Chicago is made up of so many diverse neighborhoods which are ideal for every one to live in. By studying it profile, one can come up with an ideal place which suits his or her standards of living. Geographical conditions, history, demography, economic and social conditions and the future of the neighborhood can help one to come up with ad ideal place to live in. Hyde Park is one of the most popular neighborhoods in Chicago city. It population has grown over years since it is one of the oldest neighborhood in Chicago.
Initially, Hyde Park was created so that it could satisfy the loyal passion for hunting but with time people migrated to the area where they explored other pleasures. It is located on southern part of Chicago. It was founded by Paul Cornell way back in 1850s near a rail road south of Chicago. It was incorporated in Chicago in 1861 which extended from the 39th to 63rd streets. It was later extended on the southern side to 138th street and to the west as State Street. It was independent of Chicago up to 1889 when it was incorporated into the city.
It definition shrunk as a neighborhood to a core area grouped around Cornell’s development of the 53rd street. Today, Hyde Park extends from the 51 street to the neighborhood around Midway. In the east it boulders Lake Michigan while to the West is Washington Park.
Hyde Park has more than 2000 ethnic breakups which include, None Hispanic whites, Blacks or African American, Asian American, Hispanics and Latinos.
Hyde Park has changed drastically over years, around one third of the houses have changed hand between 1975 and1977. There is a lot of rejuvenation of both private and public investments extensively within the neighborhood. Many houses have been converted to single family which has made the neighborhood to be quite a pleasing place to live in. Today the neighborhood is quite a pleasing place to live in since all the brass fixtures are shinning and leaded glass sparkling and also all the wood work is glowing. These features have attracted so many people to the neighborhood.
Geographically, Hyde Park is located on the southern side of Chicago in cook country, 7 km south of Chicago Loop. It extends from 39th to 63rd streets. The southern boarder was extended to the 138th street to the south of the eastern side; the neighborhood is boarded by Lake Michigan while to the west it is boarded by Washington Park. The southern park of Kenwood is referred to as Hyde Park- Kenwood.
Most streets in Hyde Park are exclusively residential while the 51st, 53rd, 55thand 57th are occupied with businesses. The South Eastern part of Hyde Park is bounded by the northern end of Jackson’s Park which has Museum of Science, Industry and remnant of Colombian Explosion.
Museum of Science and Industry
(Diagram retrieved from Lithuanian America Dairy by Monika Bonckute)
Near the museum is another large park with small Japanese garden. Midway Park comes all the way from the Stony island avenue all the way to the Cottage Grove Avenue which connects Washington Park with Jackson Park.
The Hyde Park shopping center is located at the 54th and the 55th street, the shopping center has island grocery store which anchors the center. 57th street is well known of it bookstores and a general leadership branch. The terrain of Hyde Park is undulating gently with lush green vegetation with so many water sources and numerous swamps which lenders it an ideal place for habitation by the wildlife.
The lush and rock Terrain of Hyde Park makes one to feel as if one is in a different world all together. This is one of the aspects which has attracted so many people to live within this park. The residents of Hyde Park have apartments which are quite luxurious, these incorporates housing for either businesses or for pleasure. The apartments are usually furnished using traditional splendors (Dionnel, 2003). There is sufficient security in the area which makes many residents to feel secure at all times. Some of the prominent features in Hyde Park are the rotten rows, bridal paths, speakers’ corner, Serpentine Lake and the soapbox operators meeting places.
Hyde Park was known as Loyal Deer Parks. It was quite fashionable in 18th and 19th century since it loyalty rode and drove, various military reviews were held and duels fought. It is also well known since the first world’s fair was held in this park.
Hyde Park is mostly predominated by residential neighborhood. There are some commercial areas near the town and quite away out of it industrial area. Children access these areas to go to eat their favorite snack and also to play.
The 53rd street is occupied mainly by the retail and business communities and they serve both the local residents and the visitor into the region. It has a diverse mix of stores and restaurants, the Hyde Park bank is also situated in this region, Theater and other professional service providers are found in this region. It is a home for many popular stores restaurants and gathering places for the public.
Hyde Park has a village in Nassau County which is referred to as New Hyde Park and it crosses the street from the Queens County. In New Hyde Park, there are no high rises. The Co ops are converted to garden apartments complexes. The homes are mainly one family which are on some tree lined streets which are of good sizes and ample area for parking. In some instances, there are some two family homes and these areas are specifically zoned two families (Dionnel, 2003). At the New Hyde Park, New York is a village with a variety of home styles to choose from. Some of these styles are quite predominant in some villages and towns than others. Most of homes in New Hyde Park are traditional colonial in nature with cape cods, ranches, high ranches and various split level with different styles which distinguish one from the other. The homes are quite unique and they have something that distinguishes them. The yards are either big or small depending on one’s choice and they are well maintained. The houses are also quite smart and maintained which attract quite a number of people to live in this neighborhood.
This neighborhood is connected to other parts of Chicago by Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the Metra transportation services. These buses are responsible for transfer of Red and Green Line trains mainly to the loop or they can provide direct services to down town. Metra Electric District has several stop overs at the Hyde Park and it is located at Illinois. It provides services down town through Millennium Station way.
Trains are quite useful in the southern part of Hyde Park since there is a rail line that passes through to Boston. The southern shore line train stops at the 55th, 56th and the 57th street and it also provide regular services to Indiana. Services are also offered by the I-GO Cars which provide services to over 20 neighborhoods. Air transport is also quite convenient in this area since the area has the third largest airline in London.
Rail industry is one of the major industries in the region which facilitates transportation within the area.
It also has hotel industry and it offers a variety of services to residents and the local visitors who visits the neighborhood.
