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63-645: The Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex is a building complex in the community area of North Lawndale in Chicago , Illinois. The complex hosted most of department-store chain Sears ' mail order operations between 1906 and 1993, and it also served as Sears' corporate headquarters until 1973, when the Sears Tower was completed. Of its original 40-acre (16 ha) complex, only three buildings survive and have been adaptively rehabilitated to other uses . The complex

126-586: A CIA black site" in 2012, where people were held without their rights being respected. The United States Postal Service operates the Otis Grant Collins Post Office at 2302 South Pulaski Road. The Chicago Transit Authority 's Pink Line serves this neighborhood. Stations are located at Kedzie , Central Park , Pulaski , and Kostner . In 2022, the city heard proposals for the Altenheim Line, an elevated park similar to

189-570: A Jesuit seminarian, and twelve white college students based at Presentation Roman Catholic Church, led by Msgr. Jack Egan, the CBL fought the discriminatory real estate practice known as "contract selling". Groups similar to the CBL formed in cities around the country to combat contract selling. The CBL was the most influential in winning justice for exploited black homebuyers. The CBL renegotiated 400 contracts for its members, saving residents an estimated $ 25,000,000. The FHA finally responded to pressure from

252-471: A centralized community resource center for many types of issues. In 2022, the neighborhood's first black-owned grocery store opened, using produce and grocery giveaways that served 300-500 families per day to build trust in the neighborhood, following a strategy from the Black Panther Party . This followed a black-owned health food store that opened in the neighborhood in 2018. K-Town is

315-523: A clubhouse and tennis courts, and the Sears Department of the YMCA . Events included an annual track and field competitions, and company baseball teams. By 1926, the first ground level parking lots replaced the athletic fields. This happened at the same time that a strategic shift from catalog sales to retail stores had started with easy auto travel making travel to a store more practical. By 1943

378-596: A community center. Homan Square is used as an example of the gradual turn around of North Lawndale . Included in this reconstruction effort is the massive rehabilitation of the former Sears Power House, into the Charles H. Shaw Technology and Learning Center—a LEED Platinum historic renovation designed by Farr Associates . The elements that survive from the early period of the Sears complex development are organized around South Homan Avenue, between West Arthington Street and

441-436: A mail order processing facility, along with a power plant to provide electricity and heat to the entire complex. Designed by Nimmons and Fellows, a local architectural firm, the complex was so large the company required city permission to build over some city streets. In the 1920s extensive athletic facilities were added to the complex, as an encouragement for after-work socialization to keep employee morale high. Included were

504-614: A major component of the joint movement. The initiatives also included providing the residents – with a focus on young men – with social services such as trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy and economic opportunities such as job training and legal support. Three years ago, the city's budget for violence prevention had been less than $ 1 million per year. In 2021, the city spent approximately $ 50 million on violence prevention, with additional support from private funds, which allowed violence prevention groups to work collaboratively instead of competing for grants. The funds also supported

567-411: A new community pool and recreation center; and associated retail. Homan Square is often used as an example of the revitalization of North Lawndale. The former Sears tower was rehabbed and reopened to the public as "The John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Tower" in 2015. It now houses non-profit groups and youth association offices. Despite the renaming, the tower retains the "Sears Roebuck" plaque on top of

630-558: A nickname for an area in Humboldt Park , North Lawndale, and West Garfield Park between Pulaski Road and Cicero Avenue in which the names of many north–south avenues begin with the letter K (Karlov, Keating, Kedvale, Keeler, Kenneth, Kenton, Keystone, Kilbourn, Kildare, Kilpatrick, Kirkland, Knox, Kolin, Kolmar, Komensky, and Kostner). The pattern is a historical relic of a 1913 street-naming proposal, by which streets were to be systematically named according to their distance from

693-661: A program like READI Chicago, society reaps $ 3 to $ 7 in return." From 2021 to 2022, North Lawndale saw a 58% decrease in gun violence. The area is in Chicago Public Schools and is served by the following high schools: Farragut Career Academy and North Lawndale College Prep High School . As of 2020, North Lawndale experienced much student loss, much of it due to people leaving the city but also due to having "the most charter schools and [the] highest percentage of students enrolled in charter schools" out of all Chicago community areas. Less than 30% of students in

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756-665: A subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad called the Chicago & Calumet Terminal Railway (C&CT) consolidated several terminal railroads in the Chicago area with lines running between the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway at McCook, Illinois to the south and south-east to Hammond, Indiana and a connection with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O). In March 1890, another subsidiary of

