Alsip, Illinois
Encyclopedia
Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois
, United States. The population was 19,725 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Chicago
.
Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank Alsip, the owner of a brickyard that opened there in 1885. The village began to grow after the Tri-State Tollway
was built there in 1959.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the village has a total area of 6.5 square miles (16.8 km²), of which, 6.4 square miles (16.6 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square mile (0.517997622 km²) of it (2.45%) is water.
Alsip is bordered to the west by Worth, Illinois
. To the south is Crestwood
. Oak Lawn
lies to the north. Merrionette Park
, Blue Island
, and Robbins
lie to the east (north-south, respectively). The Mount Greenwood
neighborhood of Chicago lies to the north and east.
Most of the town lies to the north of the Cal-Sag Channel. In conjunction with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Water Reclamation District of Chicago, the Village operates a boat launch on the canal, permitting inland access to Lake Michigan
The Alsip area is also home to two predominantly African-American cemeteries, Burr Oak and Restvale
cemeteries, which are the resting places of many Chicago blues
musicians (including Muddy Waters
and Dinah Washington
), athletes (Jimmie Crutchfield
), and other celebrities. Emmett Till
, whose murder in Mississippi at age 14 in 1955 was an important moment in the American Civil Rights Movement
, is buried at Burr Oak. In 2004, that cemetery was covered in the national media when the murder investigation was re-opened, and Till's body was exhumed
Five years later, on July 9, 2009, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart alleged that four workers at Burr Oak cemetery dug up more than 100 graves, dumped the bodies into unmarked mass graves, and resold the plots to unsuspecting members of the public. The three men and one woman were charged with one count each of dismembering a human body and are presently (as of August 2011) free on bond awaiting trial.
As of the census of 2000, there were 19,725 people, 7,536 households, and 5,011 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,098.5 people per square mile (1,195.6/km²). There were 7,756 housing units at an average density of 1,218.3 per square mile (470.1/km²). The racial makeup
of the village was 81.6% White, 10.1% African American
, 0.1% Native American
, 2.1% Asian
, 0.03% Pacific Islander
, 3.2% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic
or Latino
of any race were 8.8% of the population.
The top five non-African American, non-Hispanic ancestries reported in Alsip as of the 2000 census were Irish
(24.2%), German
(20.7%), Polish
(17.3%), Italian
(11.8%) and English (3.4%).
There were 7,536 households out of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.5% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.26.
In the village the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $47,963, and the median income for a family was $54,846. Males had a median income of $42,233 versus $31,395 for females. The per capita income
for the village was $20,498. About 5.2% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.
Most of Alsip is in Illinois' 1st congressional district
; the portion north of 115th Street, and the city block northeast of 119th Street and Lawndale Avenue, are in the 3rd district
.
The Village government consists of a mayor, a clerk, and six trustees. All of these positions are four year terms, with the mayor, clerk, and three of the trustees being elected in the same year, and the remaining three trustees elected in midterm elections. The current mayor was re-elected in 2009, with midterm elections being previously held in 2007. All of these positions are voted on at-large.
The current Village government, as of August 2010 (with the year their term ends):
Each trustee and the mayor serve on one or more committees or commissions which oversee government functions. The individual assignments are available at the Village website.
There are also a Finance Director who helps guide the government on fiduciary matters and a law firm that serves as the Village Attorneys to guide the government on legal matters.
Elementary School Districts
Secondary School District
Community College
Private Schools
.
One of the two Chicago area Coca-Cola
bottling plants is located in Alsip.
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
, United States. The population was 19,725 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank Alsip, the owner of a brickyard that opened there in 1885. The village began to grow after the Tri-State Tollway
Tri-State Tollway
The Tri-State Tollway is a U.S. toll road maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority in northeastern Illinois which is considered one of the most heavily traveled highways in the country...
was built there in 1959.
