Lake Calumet

Historic Native Americans of the Calumet Region

http://calumetquarter.uchicago.edu/2014/historic-native-americans-of-the-calumet-region

Calumet Pipe

http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/be_calumet.html

 Early Chicago

http://www.earlychicago.com/essays.php?essay=2

Encyclopedia of Chicago

Industrial development became possible in 1869, when Congress appropriated money for a harbor at South Chicago. In the 1890s, the Calumet River was straightened and dredged. Industry began moving into the area in the 1870s, and by the early twentieth century the Pullman Company, the South Works of U.S. Steel, and other industries had been established in southeast Chicago and Hammond. To accommodate industry, the channel of the Grand Calumet was moved and straightened. The Indiana Harbor Canal connecting the Grand Calumet with Lake Michigan at East Chicago was completed in 1906, and industries moved to its banks. Burns Ditch, completed in 1926, connected the Little Calumet with Lake Michigan in Porter County, draining thousands of acres of marsh and facilitating development. Parts of the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet drained into the lake at these new outlets, depending on rainfall and lake levels. This harbor complex became the most important on the Great Lakes. With steel mills, oil refineries, chemical plants, packinghouses, and other industries, the Calumet system became the industrial center of the Chicago region. Since the model town of Pullman was built near its western shore in the early 1880s, Lake Calumet has been drastically altered. Vast areas of it have been filled in with refuse and converted to use as parkland and docks, while extensive dredging has deepened other parts to accommodate shipping.

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/203.html

 Abe Kleinman

September 1876

The Pigeon Shooter Takes a Shoot at Higher Game.

Drunken Revelry at Shang Noyes’—Sudden End of the Jollity.

Charley Creighton, of South Chicago, Receives a Serious Wound.

The Sportsman Locked-Up in the Hyde Park Calaboose.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1876/09/17/page/3/article/abe-kleinman

 Irondale Wants New Name

July 1903

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1903/07/26/page/8/article/irondale-wants-new-name

Muskrat Hunting in Chicago River; Animals Furnish Fur

January 1908

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1908/01/12/page/31/article/muskrat-hunting-in-chicago-river-animals-furnish-furs

 For Lake Calumet Harbor

October 1908

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1908/10/17/page/7/article/for-lake-calumet-harbor

Big City Harbor on Lake Calumet Finally Assured

December 1922

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1922/12/29/page/7/article/big-city-harbor-on-lake-calumet-finally-assured

Louis Armstrong - Muskrat Ramble

YouTube: Louis Armstrong - Muskrat Ramble. 29 feb, 1926. Armstrong (tp), Kid Ory (tb), Johnny Dodds (cl), Lil Armstrong (p), Johnny St. Cyr (bj).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch0DWA30PiE

Chicago Police Tell Fight for Lives in Rioting

June 1937

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1937/06/20/page/1/article/chicago-police-tell-fight-for-lives-in-rioting

Mill Workers’ Social Center Made Possible by Clubwomen

March 1938

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1938/03/27/page/35/article/mill-workers-social-center-made-possible-by-clubwomen

Chicago Area’s No. 1 Industry is Steel Making

January 1940

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1940/01/07/page/37/article/chicago-areas-no-1-industry-is-steel-making

New Bus Route to Calumet War Plants Is Ready

December 1942

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1942/12/06/page/126/article/new-bus-route-to-calumet-war-plants-is-ready

Rails Move for Truce in Calumet Row

September 1949

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1949/09/27/page/43/article/12-rails-move-for-truce-in-calumet-row

Mark 75 Years of Steel Making in Chicagoland

June 1950

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1950/06/29/page/65/article/mark-75-years-of-steel-making-in-chicagoland

Vet Protests South Deering Rezoning Plea

November 1950

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1950/11/16/page/80/article/vet-protests-south-deering-rezoning-plea

Parade Roseland 1960s - Muskrat Pete 1940s, Speedboat ride down Calumet River 1950's

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrKJU-Umqv0

Face Lifting Belies Age of South Deering

April 1954

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1954/04/22/page/76/article/face-lifting-belies-age-of-south-deering

Lake Calumet Harbor: Chicago’s Gateway to the World

October 1958

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1958/10/19/page/10/article/lake-calumet-harbor-chicagos-gateway-to-the-world

Lake Calumet Rich in History Legend

July 1959

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1959/07/06/page/71/article/lake-calumet-rich-in-history-legend

The 8 Nurses: 5 Hour Killing

July 1966

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/07/23/page/9/article/the-8-nurses-5-hour-killing

Mission is Port of Call for Lonely Seafarers

September 1966

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/09/08/page/126/article/mission-is-port-of-call-for-lonely-seafarers

Seek New Dumping Sites

October 1967 

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1967/10/13/page/1/article/seek-new-dumping-sites

Incinerator Stoker

February 1972

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1972/02/06/page/171/article/incinerator-stoker

Lake Calumet Complex Stalled, Waiting Landfill

October 1975

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1975/10/14/page/47/article/lake-calumet-complex-stalled-waiting-landfill

Free Trade Zone to Open Near Lake Calumet Port

November 1975

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1975/11/05/page/2/article/free-trade-zone-to-open-near-lake-calumet-port

Vandals Hit Pantry at South Side Church

January 1988

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1988/01/28/page/24/article/vandals-hit-pantry-at-south-side-church

Lake Calumet Dumping Ground Declared a Superfund Site

March 2010

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-03-02/news/ct-met-0303-lake-calumet-superfund-20100302_1_superfund-list-superfund-site-dumping

Ask Geoffrey: What’s the Plan for Lake Calumet?