819-404: Is a fourteen-story structure, with a limestone base and brick walls. It is crowned by a Classical Revival top floor with round-arch windows and a modillioned cornice. It housed water tanks for firefighting on the upper levels, as well as offices and secretarial training facilities. It also housed the early broadcast facilities for WLS-AM . In 2015, it was refurbished and reopened to the public as

882-478: Is a rectangular, nominally single-story, brick structure measuring 114 by 230 feet (35 m × 70 m). Its front facade is characterized by tall and large round-arch windows, with a stepped parapet above. This building, which is an L-shaped structure six stories in height and finished in brick, housed the company's catalog printing operation from 1905 to 1926. It served for about forty years as its principal product testing laboratory. A former warehouse of

945-802: Is now controlled by CSX Corporation , the successor to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . By 1886, the Wisconsin Central Railroad had formed a new railway company, called the Chicago and Great Western Railroad (C&GW, not to be confused with the Chicago Great Western Railway ) to build a new line from a connection with the WC at Forest Park into the city, and to construct the Grand Central Station, which opened in December 1890. In June 1887,

1008-461: Is set on the South Side of Chicago, films in the neighborhood. Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad ( reporting mark BOCT ) is a terminal railroad in the Chicago area, formerly giving various other companies access to (Chicago's) Grand Central Station . It also served to connect those railroads for freight transfers, and

1071-698: Is where my grandfather ... and all the other black folk that flocked to the West Side during the mid-to-late-1950s bought proud brick houses on tree-lined streets with crackless cement sidewalks. ... The site of the former Sears headquarters was redeveloped beginning in 1988 as Homan Square. In 1993, residents at a community discussion expressed fear of being developed out , with renters having few protections from rising rent. The development has included new construction of owned and rental mixed-income housing ; adaptive reuse and restoration of historic properties for use as community center, school, and other facilities;

1134-540: The Austro-Hungarian Empire , with many Czech cultural institutions and churches established in the area. The Czech in the area migrated towards the suburbs until a new influx of residents, Jewish former residents of Maxwell Street , became the majority around 1918 before moving northward around 1955. In the 1950s, another wave of residents, black people from the South Side and American South, became

1197-468: The Bloomingdale (606) Trail , that would be developed on the site of former rail lines with existing rail running near the park. Some residents expressed concerns about gentrification; Alderman Michael Scott Jr. expressed that he was confident the community could avoid gentrification and keep residents there due to being able to control the market price with much land being owned by both the city and

1260-473: The Contract Buyers League in 1968 to combat the discriminatory and predatory housing practices targeting the area. Assisted by a Jesuit seminarian and twelve white college students, the organization fought the discriminatory real estate practice known as "contract selling", renegotiating around 400 housing contracts and saving an estimated $ 25,000,000 for exploited black homeowners. In 1986,

1323-505: The Cook County Commissioners . By 1890, North Lawndale was beginning to be heavily populated by Bohemian immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Czechs moved most heavily to the area from Crawford (Pulaski) west, and from 12th St. (Roosevelt Rd.) to 16th St. Real estate firm W.A. Merigold & Co. was the chief developer of that part of the community, which resulted in the name "Merigold" being associated with

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1386-620: The Pere Marquette Railroad was completed to Porter, Indiana in 1903, it also used the CTT into Grand Central Station. On January 6, 1910, the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad was created to purchase the CTT at foreclosure, giving B&O control of both the terminal railway system, as well as Grand Central Station. The railroad reached a peak size in the 1920s of 78 route-miles and 365 track-miles. The railroad

1449-421: The Sears Tower , so the complex then stood vacant. Its closure of the complex presented the city with a redevelopment problem. In 1992 a non-profit partnership organized by former Sears management began to redevelop the site, now dubbed Homan Square. The mail order merchandise building was demolished (except for its main tower), and the land it occupies has been redeveloped to include new residences, retail, and

1512-501: The West Side attended their zoned public schools. Early the same year, charter elementary school Frazier Preparatory Academy was closed for performance reasons, and students were split between Lawndale Community Academy, Sumner Math and Science Community Academy, and Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts. Later that year, the community heard proposals to merge the three schools into one new STEAM school due to low enrollment. By 2022,

1575-676: The "John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Tower". It now houses non-profit groups and offices, including a classroom on the 12th floor for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago . The Sears Roebuck plaque is still visible on top of the building. The Sears, Roebuck and Company Administration Building is a broad five-story masonry building, occupying about 3/4 of the block facing West Arthington between South Homan and Spaulding. It has ornate Classical Revival detailing applied to an otherwise fairly typical Chicago School design. The Power Station

