57AM
Radical Cartography --- RACE / ETHNICITY or INCOME or RACE / ETHNICITY 2010 compared with Chicago's official “community areas”
http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?chicagodots
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2013 09:58AM by nordsider.
http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?chicagodots
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2013 09:58AM by nordsider.
Re: New City?
Posted by:
davey7
()
Date: October 03, 2013 04:12PM
Err, no, the migration has totally gone north to Mandersonville (and Edgewater/Rogers Park as well as west and is beginning to go south to South Shore as well). The Halsted strip is becoming touristier and touristier as there are fewer guys of bar-going age in Lakeview due to a variety of reasons (dispersal due to less homophobia, bigger community, housing costs, etc).
Re: New City?
Posted by:
nordsider
()
Date: October 03, 2013 05:11PM
A community that I also wonder about, regarding the origin of its name, is "Chesterfield"; it is also shown on 1910 to 1929 community map:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/collections/maps/chisoc/G4104-C6E625-1910-R4.html
Chesterfield was shown bordered approximately by Wallace and State Streets on the west; 79th on the north; Cottage Grove Ave. on the east; and 95th on the south.
The present Chatham community has a northern portion called West Chesterfield.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2013 10:06PM by nordsider.
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/collections/maps/chisoc/G4104-C6E625-1910-R4.html
Chesterfield was shown bordered approximately by Wallace and State Streets on the west; 79th on the north; Cottage Grove Ave. on the east; and 95th on the south.
The present Chatham community has a northern portion called West Chesterfield.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2013 10:06PM by nordsider.