Hyde Park houses a number of higher learning institutions. University of Chicago is found in this neighborhood together with other institutions such as Catholic Theological Union which is a seminary of Roman Catholic, Chicago Theological Seminary, Lutheran School of Theology, McCormick Theological Seminary, Meadville Lombard Theological School, and Center for Urban life and Culture College for those students who want to study abroad.
There are a number of hospitals in Hyde Park which deal with all heath situations of both the residents and other people from all over the country who requires specialized medical attention. The Lock hospital is located at the corner of Hyde Park and it offers specialized treatment to it resident. Also, the St Georgia Hospital which is housed by Lane’s borough treats people and also offers specialized training to medical students from different parts of the world.
The Doctors Hospital of Hyde Park is another hospital in the region which is a non profit making hospital and it offers services to the community and hence the hospital is referred to as Hyde Park Community Hospital.
The average population of Hyde Park was around 20,851 peoples in an average of 7,395 households and 5,220 families for those who were residing within the city. The neighborhood had a population density of around 564.2 people per square mile. Housing units were around 564.2.
There are different races represented in the city with the largest percentage of about 91.02 being whites. African American were 4.25%, Native American 0.20%, Asians 1.39%, Pacific Islander 0.08%, and 1.19% was from other races. The Hispanics and the Latinos made a composition of around 3.23% (Hyde Park Kenwood Community, 2007).
The population of the area has grown drastically over time when it is compared to relative change of population on some countries such as United State, Suffolk Country and Massachusetts. The table below shows the relative change in population for the three countries
Out of 7,395 households, 34.0% was made up of the children who were under 18 year and they lived with their parents. The married couples who lived together were around 56.7%, single females with no husbands were 29.4% and those without families were 29.4%.
The percentage population within the city was spread out as follows:
In 1900, the average population of Hyde Park was 2, 806 which shows that the population of this city has grown drastically over years.
Hyde Park is one of the cities in Chicago which has the most number of learned individuals. It has a very small percentage of individual who are less than the 9th grade, this compose of around 3% of it total population. Those who have gone to high school with no diploma is around 4% those who have graduated high school (GED) are about 20%, those with college certificate but no degree are about 12%, Associate degree holders are about 6%, while Bachelor degree holders were around 7% and graduate degree were around 12%.
Due to it diverse activities, Hyde Park income depends on the size of household. The total number of households today in Hyde Park is about 9,620, Family households total to about 6,372 and an average family size is about 3.31.The relative income that these households varies; for an average household the total income amounts to around $60,860 while that of median households amounts to around $50,840. During the year 1990, the percentage change in income was 51% while that of the year 2000 the change was 0%.
According to statistics, 46% of the total population had low income while middle income had a composition of 38% and those with high income were 16%. This data was collected from the top diverse communities of Hyde Park residents (Hyde Park Kenwood Community 2007).
Hyde Park is one of the neighborhoods within the city which ranks the most income followed by the New Town. It is quite extraordinary considering the relative paucity of the income diversity in other neighborhood. According to these statistics, Washington Park and Grand Boulevard were ranked in bottom five in regard to income diversity. Due to the fact that they have high income, a very small percentage of about 2% need income support.
According to various data, it shows a big percentage of the Hyde Park population are working class. Due to the diverse activities which take place in the region, so many jobs have been created within the city which has given working opportunities to most of it residents. This showed that there are three most prominent occupations in Hyde Park, Professional took the highest percentage of 41.3% while Managers were around 17.7% and Clerical and other administrative works amounting to about 12.9%. In total the percentage number of people who are employed in the city amounted to 71.9% of the total population which showed that 21.1% of the total population was unemployed. In comparison with a neighboring city of Unley 36% were professional, 15.6% Managers and 14.6% Clerical and other administrative work.
Crime rate in Hyde Park are quite lower as compared to the rest of the cities in the neighborhood. Crimes have depreciated over time which has made the place quite safe to live in.
On average, an average house is sold at around $250000 and at a top price of about $800000 according to real estate guide. This makes to an average of $452,000 per house (Elliott, 1985).
On average, the amount of money charged for rent in each house depends on it size and it ranges from $1459- $4500 per month. Around 30% of Hyde Park residents own their own houses. Homes have depreciated over year and they are quite affordable which has made many people to afford their own houses. They have depreciated with about 10%.
Hyde Park has a local chamber of commerce which is a volunteer organization which gives the residents source of information in regard to businesses.
Hyde Park has ranges of businesses which are located within the city. There are warehouses and high bay engineering, offices, manufacturing and other storage units.
The main type of entertainment is from the movies that are produced locally by the Hyde Park entertainment company which produces the best movies in Hollywood. It has a number of restaurants which are licensed to offer services to it client such as Thai Hyde Park restaurants and the Chicago Hyde Park restaurants.
Hyde Park is a neighborhood within Chicago which is growing quite fast. It is believed that according to research, the neighborhood will be one of the most populated neighborhoods in Chicago which will be providing better services to the residents. Also it will be one of the safest neighborhoods since the level of crimes are depreciating with time. Due to it safety, more people will be attracted to the neighborhood which will end up increasing it population. Good services which are also offered are likely to attract more people in the region. It has also a number of industries and businesses which will also play a role in increasing the population. The only disadvantage is that the neighborhood might end up being over populated which might increase crime rate in the region
References
- Monika Bonckute, Lutheran American Weekly, 2007.
- Community Profile, Employment occupation, 2006.
- Hyde Park Kenwood Community, Hyde Park & Neighbors in depth in media, 2007.
- Elliott R., Hyde Park Town Profile, Bongo publisher: New York, 1985, pp. 34-45.
- Dionnel B. Hyde Park, 2003. Web.