1638-584: The 1980 census, 58 percent of men and women 17 and older had no jobs. In 1986, the Steans Family Foundation was founded to concentrate on grantmaking and programs in North Lawndale. In the 1990s, the foundation noted signs of revitalization, "including a new shopping plaza and some new housing" associated with Homan Square, stabilization of the declining population, and a rise in new residents, mostly Hispanic. They constituted 4.5% of

1701-576: The B&;OCT lines through the city, as well as the two stations on the approach to Grand Central Station. The B&O's 63rd Street Station , in the South Lynne section of the city was the company's other station within Chicago en route to Grand Central Station. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway absorbed the Pere Marquette in 1947 and continued its trains to southwest Michigan. These were

1764-408: The CBL by reforming its discriminatory underwriting policies in order to lend to blacks. North Lawndale was featured in a video explaining the impact of housing discrimination and predatory lending in Chicago. Though the departure of Sears and other businesses from the area had devastated the neighborhood, the repurposing of the Sears complex – known as Homan Square – would aid in rebuilding

1827-566: The Cook County Land Bank Authority. Historian Paul Street, citing a 2001 demographic study by Claritas Inc., writes that more than 70% of men aged 18–45 residing in North Lawndale had criminal records. Beginning in 2021, violence prevention groups led by READI Chicago, Communities Partnering 4 Peace, and Chicago CRED began using large-scale relationship-based intervention tactics in the neighborhood. Flatlining Violence Inspires Peace provided street outreach workers,

1890-591: The Czechs began leaving the neighborhood for newer housing in the western suburbs of Cicero , Berwyn , Riverside , and Brookfield . By the 1920s, many of the Czechs were gone, and Jews became the majority ethnic group of the neighborhood after having left the crowded confines of the Maxwell Street ghetto. North Lawndale later became known as being the largest Jewish settlement in the City of Chicago, with 25% of

1953-478: The Illinois-Indiana border; K, the eleventh letter, was to be assigned to streets within the eleventh mile, counting west from the state line. The eleventh mile is the easternmost area in which the plan was widely implemented, as many neighborhoods to the east were already developed and had street names in place. The portion of K-Town bounded by W. Kinzie St, W. Cermak Rd, S. Kostner Ave, and S. Pulaski Rd

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2016-624: The Northern Pacific Railroad bought the C&;GW along with several other WC lines in the Chicago area, consolidated them all as the Chicago & Northern Pacific Railroad (C&NP). The next month, the WC had itself leased to the Northern Pacific. As they were both controlled by the same railroad, the C&NP and the C&CT were linked together with new construction and trackage rights. The lease arrangement between

2079-499: The Steans Family Foundation was founded to concentrate on grantmaking and programs in the community; the foundation noted signs of revitalization by the 1990s with new shopping and dining, the creation of Homan Square, and new residents moving in – this time Hispanic, and a stabilization in population decrease. Beginning in 2021, violence prevention groups led by READI Chicago, Communities Partnering 4 Peace, and Chicago CRED began using large-scale relationship-based intervention tactics in

2142-499: The WC (and successor Soo Line Railroad ) no longer had its own direct connection to the city, it continued to use the line to access Grand Central Station until 1899, and between 1912 and 1965. In May 1897, the Chicago Terminal Transfer merged the Chicago & Calumet Terminal. The B&O began using Grand Central Station in 1892, when a connection was made between the CTT and the B&O at South Chicago . When

2205-615: The Wisconsin Central and the Northern Pacific worked until the Panic of 1893 , when the WC was freed from the lease, and the C&NP was again placed under the control of the WC. Weakened by the prolonged economic downturn, the C&NP was bankrupt by October 1893. In July 1897, a new company called the Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad (CTT) bought the C&NP from the Wisconsin Central. While

2268-496: The area without gentrification pricing out longtime residents. In 2022, the area had a new grocery store to alleviate the area food desert and received a proposal for a new STEAM academy. Once part of Cicero Township in 1869, the eastern section of North Lawndale to Pulaski Road was annexed to Chicago by an act of the state legislature. Thereafter, streets were platted and drainage ditches were installed between Western (2400 west) and Pulaski Road (4000 west). The name "Lawndale"

2331-437: The area: UCAN, a center for disadvantaged youths moved to the area in 2016, and violence prevention groups led by READI Chicago, Communities Partnering 4 Peace, and Chicago CRED reduced violence and crime in the area by tens of percentage points after beginning area operations in 2021, returning $ 3-$ 7 to the community for every $ 1 invested. Later in 2021, the city opened the community-led Community Safety and Coordination Center,

