South Deering, Chicago

South Deering
Community area
Community Area 51 - South Deering
Location within the city of Chicago
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Cook
City	Chicago
Neighborhoods	list Jeffery Manor South Deering Trumbull Park Vets Park
Area
• Total	8.89 sq mi (23.03 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	15,109
• Density	1,700/sq mi (660/km2)
Demographics 2010
• White	4.8%
• Black	61.91%
• Hispanic	31.83%
• Asian	0.12%
• Other	1.34%
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP Codes	parts of 60617 and 60633
Median household income	$38,594
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

South Deering, is the largest of the 77 official community areas of the City of Chicago, Illinois, is located on the far south side. It was a very industrial neighborhood, consisting of a small group of homes in the northeast corner and Lake Calumet taking up most of the remainder. It exists in the 10th Ward, what was once the reign of Alderman Edward Vrdolyak, now in private law practice. It was the home of the now defunct Wisconsin Steel Works, originally the Joseph H. Brown Iron and Steel Company, which opened in 1875 and was the first steel mill in the entire Calumet region. Since the closing of the plant, the neighborhood has gone through an economic depression.

Louis Rosen documented the racial transition of this and nearby communities in his 1998 book The South Side: The Racial Transformation of an American Neighborhood.

Neighborhoods

Jeffery Manor

Jeffery Manor is located between 95th Street on the north, Torrence Avenue on the east, 103rd Street on the south, and the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad on the west. When the steel mills operated, this area was predominantly Jewish, populated by World War II veterans purchasing their first house. Over the past years, however, it has transformed into a predominantly African American neighborhood.

Slag Valley

The area from 95th to 103rd and from Baltimore Ave. to Manistee is commonly referred to as "Slag Valley", in reference to the slag (waste steel) from the former steel plants, being piled in the area.

Transportation

South Deering is served by a number of CTA bus routes:

• N5 - South Shore Night Bus
• J14 - Jeffery Jump
• 15 - Jeffery Local
• 28 - Stony Island
• 71 - 71st/South Shore
• 95E - 93rd-95th
• 100 - Jeffery Manor Express
• 106 - East 103rd

Notable residents

• Richard Speck, mass murderer
• Jon Burge, police detective convicted of torturing suspects
• Sherman Skolnick, conspiracy theorist

References

Kornblum, William Blue Collar Community (Studies of Urban Society) University of Chicago Press, 1974 ISBN 0-226-45037-6

External links

• Official City of Chicago South Deering Community Map
• Northeastern Illinois University community history project
• Lake Calumet region Journey through Calumet, The Field Museum
  • South Deering community area
    • Jeffery Manor neighborhood
    • South Deering neighborhood
    • Vets Park neighborhood