Harvey, Illinois

History

Harvey was founded in 1891 by Turlington W. Harvey, a close associate of Dwight Moody, the founder of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago after a public vote for incorporation on April 12, 1890. Harvey was originally intended as a model town for Christian values and was one of the Temperance Towns. It was closely modeled after the company town of Pullman, which eventually was annexed into the city of Chicago. On June 11, 1891, Peter B. Lamb was elected the first village president.

The city had its greatest growth in the prosperous postwar years, when it was home to the Buda Engine Co., which was acquired by Allis-Chalmers in 1953. The city reached its peak population in 1980. By this time, it was beginning to suffer losses in jobs and population through restructuring of steel and similar industries. The Dixie Square Mall closed in November 1978.

In the 2000s and 2010s, Mayor Eric Kellogg attempted to boost Harvey's economy, with little success. Kellogg offered developers millions of dollars in incentives to revive the long-vacant Dixie Square Mall, but trends in retail adversely affected malls around the country. The city granted a developer $10 million in incentives to redevelop the Chicago Park Hotel, but he abandoned the project before completion, leaving the building gutted.

In February 2018, Harvey became the first city in Illinois to have its revenue garnished by the State in order to fund the city's pension liabilities. The city laid off employees in order to deal with the changes.

Most recent Harvey mayor Christopher J. Clark, who had served as the city's mayor since 2019, died on January 30, 2026.

Geography

Harvey has a total area of 6.21 sqmi, all land.

Surrounding areas

: Dixmoor / Riverdale : Posen [[Image:Up arrow left.svg|20px]] [[Image:Up-1.svg|30px]] [[Image:Up arrow right.svg|20px]] Riverdale / Dolton : Markham [[Image:Left.svg|30px]] [[Image:Right.svg|30px]] Dolton / Phoenix / South Holland : Markham [[Image:Down arrow left.svg|20px]] [[Image:Down arrow.svg|30px]] [[Image:Down arrow right.svg|20px]] South Holland : Markham / East Hazelcrest

Demographics

|align-fn=center 2010 2020

As of the 2020 census there were 20,324 people, 8,657 households, and 5,492 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,274.90 PD/sqmi. There were 8,531 housing units at an average density of 1,374.64 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 63.33% African American, 5.87% White, 2.50% Asian, 0.82% Native American,0.04% Pacific Islander, 20.55% from other races, and 6.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 29.72% of the population.

There were 8,657 households, out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.90% were married couples living together, 31.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.56% were non-families. 33.67% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.49% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.62 and the average family size was 2.77.

The city's age distribution consisted of 25.8% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,635, and the median income for a family was $45,729. Males had a median income of $28,204 versus $24,671 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,919. About 25.3% of families and 31.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 47.6% of those under age 18 and 17.6% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Harvey is in Illinois's 2nd congressional district.

The city faces severe financial problems. From 2010 to 2013, it failed to fund its police and fire pensions, paying just $140 of $10.1 million required contributions. This problem has been reported in other Chicago suburbs with economic problems. Since 2007, Harvey has refused to audit its municipal finances as required by the state. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that during this time, there was "a scheme to divert bond proceeds for improper purposes."

As of September 2014, some aldermen were concerned the city could soon be unable to make payroll. In 2017, the city was forced to pay almost $11 million in unpaid and underpaid pension fund contributions for the city's firefighters. A panel of judges on the Illinois First District Appellate Court in Chicago determined that Harvey's mayor and city Council had improperly abused their discretionary powers for years. According to the Cook County Record, "The case had landed in Cook County court in 2010, when the Board of Trustees of the City of Harvey Firefighters’ Pension Fund first filed suit against the city of Harvey, alleging chronic underfunding of the pension fund, which managed pension money for 67 retired firefighters, had left the fund teetering on the verge of insolvency."

Mayors of Harvey

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Education

Harvey Public School District 152 operates public elementary schools in most of Harvey. A portion of Harvey is within the Posen-Robbins School District 143½. and a Portion is within the [Dolton - Riverdale School District 148] Thornton Township High Schools District 205 operates the public high school. The portion under the Posen-Robbins School District 143½ is a part of the Bremen High School District 228.

There is also 2 private PreK - 12 schools in Harvey: Outreach Exceptional Learning Academy and Standberry Christian Academy.

Harvey is located within Illinois Community College District 510.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Harvey is served by two stations along the Metra Electric University Park line to Chicago. One is at 147th Street (a.k.a. Sibley Boulevard) and Clinton Street, and the other is at Park Avenue and 154th Street. Eleven Pace bus routes serve Harvey and the Pace Harvey Transportation Center.

