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Ida B. Wells Homes

Former public housing development in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Ida B. Wells Homes
Summary

Former public housing development in Chicago, Illinois, United States

FieldValue
building nameIda B. Wells Homes
image20 121278 Ida B. Wells Homes at Oakwood and Cottage Grove.jpg
captionBuilding within the Ida B. Wells Homes seen from East Oakwood Boulevard and South Cottage Grove Avenue, 1978.
locationBounded by 35th Street, Pershing Road, King Drive, and Cottage Grove Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
statusDemolished
constructed1939–41; Ida B. Wells Homes
1961; Darrow Homes
1970; Madden Park Homes
demolished2002–11
governing bodyChicago Housing Authority (CHA)

Chicago, Illinois

1961; Darrow Homes 1970; Madden Park Homes

The Ida B. Wells Homes, which also included the Clarence Darrow Homes and Madden Park Homes, was a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, bordered by 35th Street to the north, Pershing Road (39th Street) to the south, Cottage Grove Avenue to the east, and Martin Luther King Drive to the west. The Ida B. Wells Homes consisted of rowhouses, mid-rises, and high-rise apartment buildings, constructed between 1939 and 1941 to house African American tenants. They were closed and demolished between 2002 and 2011.

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), the civil rights advocate and investigative journalist, lived nearby, and The Light of Truth Ida B. Wells National Monument was dedicated in the neighborhood in 2022.

History

Students learn to make scale model aircraft for the war effort in a class at the Ida B. Wells Homes community center (March 1942)

Named for African American journalist and newspaper editor Ida B. Wells, the housing project was constructed between 1939 and 1941 as a Public Works Administration project to house black families in the "ghetto", in accordance with federal regulations requiring public housing projects to maintain the segregation of neighborhoods. It was the fourth public housing project constructed in Chicago before World War II and was much larger than the others, with 1,662 units.

Darrow Homes and Madden Park Homes

In 1961, the Clarence Darrow Homes were built adjacent to the Ida B. Wells Homes and in 1970, the last of the Chicago Housing Authority's high-rise projects, the Madden Park Homes, were built east of the Wells. The "three huge, contiguous projects" lined the northern edge of the Oakland community area.

Problems

Children play outside the Ida B. Wells Homes (1973)
date=2010-06-25 }}, Sound Portraits.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141121140703/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-03-20/features/1996080132_1_eric-morse-ida-b-lealan 1 Remorse&quot;: Two children of the Chicago projects have made a remarkable documentary on the life and death of 5-year-old Eric Morse, killed for refusing to steal candy. Their work will be broadcast tomorrow on NPR. VOICES OF EXPERIENCE March 20, 1996]</ref><ref>Flynn McRoberts, Julie Irwin, ''et al''., [https://archive.today/20120717131011/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24140116.html?dids=24140116:24140116&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+16,+1994&author=Flynn+McRoberts++Julie+Irwin,+Tribune+Staff+Writers.+Tribune+reporters+V.+Dion+Haynes,+Monica+Fountain+and+Jacquelyn+Heard+contributed+to+this+article.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=A+SEARCH+FOR+ANSWERS+IN+ERIC'S+FATAL+FALL&pqatl=google &quot;A Search for Answers in Eric's Fatal Fall&quot;], ''Chicago Tribune'', October 16, 1994.</ref> The project was also the location for [[Frederick Wiseman]]'s 1997 documentary ''Public Housing''.<ref>[[Roger Ebert]], [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4235EAE5B830D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM &quot;'Housing' unlocks truth: Filmmaker lets camera tell CHA residents' story&quot;], ''Chicago Sun-Times'', November 27, 1997.</ref><ref>John McCarron, [https://archive.today/20120712235336/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/23293839.html?dids=23293839:23293839&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+28,+1997&author=John+McCarron.&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=CINEMA+VERITE+WISEMAN'S+UNFLINCHING+LOOK+AT+LIFE+IN+THE+CHA&pqatl=google &quot;Cinema Verite: Wiseman's Unflinching Look at Life in the CHA&quot;], ''Chicago Tribune'', November 28, 1997: &quot;'Public Housing' was filmed entirely within the Ida B. Wells public housing complex&quot;.</ref><ref>Elise Nakhnikian, [http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2010/10/15/fred-wiseman-is-there-public-housing &quot;Fred Wiseman Is There: ''Public Housing''&quot;], The Measure, ''The L Magazine'', October 15, 2010.</ref>

