Hyde Park

Until recently unless you were familiar with Chicago you might not have heard much about Hyde Park.  Today with president Barack Obama among other notable residents the area is in the news and a resurgence of popularity has ensued.  The area known as Hyde Park was first settled in the 1850's by successful businessman Paul Cornell, a real estate speculator, with the hopes of attracting Chicago's business leaders who wanted homes near the lake but within easy reach of the city's financial district in the Loop.  By the early 1890's the area grew with the founding of the University of Chicago by John D. Rockefeller and later in the decade with the area hosting the World's Columbia Exposition.  Today one of the original structures still stands, once known as the Charles Atwood's Palace of Fine Arts which was converted into the Museum of Science and Industry, a well known museum of Chicago's school children for over a century.

Hyde Park has seen its troubles over the past 100 years but has always managed to survive most notably with the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference which initiated one of the largest urban renewal projects in the nation.  The project resulted in the demolition and redevelopments of entire city blocks of decaying housing with a goal of creating an interracial community of high standards.  As a result the average income soared and middle class Blacks were offered increased opportunities for employment and home ownership. 

Today Hyde Park is considered one of the most prestigious areas in Chicago in which to live.  The proximity to the lake and the rich history of the area has encouraged residential development along side the vintage buildings and architectural gems designed by famous architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe.  The area is known for a mix of ethnic restaurants, coffee house bookstores, live theater and historic landmarks.  The atmosphere of the entire area is one of a multi-cultural mix of an interracial community with the academia of the University of Chicago and the Chicago Theological Seminary.  The area is second only to the downtown museum campus with the most extensive list of cultural organizations in Chicago.  There is no place quite like it anywhere in Chicago which is why property values continue to soar.  The area dubbed by the Chicago Sun Times as "Hot Hyde Park" and listed by Money Magazines as "Top Neighborhood" in 2002 has made Hyde Park one of the most desirable neighborhood in Chicago.