Brighton Park, Chicago
Encyclopedia
Brighton Park is a neighborhood located on the southwest side of Chicago
, Illinois
. It is number 58 of the 77 community areas of Chicago
.
Brighton Park is bordered on the north by the former Illinois & Michigan Canal and the current Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
, on the east by Western Avenue, on the south by 51st Street, and on the west by Pulaski Road
and the west side of Corwith Yards
.
The neighborhood is a mix of residential areas, commercial zones, industrial works and transportation (primarily railroad and trucking
) facilities. It is relatively peaceful, according to Chicago Police Department
statistics (2004 CPD Annual Report).
The seat of the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America
is located here along Archer Avenue just northwest of its intersection with Pulaski
, since most of Chicago
's Góral
community is concentrated on Chicago's Southwest Side along Archer Avenue (Chicago).
which was famed for its cattle market. Brighton Park was incorporated as a village in 1851 and annexed into the City of Chicago
in 1889 (some earlier maps show the north section of the neighborhood as part of Cicero, Illinois
). It was formed originally near the intersection of the Blue Island Plank Road, now Western Avenue, and the old portage
trail between the Chicago River
and the Des Plaines River
, a trail that eventually evolved into Archer Road, now Archer Avenue
, which is now the main thoroughfare through Brighton Park. In 1855, Chicago
mayor "Long" John Wentworth
built the Brighton Park horse racetrack (whose name conveniently alluded to the more famous Brighton Racecourse
in England
) directly east of the village, in what is now the Chicago Park District
's McKinley Park.
By 1871, the year of the Great Chicago Fire
, Brighton Park was served by the Archer Avenue
horsecar
and the Alton Railroad
. (Brighton Park was not affected by the fire). The railroad built a roundhouse
in the neighborhood, and various factories were built. Later the streetcar was electrified and extended and interurban
electric railway service was provided by the Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway
until 1934. Most of the residential buildings now in Brighton Park were built in the early part of the 20th century, between 1905 and 1925, after more electric streetcar lines (on Western Ave, Kedzie Ave, 35th St and 47th St) had been extended into the neighborhood, providing cheap & quick transport to work & shopping.
Chicago
's role as transportation gateway has always been a major influence on the demographics and economy of Brighton Park. Two major railroad landmarks exist in Brighton Park. The Corwith Intermodal
freight facility, once known as Corwith Yards
, covering nearly a square mile, is one of the major industrial features of Brighton Park.
Brighton Park crossing, near Western Avenue and Archer Avenue, is a major Chicago
railroad junction and the former site of Brighton Park's railway station.
Access to, property values, and economic growth in the neighborhood have been improved by the 1964 opening of the Stevenson Expressway
, Interstate 55
, the 1993 opening of the Orange Line
rapid transit line, and the revitalization of the nearby Chicago Midway International Airport.
operates the Elsdon Post Office at 3124 West 47th Street. Post Office is closed as of June 2010..
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...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. It is number 58 of the 77 community areas of Chicago
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
.
Brighton Park is bordered on the north by the former Illinois & Michigan Canal and the current Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is the only shipping link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system, by way of the Illinois and Des Plaines Rivers...
, on the east by Western Avenue, on the south by 51st Street, and on the west by Pulaski Road
Pulaski Road (Chicago)
Pulaski Road is a major north-south thoroughfare in the city of Chicago, at 4000 W., or exactly five miles west of State Street. It is named after revolutionary war hero Casimir Pulaski...
and the west side of Corwith Yards
Corwith Yards
Corwith Yards, a railroad intermodal freight terminal located at Pershing Road & Kedzie Avenue in the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, in the neighborhood of Brighton Park, is a landmark in the history of railroad freight transport. At the time it was built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe...
.
The neighborhood is a mix of residential areas, commercial zones, industrial works and transportation (primarily railroad and trucking
Truck driver
A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...
) facilities. It is relatively peaceful, according to Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
statistics (2004 CPD Annual Report).
The seat of the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America
Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America
The Polish Highlanders Alliance of America was founded in 1929 in Chicago as an organization that unites all other Góral organizations in the United States...
is located here along Archer Avenue just northwest of its intersection with Pulaski
Pulaski Road
Pulaski Road can refer to:*Pulaski Road *County Route 11 , named Pulaski Road...
, since most 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...
's Góral
Goral
Goral may refer to:* Three species of Asian ungulates in the genus Naemorhedus.* The Gorals, a people living in southern Poland, northern Slovakia and the Czech Republic....
community is concentrated on Chicago's Southwest Side along Archer Avenue (Chicago).
History
Brighton Park took its name from the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, MABrighton, Boston, Massachusetts
Brighton is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located in the northwest corner of the city. It is named after the town of Brighton in the English city of Brighton and Hove...
which was famed for its cattle market. Brighton Park was incorporated as a village in 1851 and annexed into the City 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...
in 1889 (some earlier maps show the north section of the neighborhood as part of Cicero, Illinois
Cicero, Illinois
Cicero is an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 83,891 at the 2010 census. Cicero is named for the town of Cicero, New York, which in turn was named for Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman and orator....
