Washington Heights, Chicago

Washington Heights, one of the 77 official community areas, is located on the far south side of Chicago, Illinois, loosely bordered in the south by 107th street, the north by 89th street, the west by Beverly Avenue and the East by Eggleston Avenue. It was once a bedroom community of German and Irish families whose immigration to the Midwestern United States began circa 1880. In the 1970s the demographics changed to primarily African-American, as it still exists today.

Illinois Place Names (Illinois State Historical Society Occasional Publications Number 55, 1989) indicates that the area of Washington Heights historically was also known as Blue Island Ridge, Campbell’s Woods, Dummy Junction, and North Blue Island. A Post Office by the name of Washington Heights was established 25 Oct 1869 and dissolved 6 June 1894. As noted, it is now part of Chicago. It was one of the many small towns and villages that were annexed into the City of Chicago in the late 1800s.

Washington Heights has seen redevelopment in recent years. According to the 1990 and 2000 US census, the number of persons living in the area has decreased by seven percent and the number of vacant housing units increased by 76%. Persons living below the poverty level has remained mostly the same (-17 persons), but the number of families living below the poverty level increased by five percent. Between 1990 and 2000, owner-occupied housing prices have increased eight percent to a median value of $91,067 while the median renter-occupied gross rents have decreased by three percent from $611 to $595

External links

* [http://egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_ATTACH/Community_Areas_WASHINGTON_HEIGHTS.pdf Official City of Chicago Washington Heights Community Map]
* [http://ridgehistoricalsociety.org Ridge Historical Society]

Geographic Location 2
Center = Washington Heights, Chicago
North = Auburn Gresham, Chicago
ESE = Roseland, Chicago
Southwest = Morgan Park, Chicago
West = Beverly, Chicago