Chatham-Greater Grand Crossing Commercial District

“The Grand Crossing and Brookline neighborhoods were predominantly made up of German immigrant craftsmen, farmers and factory workers; Essex had residents of English, Irish and Scottish immigrants who worked for the railroads; Brookdale was settled mostly by Chicago-born residents employed in the building trades and by the railroads; and Park Manor, the last of these smaller neighborhoods to develop, had residents who were predominantly of east-coast Yankee stock.”

“While intact individual commercial buildings from the 1920s can be found throughout Chicago, it is less common to find such a large grouping of buildings concentrated along a major arterial commercial corridor from the period of similar size, high quality, use of materials and degree of physical integrity possessed by the Chatham-Greater Grand Crossing Commercial District.”

“The use of architectural terra cotta for Chicago commercial buildings reached the apex of creativity and lavishness during the 1920s, and the District contains exceptionally fine examples of neighborhood commercial buildings with a plethora of handsomely-crafted terra-cotta ornament.”

“Called "Mud Lake" early in its history, early Chatham was largely swampland and was used mainly for duck hunting. In 1860 the first structures in the area were corn cribs, followed by small frame houses built by railroad workers (the Illinois Central Railroad ran along the community area's eastern boundary).”

“District Architectural Styles The buildings in the Chatham-Greater Grand Crossing Commercial District display many of the popular and significant historic architectural styles of the 1910s and 20s, the decades during which the District took shape.”

“Greater Grand Crossing Greater Grand Crossing today is a roughly triangular community area with its southern boundary running along 79th Street, an important street in the District. As the name implies, Greater Grand Crossing was historically a railroad süburb comprised of five older ethnic neighborhoods that developed almost independently of one another.”

“Historically Significant Changes Change is an inevitable condition of commercial districts that thrive over many decades, and several buildings in the Chatham-Greater Grand Crossing Commercial District reveal later architectural changes made during the District's period of historic significance.”

“Chatham Center was specifically designed to be visually prominent and was the first of the large, visually-prominent, anchor buildings built in the District. The building is clad with terra cotta manufactured by the Northwestern Terra-Cotta Co.”

“The southern portion of the Chatham-Greater Grand Crossing Commercial District, south of 79th St., is located in the former Avalon Highlands and Chatham Fields neighborhoods. Development in the Chatham community was similar to that of the neighboring Greater Grand Crossing community and grew steadily and rapidly in the early 20th century.”