2394-534: The building and real estate boom of the 2000s. Due to these factors, the total neighborhood population dropped from 124,937 in 1960 to 41,768 by 2000. Writer Jonathan Kozol devotes a chapter of Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools (1991) to North Lawndale. He notes that a local resident called it "an industrial slum without the industry." At the time, it had "one bank, one supermarket, 48 state lottery agents ... and 99 licensed bars." According to

2457-493: The building. The 14th floor of the tower is now used as a space for parties and other community events. A windowless portion of the building indicates the tower's former connection to the Sears Merchandise Building. The complex before demolition was situated along the former Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad line (now CSX ). Homan Square was the area that housed a police compound "likened to

2520-590: The change in ethnicity. In a span of about ten years, the white population of North Lawndale dropped from 87% to less than 9%, but the number of total residents increased. In 1966, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited North Lawndale and "stayed in an apartment there to highlight the deplorable conditions, which included broken doors and rodent infestations. He used the experience to campaign against discriminatory housing practices nationwide, which helped pave

2583-629: The city border en route to Grand Central Station. The B&O's grand Capitol Limited and its other Chicago-bound trains stopped at the stations. The B&O's South Chicago Station was located approximately at 94th Street and Commercial Avenue, slightly to the southwest of the Calumet River 's opening to Lake Michigan . Additionally, the Pere Marquette Railway 's Night Express to Muskegon and Grand Rapids, Michigan and its Resort Special to Bay View, Michigan, also used

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2646-441: The city's Jewish population. From about 1918 to 1955, Jews, overwhelmingly of Russian and Eastern European origin, dominated the neighborhood, starting in North Lawndale and moving northward as they became more prosperous. In the 1950s, blacks migrated into the area from the South Side and from southern states. Unscrupulous real-estate dealers all but evacuated the white population by using blockbusting and scare tactics related to

2709-444: The community. Beginning in the mid 1990s, homeowners came to fill approximately 350 affordable housing units, and a new grocery store and the neighborhood's first Starbucks opened. However, the financial crisis of 2007–2008 set the area back; the grocery store and Starbucks closed, replaced with a grocery store with more limited options and creating a food desert . In the following years, community nonprofit organizations led change in

2772-488: The complex had become a city within itself. Sears created their own services for effective use, much advanced beyond what was required at the time, including: The company's growth continued through the 20th century, and by the 1960s it was the largest retailer in the world. Changing trends in retail sales and methods led to a decline, and the company's mail order business was scaled back in 1987, moving out of these premises. The corporate headquarters had been moved in 1973 to

2835-507: The complex was repurposed by Chicago Police into the Homan Square facility . It gained national notoriety due to its characterization in the media as a CPD ' Black site '. North Lawndale, Chicago The community area was annexed from Cicero Township in 1869. After the 1871 Great Chicago Fire , plant workers moved to the area to support a new McCormick Reaper Company plant. Demographics shifted in 1890 towards immigrants from

2898-407: The fulfillment of orders, because it had to lease space all over the city to warehouse its products. In 1904 the company purchased more than 40 acres (16 ha) of land on Chicago's West Side, and embarked on one of the largest retail development projects to date. The centerpiece of the company-owned "city within a city" were its central administration building, a merchandise development house, and

2961-478: The most renowned and talented Czech artists. The ethnic Bohemians spread throughout the rest of the North Lawndale neighborhood; they were the original owners of many of the beautiful greystone buildings that graced the picturesque streets of the neighborhood. Many of the elite members of the Bohemian community resided in the vicinity of the 1800 and 1900 blocks of South Millard Avenue. These wealthy men, as well as

3024-596: The neighborhood received a new proposal to create the new STEAM elementary school without consolidating the other three schools; the new school's student body would be made of 80% Lawndale residents and 20% from elsewhere in the city. Since 2011, the neighborhood has been the primary filming location for the Showtime series Shameless , although the show is set in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood. Another Showtime TV series, The Chi , which debuted in 2018 and

3087-407: The neighborhood, and city funds created a Community Safety and Coordination Center to centralize community resources. From 2021 to 2022, North Lawndale saw a 58% decrease in gun violence. Reinvestment efforts in the decades following 1990 include proposals of new raised greenway parks and new affordable/mixed-income housing development, though the community has raised concerns of how to reinvest into

3150-705: The neighborhood. Czech institutions popped up in Merigold, beginning in 1890 with the Slovanska Lipa/Sokol Tabor (Czech fraternal & gymnastic organization) at 13th & Karlov. In 1892, the Bohemian Catholic Church, Our Lady of Lourdes, was established at the corner of 15th & Keeler. In 1909 the Czech Freethinkers School, Frantisek Palacky, was built at 1525 S. Kedvale. The Merigold neighborhood

