Bioregional History: The Calumet Region of Chicago

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Recommended: Environmental effects of urbanization

Historically, Chicago has been and always will be a city of change both industrially and agriculturally to the metropolis we know and revere today with skyscrapers and culture abound. In order for the city to become the industrial hub, changes were made to the natural landscapes to accommodate business and residency. Steel became the staple good, and green spaces were demolished during the expansion of industry in the Calumet region by the masses in the creation of steel for railroad tracks and structural steel for commercial buildings. For geographical ambiance, The Calumet region of Chicago is consisted of the following neighborhoods: Burnside, Calumet Heights, East Side, Hegewisch, and Pullman, South Chicago, and South Deering. In this essay, I focus primarily on Pullman. It was unknown, or unsought of rather, how these implications would lead to issues of both economic and environmental injustice.
“Since 1980, the region’s economy has changed markedly, as large-scale facilities have closed, all too frequently leaving joblessness and contaminated “brownfields” in their wake. How to build a productive job-providing regional economy is a major Calumet issue. While major investments in traditional Calumet industries such as oil, steel, and automobiles continue, the region is also home to intriguing “creative placemaking” efforts, replete with vibrant main streets, arts and entertainment districts, and tourism-related developments that capitalize on the unparalleled crossroads character of the region and its cultural and natural assets.”
In this essay, I hope to argue that notwithstanding the fact that the Calumet region of Chicago has been at a substantially low point of economic growth and ecological restoration for many ...

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...usan E. The Encyclopedia of Chicago, "Economic Geography." Chicago: Chicago History Museum, The Newberry Library, and Northwestern University, 2005.

Lester, J.W. "Pioneer Stories of the Calumet." Indiana Magazine of History 18: 166-176. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27786025 (accessed).

Pacyga, Dominic A. "The Progressive and Not So Progressive City." In Chicago: a biography. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 150.

Pacyga, Dominic A. The Encyclopedia of Chicago, "South Side." Chicago: Chicago History Museum, The Newberry Library, and Northwestern University, 2005.

Calumet Stewardship Initiative. "Heritage of the Calumet Region." http://calumetstewardship.org/heritage-calumet-region#.U3MpXa1dVb4 (accessed).

Industrial Heritage Archives of Chicago's Calumet Region. "The Steel Mills." http://www.pullman-museum.org/ihaccr/sechsSteelMills.html (accessed).

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