). It was formed originally near the intersection of the Blue Island Plank Road, now Western Avenue, and the old portage
Portage
Portage or portaging refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage; a person doing the carrying is called a porter.The English word portage is derived from the...
trail between the Chicago River
Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of the same name, including its center . Though not especially long, the river is notable for being the reason why Chicago became an important location, as the link between the Great Lakes and...
and the Des Plaines River
Des Plaines River
The Des Plaines River is a river that flows southward for through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois in the U.S. Midwest, eventually meeting the Kankakee River west of Channahon to form the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi River....
, a trail that eventually evolved into Archer Road, now Archer Avenue
Archer Avenue, Chicago
Archer Avenue, also known as Archer Road outside the Chicago, Illinois city limits, is a diagonal thoroughfare running northeast-to-southwest between Chicago's Chinatown and Lockport, Illinois...
, which is now the main thoroughfare through Brighton Park. In 1855, 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...
mayor "Long" John Wentworth
John Wentworth (mayor)
"Long" John Wentworth was the editor of the Chicago Democrat, a two-term mayor of Chicago, and a six-term member of the United States House of Representatives....
built the Brighton Park horse racetrack (whose name conveniently alluded to the more famous Brighton Racecourse
Brighton Racecourse
Brighton Racecourse is a horse racing course at Brighton, East Sussex in England, for flat races of up to about one and a half miles. The course is one of three courses in Britain which is not a circuit and forms a figure like three sides of a square, sloping, with wide left-hand turns and an...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) directly east of the village, in what is now the Chicago Park District
Chicago Park District
The Chicago Park District is the oldest and largest park district in the U.S.A, with a $385 million annual budget. It has the distinction of spending the most per capita on its parks, even more than Boston in terms of park expenses per capita...
's McKinley Park.
By 1871, the year of the Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S...
, Brighton Park was served by the Archer Avenue
Archer Avenue, Chicago
Archer Avenue, also known as Archer Road outside the Chicago, Illinois city limits, is a diagonal thoroughfare running northeast-to-southwest between Chicago's Chinatown and Lockport, Illinois...
horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
and the Alton Railroad
Alton Railroad
The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 and was controlled until 1942 when the Alton was...
. (Brighton Park was not affected by the fire). The railroad built a roundhouse
Roundhouse
A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables...
in the neighborhood, and various factories were built. Later the streetcar was electrified and extended and interurban
Interurban
An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...
electric railway service was provided by the Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway
Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway
The Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway, or C&JE, was an electric interurban railway linking the cities of Chicago and Joliet, Illinois. It was the only interurban between those cities and provided a link between the streetcar network of Chicago and the cities along the Illinois River Valley in...
until 1934. Most of the residential buildings now in Brighton Park were built in the early part of the 20th century, between 1905 and 1925, after more electric streetcar lines (on Western Ave, Kedzie Ave, 35th St and 47th St) had been extended into the neighborhood, providing cheap & quick transport to work & shopping.
Transportation
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...
's role as transportation gateway has always been a major influence on the demographics and economy of Brighton Park. Two major railroad landmarks exist in Brighton Park. The Corwith Intermodal
Intermodal freight transport
Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation , without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and...
freight facility, once known as Corwith Yards
Corwith Yards
Corwith Yards, a railroad intermodal freight terminal located at Pershing Road & Kedzie Avenue in the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, in the neighborhood of Brighton Park, is a landmark in the history of railroad freight transport. At the time it was built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe...
, covering nearly a square mile, is one of the major industrial features of Brighton Park.
Brighton Park crossing, near Western Avenue and Archer Avenue, is a major 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...
railroad junction and the former site of Brighton Park's railway station.
Access to, property values, and economic growth in the neighborhood have been improved by the 1964 opening of the Stevenson Expressway
Stevenson Expressway
The Stevenson Expressway is the major Interstate highway leading southwest out of the city of Chicago in Illinois. It is signed as Interstate 55 for the entire length....
, Interstate 55
Interstate 55
Interstate 55 is an Interstate Highway in the central United States. Its odd number indicates that it is a north–south Interstate Highway. I-55 goes from LaPlace, Louisiana at Interstate 10 to Chicago at U.S. Route 41 , at McCormick Place. A common nickname for the highway is "double...
, the 1993 opening of the Orange Line
Orange Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
The Orange Line, is a rapid transit line in Chicago, Illinois run by the Chicago Transit Authority as part of the 'L' system. It is approximately long, and runs below grade and elevated on existing railroad embankments and new concrete and steel structures from Chicago Midway International...
rapid transit line, and the revitalization of the nearby Chicago Midway International Airport.
Government and infrastructure
The United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
operates the Elsdon Post Office at 3124 West 47th Street. Post Office is closed as of June 2010..
External links