Geography
Alsip is located at 41°40′14"N 87°43′56"W (41.670433, -87.732199).United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the village has a total area of 6.5 square miles (16.8 km²), of which, 6.4 square miles (16.6 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square mile (0.517997622 km²) of it (2.45%) is water.
Alsip is bordered to the west by Worth, Illinois
Worth, Illinois
Worth is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. The population was 10,789 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Worth is located at ....
. To the south is Crestwood
Crestwood, Illinois
Crestwood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,251 at the 2000 census. In April 2009 the Chicago Tribune reported that for 20 years the city had been drawing its drinking water from a well that was contaminated with toxic chemicals.-Geography:According to the...
. Oak Lawn
Oak Lawn, Illinois
Oak Lawn is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 55,245 at the 2000 census.Oak Lawn is a suburb of the city of Chicago, located southwest of the city...
lies to the north. Merrionette Park
Merrionette Park, Illinois
Merrionette Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,999 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Merrionette Park is located at ....
, Blue Island
Blue Island, Illinois
Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois. The population was 22,556 at the 2010 census. Blue Island was established in the 1830s as a way station for settlers traveling on the Vincennes Trace, and the settlement prospered because it was conveniently situated a day's journey outside of Chicago...
, and Robbins
Robbins, Illinois
Robbins is a village in Cook County, Illinois. The population was 6,635 at the 2000 census. Irene H. Brodie is the current mayor of the city.-Demographics:...
lie to the east (north-south, respectively). The Mount Greenwood
Mount Greenwood, Chicago
Mount Greenwood is one of 77 well-defined Chicago community areas. It is a predominantly Irish-Catholic neighborhood on the Southwest Side of Chicago. It neighbors the Chicago neighborhoods of Beverly and Morgan Park to the east, the suburb of Evergreen Park to the north, the suburb of Oak Lawn...
neighborhood of Chicago lies to the north and east.
Most of the town lies to the north of the Cal-Sag Channel. In conjunction with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Water Reclamation District of Chicago, the Village operates a boat launch on the canal, permitting inland access to Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
The Alsip area is also home to two predominantly African-American cemeteries, Burr Oak and Restvale
Restvale Cemetery
Restvale Cemetery is located at 11700 S. Laramie Street in Alsip, Illinois, United States, a suburb southwest of the city of Chicago. Many musicians from the Chicago blues era are buried here.-Notable interments:...
cemeteries, which are the resting places of many Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
musicians (including Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
and Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
), athletes (Jimmie Crutchfield
Jimmie Crutchfield
John William Crutchfield, born May 25, 1910 in Ardmore, Missouri, United States – died March 31, 1993 in Chicago, Illinois, was an All-Star baseball player in Negro League baseball....
), and other celebrities. Emmett Till
Emmett Till
Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till was an African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman. Till was from Chicago, Illinois visiting his relatives in the Mississippi Delta region when he spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the married...
, whose murder in Mississippi at age 14 in 1955 was an important moment in the American Civil Rights Movement
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...
, is buried at Burr Oak. In 2004, that cemetery was covered in the national media when the murder investigation was re-opened, and Till's body was exhumed
Five years later, on July 9, 2009, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart alleged that four workers at Burr Oak cemetery dug up more than 100 graves, dumped the bodies into unmarked mass graves, and resold the plots to unsuspecting members of the public. The three men and one woman were charged with one count each of dismembering a human body and are presently (as of August 2011) free on bond awaiting trial.
Demographics
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
of the village was 81.6% White, 10.1% African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, 0.1% Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, 2.1% Asian
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
, 0.03% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...
, 3.2% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
or Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
of any race were 8.8% of the population.
The top five non-African American, non-Hispanic ancestries reported in Alsip as of the 2000 census were Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
(24.2%), German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
(20.7%), Polish
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
(17.3%), Italian
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
(11.8%) and English (3.4%).
There were 7,536 households out of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.5% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.26.