Three major north–south streets in Chicago venture as far south as Harvey in some capacity. Halsted Street (Illinois Route 1) runs through the east side of town. Dixie Highway, as it is known in Harvey, is Western Avenue in Chicago. Finally, Chicago's Ashland Avenue becomes Wood Street in Harvey. The reason for this is a surveyor's error along the line where Interstate 57 is now located; Harvey's street names and numbers conform to the section lines rather than actual distance from Chicago's base lines (as indicated by the jogs in Halsted Street near 150th Street and 159th Street between Harvey and Markham, as examples). Harvey's own Ashland Avenue serves as the east–west dividing line for house numbering.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Harvey, Illinois

In popular culture

The Dixie Square Mall, an abandoned shopping mall in Harvey, was the setting for filming of the car chase scene in The Blues Brothers.

References

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. "USGS detail on Newtown".
3. "Harvey city, Illinois, Illinois profile".
4. Gilbert, James. (1991). "Perfect Cities: Chicago's Utopias of 1893". University of Chicago Press.
5. (December 24, 1978). "Harvey's JCPenney store closing after January". Southtown Star.
6. (March 25, 2006). "New retail in store for Dixie Mall site". Chicago Business.
7. (July 5, 2013). "Harvey hotel deal rife with red flags". Chicago Tribune.
8. Zak Koeske. (April 10, 2018). "Harvey lays off 40 police and fire employees, union officials say". Chicago Tribune.
9. Sobol, Rosemary. (January 30, 2026). "Harvey mayor Christopher J. Clark dead". Chicago Sun-Times.
10. (January 30, 2026). "Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark dies, city officials confirm". CBS Chicago.
11. "Gazetteer Files".
12. "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decades". [[US Census Bureau]].
13. "1970 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Illinois - Table 16 - Race by Sex, for Places of 10,000 to 50,000".
14. "1980 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Illinois- Table 14 - Persons by Race and Table 16 (p. 18-28) - Total Persons and Spanish Origin Persons by Type of Spanish Origin and Race (p. 29-39)".
15. "1990 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Illinois - Table 6 - Race and Hispanic Orogin".
16. "P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Harvey city, Illinois".
17. "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Harvey city, Illinois".
18. "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Harvey city, Illinois".
19. Compilation of American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut categories
20. Compilation of Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino categories. Other Asian groups would be included in the Some Other Race category
21. Compilation of Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, and Vietnamese categories. Other Asian groups would be included in the Some Other Race category
22. Not an option in the 1970 Census
23. Compiliation of Hawaiian, Guamanian, and Samoan categories. Other Pacific Islander groups would be included in the Some Other Race category
24. Calculated as the difference between the total population and all other categories
25. Not an option in the 1970 Census
26. Not an option in the 1980 Census
27. Not an option in the 1990 Census
28. Not an option in the 1970 Census
29. "Explore Census Data".
30. "SEC accuses City of Harvey, comptroller of fraud - Early & Often".
31. "Dozens of suburban police and fire pension funds drying up - Early & Often".
32. "Harvey status quo aided by state, feds".
33. "Feds turn up heat on suburban bookkeeper’s role in water agency - Early & Often".
34. (September 21, 2014). "Harvey To Vote On Police Department Audit By Cook County Sheriff".
35. Bilyk, Jonathan. (August 7, 2017). "Appeals court: Pension fund has right to $11M, potential tax hike from Harvey for underpaying pensions". Cook County Record.
36. Lindop, John. (June 14, 1960). "Court Battle Looms On Annexation Bid". [[Harvey Tribune]].
37. (March 31, 1963). "The Candidates Go On Record". [[Markham Tribune]].
38. (February 24, 1963). "James Haines for Mayor". [[South Holland Tribune]].
39. (April 15, 1983). "Blacks Unite In Harvey To Elect Mayor". [[The Chicago Tribune]].
40. Ayers, Ronald. (February 6, 1983). "Time is right for a black mayor: David Johnson". [[Harvey Star Tribune]].
41. "[http://www.prsd1435.org/Pages/default.aspx Welcome to Posen-Robbins School District 143.5] {{webarchive. link. (2013-05-24 ." [[Posen-Robbins School District 143½]]. Retrieved on February 24, 2013.)
42. "Pace Bus".
43. Sophia. (April 26, 2022). "Shopping Malls May Be Staples Of Society, But These Abandoned Ones Are Terrifying".