October 2016

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/10/19/ask-geoffrey-what-s-plan-lake-calumet

Photos of South Deering

April 2017

Chicago: City of Bridges

When my daughter was around 4 years old we lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was fascinated by bridges. She had a children's video about them, which she watched over and over, like kids will do. That summer we took a car trip with my mother, from our home, to Cleveland. When we arrived up north my daughter was amazed at the variety of bridges.

The highlight of the trip was our return home. My daughter and I left Cleveland on the Amtrak train back to the Southwest. We had a 5 hour layover transfer in Chicago. I don't know of any other city in America that can match Chicago for bridges. We were in awe.

Chicago has all the typical city bridges--freeway overpasses, rail lines, pedestrian walkways at airports, and connectors over rivers. In addition, the city was built in a swamp. Therefore, buildings are constructed in layers above the ground. Wacker Drive in downtown has three distinct levels, plus additional pedestrian links. To walk around the heart of the city is to constantly climb stairs and cross bridges.

The city has some unusual bridges. Part of the Pedway system is skyway bridges. It's is not limited to underground tunnels. There are industrial relics across the rivers. The Chicago Park District has an abundance of historic pedestrian bridges. If you look around you will find them everywhere.

When my daughter and I got off the train that summer trip I was surprised how accessible downtown Chicago was to the surrounding neighborhoods. It's easy to find somewhere to walk across the river. In some cities, like Los Angeles, few people walk. In other cities, natural barriers are too great. In New York there are few crossovers that span the long distance between Brooklyn and Manhattan. 

Still other places were designed without consideration for pedestrians. Getting in a vehicle, or riding the elevated free mass transit automated people mover, is the only way to get around downtown Miami. Chicago is unique.

Chicago is a city of bridges.

Vintage Postcard of Chicago Skyline

Downtown Chicago

Chicago River

South Branch of Chicago River

Uptown

South Loop

Pilsen

Lincoln Square

Lakeshore East

Hyde Park

Englewood

East Garfield Park

Chinatown in Armour Square

Bridgeport

Chicago's Original Chinatown

My blog was inactive while I worked a job over the summer and fall. This winter I'm pleased to be back to my research, writing and photography on the Chicago Neighborhoods Project.

As I walk around the city I'm always curious if what I'm reading as an official guide is the same as what I'm seeing in the architecture. While it's easy to edit out words from texts, the buildings still retain details of history, which have since been omitted from written accounts.

When I spot these irregularities I can research to find out the rest of the story.

Chicago's designated Chinatown, on the South Side, looks like a tourist destination to me. It was built with exaggerated architecture, drawing attention to itself, at a time when the Chinese in the USA were a target for extreme prejudice and even physical attacks. Asians are the only nationalities we've completely banned from entering the country. This creates a big question. Why would the new Chinatown purposely stand out?

After hunting around I came across a 1911 article in the Chicago Tribune which details the gentrification of Chicago's original Chinatown, located in downtown, and plans for a new Chinatown. In the original Chinatown people were trying to keep a low profile, as would be expected.

Below I explain what I found in the article.

Half a block is what's left of Chicago's original Chinatown

Link to the article here.

Be forewarned--it's racist and offensive in the descriptions of various ethnicities.

Chicago Tribune 1911

A reporter walks around what was the original Chinatown, in the south end of The Loop. The article was published on January 22, 1911. He describes the gentrification of Chinatown, as the business district is expanding. A skyscraper was expected to be built at Clark & Van Buren. The Chinese restaurants are being replaced by lunch counters catering to office workers.

The reporter describes Chinese men being forced to cut off their "pigtails". He also references the requirement of Chinese to be photographed and documented, like a Muslim registry would today.

He complains about the Chinese becoming Americanized and going into mainstream society. He laments the arrest of the gang leaders in the Tong Wars, rivalries over illicit activities like smuggling drugs, opium dens, prostitution and gambling, being pushed out of downtown.

(At this time the city was working on getting rid of vice too close to the business district. The entire vice district was being pushed south.)

He laments the lack of a tourist destination, similar to what has already been built in NYC and San Francisco. Chicago doesn't yet have the flashy California Crazy roadside vernacular architecture, which was luring auto tourists to other cities to visit their Chinatowns.

He hints a new Chinatown, designed for tourists, is being planned.

The original Chicago Chinatown was larger than 2 blocks on Clark Street. He describes an exclusive Chinese residential area on Federal, composed of a respectable hotel and brownstones.

Interestingly, he mentions a Bohemian enclave nearby, being frequented by Americans. I've read the term hipster comes from opium dens, because opium pipes are smoked while lying on your side. These white folks would bring the "bohemian lifestyle" into the mainstream.

Finally, as an aside, I'd never heard of Floaterville-by-the-tracks, the place where a community of people live on boats for the winter.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my assumption was correct. While the new Chinatown would become the center of the Chinese community in Chicago, it was built as a tourist destination for people traveling by car.


Article:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1911/01/22/page/61/article/fall-and-passing-of-chinatown-hing-kee-dinks-under-a-pall