Washington Park Subdivision
Coordinates: 41°47′00″N 87°36′44″W / 41.783457°N 87.61219°W
The Washington Park Subdivision is the name of the historic 3-city block by 8-city block subdivision in the northwest corner of the Woodlawn community area, on the South Side of Chicago in Illinois that stands in the place of the original Washington Park Race Track. The area evolved as a redevelopment of the land previously occupied by the racetrack. It was originally an exclusively white neighborhood that included residential housing, amusement parks, and beer gardens.
During the late 1920s and 1930s, the area became the subject of discriminatory twenty-year covenants, which were determined to be invalid by the United States Supreme Court, when challenged in a seminal case by Carl Hansberry. The case is a vital part of legal studies and considered an important part of a broad class of histories. The play Raisin in the Sun is based on Lorraine Hansberry's struggles in this neighborhood.
Due to the non-rectangular shape of the Washington Park community area, the original Washington Park Race Track actually occupied the Southern two-thirds of the Washington Park Subdivision, which is an 8-city block by 3-city block area in northwest corner of the Woodlawn community area and bounded by Dr. Martin Luther King Drive to the west, South Cottage Grove Avenue to the East, East 60th Street to the North and East 63rd Street to the South. This is the area directly south of Washington Park and both south and east of the Washington Park community area. It would be part of the Washington Park community area if the community area were to complete its logical proper rectangle.
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