In the village the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $47,963, and the median income for a family was $54,846. Males had a median income of $42,233 versus $31,395 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the village was $20,498. About 5.2% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Illinois' 1st congressional district
Illinois's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Illinois. Based in Cook County, the district includes much of the South Side of Chicago, extending into the city's southwest suburbs until reaching the border of Will County, and covers , making it one of the 40...
; the portion north of 115th Street, and the city block northeast of 119th Street and Lawndale Avenue, are in the 3rd district
Illinois' 3rd congressional district
The 3rd Congressional District of Illinois includes part of Cook County, and has been represented by Democrat Dan Lipinski since January 2005. The district was previously represented by his father Bill Lipinski beginning in 1993....
.
The Village government consists of a mayor, a clerk, and six trustees. All of these positions are four year terms, with the mayor, clerk, and three of the trustees being elected in the same year, and the remaining three trustees elected in midterm elections. The current mayor was re-elected in 2009, with midterm elections being previously held in 2007. All of these positions are voted on at-large.
The current Village government, as of August 2010 (with the year their term ends):
- Mayor: Patrick E. Kitching (2013)
- Clerk: Deborah L. Venhuizen (2013)
- Trustee: Sheila B. McGreal (2011)
- Trustee: Daniel F. Godfrey, Jr. (2011)
- Trustee: Steven A. Daddona (2013)
- Trustee: James T. Quinn (2013)
- Trustee: Kevin P. Michaels (2011)
- Trustee: John R. Shapiro (2013)
Each trustee and the mayor serve on one or more committees or commissions which oversee government functions. The individual assignments are available at the Village website.
There are also a Finance Director who helps guide the government on fiduciary matters and a law firm that serves as the Village Attorneys to guide the government on legal matters.
Mayors of Alsip
- Gustave Termunde (1927–33)
- Leonard Holmberg (1933–36)
- John Benck (1936–56)
- John J. Alsterda (1956–61)
- Raymond L. Termunde (1961–73)
- Arnold A. Andrews (1973–2005)
- Patrick E. Kitching (2005–present)
Education
- Alsip-Hazelgreen-Oaklawn School District 126
- Prairie Junior High School in Alsip
- Atwood Heights District 125
- Lawn Manor Elementary School in Oak Lawn
- Meadow Lane Intermediate School in Alsip
- Hamlin Junior High School in Alsip
- Cook County District 130
Secondary School District
- Community High School District 218
Community College
- Moraine Valley Community CollegeMoraine Valley Community CollegeMoraine Valley Community College is a community college located in Palos Hills, Illinois in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. Founded in 1967, it is the second largest community college in the state. It has an enrollment of approximately 35,000...
Private Schools
- Marist High SchoolMarist High School (Illinois)Marist High School is a coeducational, college preparatory Roman Catholic secondary school located in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago...
, a coed Catholic school in Chicago affiliated with the Marist BrothersMarist BrothersThe Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary... - Brother Rice High SchoolBrother Rice High School (Chicago)Brother Rice High School is an all-male, Catholic, college preparatory institution located in Chicago, Illinois, and is administered under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago...
, an all-male Catholic school in Chicago affiliated with the Congregation of Christian BrothersCongregation of Christian BrothersThe Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with... - Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High SchoolMother McAuley Liberal Arts High SchoolMother McAuley Liberal Arts High School is an all-girl, Catholic high school located in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois at 3737 West 99th Street. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago...
, an all-female Catholic school in Chicago affiliated with the Sisters of MercySisters of MercyThe Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations.... - Chicago Christian High School
Business and Industry
Alsip is home to the international headquarters of Griffith LaboratoriesGriffith Laboratories
Griffith Laboratories is a global manufacturer of food products based in Alsip, Illinois. Founded in 1919, Griffith Laboratories is a privately held, third-generation entrepreneurial family business...
.
One of the two Chicago area Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
bottling plants is located in Alsip.