3213-418: The new majority. Real estate brokers used blockbusting and scare tactics to remove white residents throughout the next decade. Beginning in the 1960s, riots , housing discrimination , predatory lending , and other social and economic disasters led to many businesses and residents leaving, with waves of job loss, abandoned property, and poverty ensuing. Community residents formed the grassroots organization

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3276-453: The population. According to Charles Leeks, director of NHS, North Lawndale has the greatest concentration of greystones in the city. In late 2004, the City of Chicago enacted "The Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative" to promote the preservation of the neighborhood's greystone structures. The Contract Buyers League (CBL) was a grassroots organization formed in 1968 by residents of the North Lawndale community. Assisted by Jack MacNamara,

3339-547: The railroad tracks to the south. The merchandise tower, the only surviving element of the 3-million-square-foot Merchandise Building, is to the west, and the Power House and Administration Building are to the east. Beyond those two, fronting on West Arthington and Spaulding Avenue, is the former Merchandise Laboratory. These buildings were built along the former right-of-way of the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (now CSX ). The Sears Merchandise Building Tower

3402-531: The rest of the Czech residents of North Lawndale, were strongly committed to their neighborhood, and were involved in civic affairs. Anton Dvorak Public Elementary School at 3615 W. 16th St. was named after the revered 19th-century Czech composer Antonín Dvořák . Several members of the North Lawndale Czech community occupied positions in city as well as county government. In the post-World War I years,

3465-505: The summer 2021 creation of a new, community-led Community Safety and Coordination Center, a central site for resources for gender-based violence , housing initiatives, youth programs, and physical and mental health, as well as job readiness programs partnered with labor unions . In 2022, the budget accounts for $ 85 million towards similar services. Evaluations from the University of Chicago Crime Lab in 2022 found that participants in

3528-476: The way for the Fair Housing Act ." According to the Steans Family Foundation, in the decades following the 1960s: The poverty resulting from the loss of thousands of jobs due to restructuring of industries from the 1960s to the 1980s meant that money was not available for property maintenance. Houses were abandoned and thousands of structures were leveled during this time. Much land sat vacant until

3591-551: The west by Central Park Avenue, the east by Spaulding Avenue, and the south by West Fillmore Street. Sears was founded in 1886, renamed Sears Roebuck in 1893 when Alvah Roebuck joined the firm, and was originally headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota . Experiencing rapid growth, the retailer in 1895 moved its headquarters to a building on West Adams Street in Chicago, and again the following year to Fulton and Desplaines Streets. The company's rapid growth created problems with

3654-412: The youth program Choose to Change had "48% fewer violent crime arrests and 32% fewer school misconduct incidents than their control group peers," while participants in the male gun violence prevention program READI Chicago had "63 percent fewer arrests and 19% fewer victimizations for shootings and homicides." The Crime Lab further stated that there is "about 85% confidence that for every dollar invested in

3717-553: Was also known as Novy Tabor (New Camp) by the Czech immigrants who settled there. The premier Czech institution, established in 1912, was the Ceska Beseda ( Bohemian Club ) at 3659 W. Douglas Blvd. This club was attended by Chicago's Czech elite, as well as the visiting Czech elite of the rest of the United States and Czechoslovakia. It was the place for its members to celebrate and enjoy literature, drama, and music by

3780-476: Was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, at which time it still included the 3,000,000-square-foot (280,000 m; 69-acre; 28 ha) mail order plant, the world's largest commercial building when it was completed. That building has been demolished, its site taken up by the Homan Square redevelopment project. These core buildings occupy an area bounded on the north by West Arthington Street,

3843-473: Was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places on September 9, 2010. John W. Fountain wrote in his 2005 memoir: K-Town is a city within a city, a fifteen-minute drive from downtown Chicago's skyscrapers ... I used to joke that the "K" stood for "kill." I was only half-joking ... it had developed a reputation for being one of the rougher places in the city. ... K-Town

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3906-417: Was strategically located in Chicago; connections made at Forest Park and trackage rights allowed the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway ("Soo Line") (which had leased the Wisconsin Central in 1909) and the Chicago Great Western Railway access to Grand Central Station. The Baltimore and Ohio had two long distance train stations on the line, on the periphery of Chicago, as passing into

3969-619: Was supplied by Millard and Decker, a real estate firm which subdivided the area in 1870. In 1871, after the Great Chicago Fire , the McCormick Reaper Company (later International Harvester ) constructed and occupied a new large plant in the South Lawndale neighborhood, and many plant workers moved to eastern North Lawndale. The remaining area west of Crawford Avenue was annexed in 1889 by a resolution of

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