Stony Island Avenue is a major street on
South Side of the city of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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, designated 1600 East in
Chicago's street numbering system
Roads and expressways in Chicago summarizes the main thoroughfares and the numbering system used in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.
Street layout
Chicago's streets were laid out in a grid that grew from the city's original townsite plan pla ...
. It runs from 56th Street south to the
Calumet River. Stony Island Avenue continues sporadically south of the Calumet in the southern suburbs, running alongside the
Bishop Ford Freeway
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, sometimes as a
frontage road
A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drive ...
. It terminates at County Line Road on the border of
Will and
Kankakee Counties.
Points of interest
Running roughly parallel to the
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also ...
, Stony Island Avenue forms the western boundary of
Jackson Park, former home of the
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, h ...
of 1893 and current home of the
Museum of Science and Industry. Buildings of the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
line its western side, as does the national headquarters of the historically black
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen st ...
sorority. Between 59th and 60th streets the
Midway Plaisance
The Midway Plaisance, known locally as the Midway, is a public park on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its west end and Jackson Par ...
runs westward to connect Jackson Park to
Washington Park a mile away. Shortly after leaving the
Hyde Park neighborhood sits
Hyde Park Career Academy at 63rd Street. The
Barack Obama Presidential Center is slated to be built in Jackson Park across from the high school.
Stony Island becomes an extremely wide thoroughfare between 67th and 94th streets. At 71st Street there is a
Metra Electric Line Stony Island Avenue station. Just south of 71st was the famous
Moo & Oink Grocery Store that closed its doors in 2011.
[Moo & Oink Closing: http://www.suntimes.com/business/8822587-420/moo-oink-goes-up-for-auction.html] At 73rd Street is the
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930.
A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
's
Mosque Maryam
Mosque Maryam, also known as Muhammad Mosque #2 or Temple #2, is the headquarters of the Nation of Islam, located in Chicago, Illinois. It is at 7351 South Stony Island Avenue in the South Shore neighborhood.[Chicago Skyway
Interstate 90 (I-90) in the US state of Illinois runs roughly northwest-to-southeast through the northern part of the state. From the Wisconsin state line at South Beloit, it heads south to Rockford before heading east-southeast to the I ...]
overhead. Adjacent to this intersection on 79th Street is the
New Regal Theater famous as The Avalon, a
Chicago Landmark.
At about 92nd Street, Stony Island passes to the west of the geographical feature for which it was named, a stony hill that was once an island when the glacial
Lake Chicago covered the area thousands of years ago. Early pioneers gave this hill—located in the present day neighborhood of
Calumet Heights, Chicago (also referred to as Pill Hill for the large number of doctors who used to live in the area), at —the name Stony Island because at a distance it looked like an island set in a tractless
prairie
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
sea. (See also the nearby
Blue Island.) At the intersection with 93rd Street is the
Bronzeville Children's Museum
Bronzeville Children's Museum is a museum in the Calumet Heights community area of the South Side of Chicago. It is the first and only African American children's museum in the United States. Founded in 1998, the museum moved to its current l ...
. It is the only
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
children's museum in the
U.S. South of 103rd Street, Stony Island Ave. enters the
heavily industrialized region of
Lake Calumet.
At some points in the south suburbs, street signs for Stony Island Avenue are misspelled as Stoney Island Avenue.
Transportation
Stony Island Avenue is primarily served by the 28 Stony Island north of 103 Street. The 2 Hyde Park Express, 6 Jackson Park Express and 15 Jeffery Local serve the road for short segments.
The
South Chicago Branch of Metra Electric has a stop at
71 St
Expressway
Between 103rd Street and the , there is a significant gap in the road. This gap is filled by the Stony Island Avenue
expressway, which runs for approximately between and 95th Street. At its northern end, the road reverts to at-grade status.
During the 1960s, the expressway was to have been the southern terminus of
Interstate 694, which also would have included an upgraded
Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive, and called DuSable Lake Shore Drive, The Outer Drive, The Drive, or LSD) is a multilevel expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and adjacent t ...
in its routing. It was cancelled by 1979.
Exit list
See also
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References
{{Streets in Chicago
Streets in Chicago