Southside or South Side is a neighborhood in western

East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing ac ...

. Together with

Northside Northside or North Side may refer to: Music * Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England * NorthSide, an American record label * NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark * "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...

and

Roxana Roxana (c. 340 BC – 310 BC, grc, Ῥωξάνη; Old Iranian: ''*Raṷxšnā-'' "shining, radiant, brilliant"; sometimes Roxanne, Roxanna, Rukhsana, Roxandra and Roxane) was a Sogdian or a Bactrian princess whom Alexander the Great married a ...

, it makes up "East Chicago proper," as distinct from

Indiana Harbor Indiana Harbor may refer to: * Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, a harbor and artificial waterway in East Chicago, Indiana connecting Lake Michigan to the Grand Calumet River * Indiana Harbor (East Chicago), the section of East Chicago located east of ...

. The population is 64%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

and 25%

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 ...

. The neighborhood is home to 20% of East Chicago's population. The neighborhood is dominated by residential properties, with relatively few institutional buildings. Southside is bounded on the north by the commercial corridor along Chicago Avenue (

Indiana State Road 312 State Road 312 in the U.S. state of Indiana is an east–west state highway in the northwestern part of the state. Route description SR 312 heads east from White Oak Avenue next to the Bishop Noll Institute and enters a mostly commercial ...

), and on the south by the

Grand Calumet River The Grand Calumet River is a river that flows primarily into Lake Michigan. Originating in Miller Beach in Gary, it flows through the cities of Gary, East Chicago and Hammond, as well as Calumet City and Burnham on the Illinois side. The majo ...

. To the east, the residential area is bounded by Indianapolis Boulevard; beyond that lies the industrial district along the

Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal The Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is an artificial waterway on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, in East Chicago, Indiana, which connects the Grand Calumet River to Lake Michigan. It consists of two branch canals, the 1.25 mile (2 km) La ...

. To the west, Southside adjoins

North Hammond North Hammond is a neighborhood in western Hammond, Indiana, north of the Grand Calumet River and south of Wolf Lake. It is bounded to the south by Central Hammond, to the west by the Chicago neighborhood of Hegewisch, to the north by Robert ...

. Southside was the site of the very first home built in East Chicago, that of William H. Penman (later East Chicago's first mayor), built in 1888. Most of the residential development in East Chicago's first decades, prior to the 20th century, took place in this neighborhood.

References

{{East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago, Indiana