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Local Landmarks & Heritage

  • Bessemer Park
  • Russell Square Park
  • South Works Site (Steelworkers Park)
  • Natural granite bedrock beach

Neighborhood History

South Chicago grew up around the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company, which relocated to the mouth of the Calumet River in 1880 to take advantage of lake shipping, an available labor pool, and fresh water for steelmaking. The mill, later known as South Works under Illinois Steel and then U.S. Steel, drew waves of European immigrants to the neighborhood and by the mid-20th century helped make the Chicago region the nation's leading steel producer.

Bessemer Park, designed by the Olmsted Brothers and completed in 1905, remains one of South Chicago's enduring civic anchors, alongside Russell Square Park in the section of the neighborhood once known as "The Bush." A rare stretch of natural granite-bedrock beach just north of the former South Works site is the only such shoreline left on Chicago's lakefront.

For anyone whose family worked the mills that once lit up South Chicago's night sky with molten slag, MY-NHD's South Chicago tee is a way to carry that steelmaking legacy with you.

MY-NHD

South Chicago - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee

South Chicago - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee

Regular price $29.95 CAD
Regular price Sale price $29.95 CAD
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South Chicago grew around the steel mill that relocated in 1880 to where the Calumet River meets the lake, later known as South Works. Immigrant steelworkers built the neighborhood, and Bessemer Park, completed in 1905, remains a civic anchor.

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