South Chicago

South Chicago
Community area
Community Area 46 - South Chicago
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
Location within the city of Chicago
Coordinates: 41°44.4′N 87°33′W / 41.7400°N 87.550°W / 41.7400; -87.550Coordinates: 41°44.4′N 87°33′W / 41.7400°N 87.550°W / 41.7400; -87.550
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Cook
City	Chicago
Neighborhoods	list South Shore
Area
• Total	3.34 sq mi (8.65 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	31,198
• Density	9,300/sq mi (3,600/km2)
Demographics 2010
• White	1.92%
• Black	74.67%
• Hispanic	21.71%
• Asian	0.21%
• Other	1.48%
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	parts of 60617
Median household income	$31,164
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services - see Discussion page

South Chicago, formerly known as Ainsworth, is one of the 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois.

This chevron-shaped community is one of Chicago's 16 lakefront neighborhoods near the southern rim of Lake Michigan 10 miles south of downtown. A working-class neighborhood, it is bordered by East 79th Street on the north, South Chicago Avenue (the Chicago Skyway) on the southwest, a small stretch of East 95th Street on the south. With the Calumet River on the community's southeast side, South Chicago can be considered the literal gateway to the Calumet Region and the first among the four Chicago neighborhoods (East Side, Hegewisch and South Deering) that are considered by the locals as Chicago's Southeast Side. Particularly unknown because most of its streets run off the citywide grid, it also encompasses the unique Alphabet Avenues. The Southeast Side is a description that, although true, the city itself continues to resist including this neighborhood with all of Chicago's South Side communities.

Once a separate community, South Chicago began as a series of scattered Native American settlements before becoming a village. First occupied by a chief named Askhum, considered 'lord' of the vast Callimink (Calumet) Valley and leader of the Pottawatomie people. They and other Native peoples used South Chicago and the shallow Calumet River area as portages, for seasonal settlements, hunting and fishing thousands of years before White settlers arrived to the "New World".

The post-Civil War era brought with it great industrial innovation. Developer James H. Bowen, the "Father of South Chicago," and others in a massive land grab wrested the land from its former existence and founded "Ainsworth" among other communities. This community was formed out of wetland prairie to provide residence for the labor force of European immigrants coming to work at the industries developing along the Calumet River, most notably the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company, built at the mouth of the river in 1881. Only fractions of the original topography and habitat remain as is the case with most of urban Chicago. With the entire Chicago Lakefront built on miles of landfill and slag there still remains a small stretch of semi-secluded beachfront just north of the Southworks Site. This bit of lakefront, once a seasonal settlement for the Pottawatomie, was left alone due to an umovable and deeply embedded bedrock of granite, which defied the development techniques of the time. It is the only natural beach frontage left and virtually unknown on the entire Chicago coastline. This beachfront and the massive outcrop of the Southworks table slag to the south and the water treatment plant to the north is a perfect demonstration of the vigorous advancement of the steel industry and 20th century development.