The Black Metropolis–Bronzeville District is a historic

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

district in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the Douglas community area on the South Side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The neighborhood encompasses the land between the

Dan Ryan Expressway The Dan Ryan Expressway is an expressway in Chicago that runs from the Circle Interchange with Interstate 290 (I-290) near Downtown Chicago through the South Side of the city. It is designated as both I-90 and I-94 south to 66th Street, a d ...

to the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to the east, 31st Street to the north, and Pershing Road (39th street) to the south. The Bronzeville–Black Metropolis National Heritage Area was established in the National Heritage Area Act in 2022. The National Heritage Area will help preserve more than 200 locations in the neighborhood between 18th and 71st Streets.

Description

The

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

includes nine structures that were accorded the

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, archite ...

designation on September 9, 1998. These buildings are: *

Overton Hygienic Building Hygienic Manufacturing Company, also known as Overton Hygienic Company, was a cosmetics company established by Anthony Overton. It was one of the nation's largest producers of African-American cosmetics. Anthony Overton also ran other businesses ...

* Chicago Bee Building *

Wabash Avenue YMCA Wabash Avenue YMCA is a Chicago Landmark located within the Chicago Landmark Black Metropolis-Bronzeville Historic District in the Douglas community area of Chicago, Illinois. This YMCA facility served as an important social center within th ...

* Chicago Defender Building * Unity Hall * Eighth Regiment Armory *

Sunset Cafe The Sunset Cafe, also known as The Grand Terrace Cafe, was a jazz club in Chicago, Illinois operating during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. It was one of the most important jazz clubs in America, especially during the period between 1917 and 1928 when ...

* Victory Monument * Supreme Life Building. Six of the nine were already individually listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

−NRHP as a

multiple property submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of Historic districts in the United States, districts, sites, buildings, struc ...

, on 30 April 30, 1986. These are the Overton Hygienic Building, Chicago Bee Building, Wabash Avenue YMCA, Unity Hall, Eighth Regiment Armory, and Victory Monument. However, the Black Metropolis–Bronzeville District is not an NRHP-listed historic district. The

South Side Community Art Center The South Side Community Art Center is a community art center in Chicago that opened in 1940 with support from the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project in Illinois. Opened in Bronzeville in an 1893 mansion, it became the first blac ...

is also now a designated Chicago Landmark in the district. Victory Monument Chicago

Notes

External links

*
City of Chicago: Official Douglas Community Map
* ** Historic districts in Chicago Douglas, Chicago African-American history in Chicago Chicago Landmarks {{Chicago-geo-stub

Description

See also

Notes

External links