New City, Chicago
Encyclopedia
New City is one of Chicago
's 77 official community areas
, located on the southwest side of the city. The area is divided into It is a blend of predominantly Irish-Americans in Canaryville, Mexican-Americans in Back Of The Yards, and African-Americans south of 49th Street. The area was home to the famous Union Stock Yards
that were on Chicago's south side until they closed in 1971.
. Life in this neighborhood, which was famously organized by Saul Alinsky
in the 1930s, is profiled in Upton Sinclair
's 1906 novel The Jungle
. The area was formerly the town of Lake until it was annexed by Chicago in 1889. The area was once an Eastern European, predominantly Polish, neighborhood.
Jane Jacobs
' book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
, cites the Back of the Yards as an area able to successfully "unslum" in the 1960s, due to a beneficial set of circumstances. This included a stabilized community base with skilled members willing to trade work to upgrade housing, as well as active and well led local social and political organizations. Jacobs often cited the Back of the Yards as a model for other depressed neighborhoods to follow to upgrade their communities. Some time after the 1970s, the population of the neighborhood changed to predominantly Mexican-Americans.
The Back of the Yards area is the main setting of the television series Shameless, which is based on the British series of the same name
, however the exterior scenes used in the show are actually shot in the South Lawndale community area as evidenced by the prominence of the Pink Line elevated tracks viewable in the show.
neighborhood, with borders of Canaryville are from 40th to 49th streets between Union Pacific railroad
tracks to the east and Halsted Street
and the former site of the Union Stock Yard to the west. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Chicago and has a reputation for insularity
or hostility to outsiders. Given its close proximity to the stockyards, the area's physical environment and economic life were shaped by livestock and meatpacking from the 1860s until the industry's decline in the postwar era.
Canaryville's name may originally have derived from the legions of sparrows who populated the area at the end of the nineteenth century, feeding off stockyard refuse and grain from railroad cars, but the term also applied to the neighborhood's “wild canaries”, i.e. gangs such as The Irish Lords and The Flags S.A.C.
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 77 official community areas
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...
, located on the southwest side of the city. The area is divided into It is a blend of predominantly Irish-Americans in Canaryville, Mexican-Americans in Back Of The Yards, and African-Americans south of 49th Street. The area was home to the famous Union Stock Yards
Union Stock Yards
The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meat packing district in Chicago for over a century starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired swampland, and turned it to a centralized processing area...
that were on Chicago's south side until they closed in 1971.
Back of the Yards
Back of the Yards is an industrial and residential neighborhood so named because it was near the former Union Stock YardsUnion Stock Yards
The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meat packing district in Chicago for over a century starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired swampland, and turned it to a centralized processing area...
. Life in this neighborhood, which was famously organized by Saul Alinsky
Saul Alinsky
Saul David Alinsky was a Jewish American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing, and has been compared in Playboy magazine to Thomas Paine as being "one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left." He is often noted...
in the 1930s, is profiled in Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
's 1906 novel The Jungle
The Jungle
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by journalist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel with the intention of portraying the life of the immigrant in the United States, but readers were more concerned with the large portion of the book pertaining to the corruption of the American meatpacking...
. The area was formerly the town of Lake until it was annexed by Chicago in 1889. The area was once an Eastern European, predominantly Polish, neighborhood.
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
' book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs, is a greatly influential book on the subject of urban planning in the 20th century...
, cites the Back of the Yards as an area able to successfully "unslum" in the 1960s, due to a beneficial set of circumstances. This included a stabilized community base with skilled members willing to trade work to upgrade housing, as well as active and well led local social and political organizations. Jacobs often cited the Back of the Yards as a model for other depressed neighborhoods to follow to upgrade their communities. Some time after the 1970s, the population of the neighborhood changed to predominantly Mexican-Americans.
The Back of the Yards area is the main setting of the television series Shameless, which is based on the British series of the same name
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
, however the exterior scenes used in the show are actually shot in the South Lawndale community area as evidenced by the prominence of the Pink Line elevated tracks viewable in the show.
Canaryville
Canaryville was a predominantly Irish AmericanIrish 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...
neighborhood, with borders of Canaryville are from 40th to 49th streets between Union Pacific railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
tracks to the east and Halsted Street
Halsted Street
Halsted Street is a major north-south street in the American city of Chicago, Illinois.-Location:In Chicago's grid system, Halsted street marks 800 West, one mile west of State Street, from Grace Street in Lakeview south to the city limits at the Little Calumet River in West Pullman...
and the former site of the Union Stock Yard to the west. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Chicago and has a reputation for insularity
Insularity
Insularity reflects a wide range of physical and emotional meanings in accordance with a person or place:* For a place, it relates to an island or any physically isolated place distant and inaccessible without sufficient means of transport...
or hostility to outsiders. Given its close proximity to the stockyards, the area's physical environment and economic life were shaped by livestock and meatpacking from the 1860s until the industry's decline in the postwar era.
Canaryville's name may originally have derived from the legions of sparrows who populated the area at the end of the nineteenth century, feeding off stockyard refuse and grain from railroad cars, but the term also applied to the neighborhood's “wild canaries”, i.e. gangs such as The Irish Lords and The Flags S.A.C.
External links
- Official City of Chicago New City Community Map
- Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council (the country's oldest community organization, founded by Alinsky in 1939)
- Back of the Yards Blog (Blogger living at 47th and Throop, Site Updated with Neighborhood and Personal News)
- Encyclopedia of Chicago - Back of the Yards