Demolition

language=en}}</ref>

References

References

  1. Caryn Rousseau, [[Associated Press]], [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/ida-b-wells-sculpture-to-_n_1173006.html "Ida B. Wells Sculpture To Be Built In Chicago"], Chicago Impact, ''[[Huffington Post]]'', December 28, 2011.
  2. Harvey M. Choldin, [http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/253.html "Chicago Housing Authority"], Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, [[Chicago Historical Society]], 2005.
  3. Kenneth J. Saltman, ''Capitalizing on Disaster: Taking and Breaking Public Schools'', Cultural politics & the promise of democracy, Boulder, Colorado: Paradigm, 2007, {{ISBN
  4. The area called Bronzeville was at one time "the heart of the African-American community in Chicago" - Peter K. B. St. Jean, ''Pockets of Crime: Broken Windows, Collective Efficacy, and the Criminal Point of View'', Chicago: University of Chicago, 2007, {{ISBN
  5. It had more than 860 apartments and almost 800 row houses and garden apartments, and included a city park, Madden Park. Described as "handsome [and] well planned", the project was initially a sought-after address and a route to success.J. S. Fuerst and D. Bradford Hunt, ''When Public Housing was Paradise: Building Community in Chicago'', Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2003, {{ISBN|9780275974978}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PMYMySiYim4C&dq=Housing+1997+documentary+Ida+B.+Wells&pg=PA2 p. 2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Tm9hMkardSgC&q=Leon+Hamilton&pg=PA10 pp. 52–57].
  6. Nicholas Lemann, [https://www.theatlantic.com/past/politics/poverty/origin2.htm "The Origins of the Underclass," Part One], ''[[The Atlantic]]'', July 1986: "It is common in Chicago to meet successful blacks in their late thirties and early forties who spent part of their childhood in the projects."
  7. [http://www.franksmasonryinc.com/Maddenwellshomes.html Madden Wells Homes], Frank's Masonry.
  8. Alexander Polikoff, ''Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing, and the Black Ghetto'', Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University, 2005, {{ISBN
  9. Tom McNamee, [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB36D383AC827B9&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Ida B. Wells - big and bad"], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', December 7, 1986.
  10. Derek S. Hyra, ''The New Urban Renewal: The Economic Transformation of Harlem and Bronzeville'', Chicago: University of Chicago, 2008, {{ISBN
  11. Jerry Thornton and Robert Blau, [https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/09/23/police-say-shooting-may-have-been-ordered-by-rukns/ "Police Say Shooting May Have Been Ordered By Rukns"], ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', September 23, 1988.
  12. Charles Nicodemus, [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB42228B6562FBF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "`Major, Major' Drug Ring Broken"], ''Chicago Sun-Times'', May 20, 1995.
  13. Don Terry, "Graduation Ends a Partnership Born in a Chicago Ghetto", ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 9, 1997, [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/09/us/graduation-ends-a-partnership-born-in-a-chicago-ghetto.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm p. 2].
  14. [http://soundportraits.org/on-air/remorse/ Remorse: The 14 Stories of Eric Morse] {{webarchive. link. (2010-06-25 , Sound Portraits.)
  15. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141121140703/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-03-20/features/1996080132_1_eric-morse-ida-b-lealan 1 Remorse": Two children of the Chicago projects have made a remarkable documentary on the life and death of 5-year-old Eric Morse, killed for refusing to steal candy. Their work will be broadcast tomorrow on NPR. VOICES OF EXPERIENCE March 20, 1996]
  16. Flynn McRoberts, Julie Irwin, ''et al''., [https://archive.today/20120717131011/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24140116.html?dids=24140116:24140116&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+16,+1994&author=Flynn+McRoberts++Julie+Irwin,+Tribune+Staff+Writers.+Tribune+reporters+V.+Dion+Haynes,+Monica+Fountain+and+Jacquelyn+Heard+contributed+to+this+article.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=A+SEARCH+FOR+ANSWERS+IN+ERIC'S+FATAL+FALL&pqatl=google "A Search for Answers in Eric's Fatal Fall"], ''Chicago Tribune'', October 16, 1994.
  17. [[Roger Ebert]], [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4235EAE5B830D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "'Housing' unlocks truth: Filmmaker lets camera tell CHA residents' story"], ''Chicago Sun-Times'', November 27, 1997.
  18. John McCarron, [https://archive.today/20120712235336/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/23293839.html?dids=23293839:23293839&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+28,+1997&author=John+McCarron.&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=CINEMA+VERITE+WISEMAN'S+UNFLINCHING+LOOK+AT+LIFE+IN+THE+CHA&pqatl=google "Cinema Verite: Wiseman's Unflinching Look at Life in the CHA"], ''Chicago Tribune'', November 28, 1997: "'Public Housing' was filmed entirely within the Ida B. Wells public housing complex".
  19. Elise Nakhnikian, [http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2010/10/15/fred-wiseman-is-there-public-housing "Fred Wiseman Is There: ''Public Housing''"], The Measure, ''The L Magazine'', October 15, 2010.
  20. Jacqueline Thompson, [http://wethepeoplemedia.org/uncategorized/ida-b-wells-revisited-2/ Ida B. Wells Revisited], Residents' Journal, We The People Media, October 5, 2011.
  21. link. (2013-05-10 , Chicago Housing Authority.)
  22. [http://secc-chicago.org/neighborhoods/oakland/ Oakland] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-02-13 , South East Chicago Commission.)
  23. [http://www.gazettechicago.com/index/2012/02/bronzeville-city-to-honor-pioneer-ida-b-wells/ Bronzeville, City to honor pioneer Ida B. Wells] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-07-26 , Gazette Chicago, February 2, 2012.)
  24. Shaw, Nichole. (2021-06-30). "Unveiling of Ida B. Wells Monument in Bronzeville met with 'joy, excitement, appreciation and humbleness'".
Wikipedia Source

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