Aldine Square was a residential neighborhood of

Oakland, Chicago Oakland, located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA, is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Bordered by 35th and 43rd Streets, Cottage Grove Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, the Oakland area was developed between 187 ...

, that existed from 1874 until it was demolished in 1938 to make way for the

Ida B. Wells Homes The Ida B. Wells Homes, which also comprised the Clarence Darrow Homes and Madden Park Homes, was a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project located in the heart of the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illino ...

. It comprised 42 brick and limestone houses that surrounded a park with a pond. Originally considered an elegant neighborhood for the wealthy, it had become dilapidated by the 1920s. It and its surroundings were demolished in the 1930s to make way for the homes.

Construction

Aldine Square was built in 1874. It was constructed by U.P. Smith. The neighborhood was bounded by Vincennes Avenue on the east, Eden Avenue on the west, and 37th and 38th Streets on the north and south. It consisted of 42 houses built of brick and limestone that surrounded a park with a pond in it, and was originally paved with cedar blocks. Houses in the neighborhood carried an "Aldine Square" address. In 1877 the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' referred to it as "the most charming of all the beautiful places of residence in the city." Its elegance was considered to have peaked in the 1880s.

Transition and demolition

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

lived at 545 Aldine Square in 1918. Former residents of the neighborhood held a reunion at the

La Salle Hotel The La Salle Hotel was a historic hotel located on the northwest corner of La Salle Street and Madison Street (Chicago), Madison Street in the Chicago Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was ...

in 1929, by which time the neighborhood had become primarily inhabited by African-Americans and the buildings dilapidated. On October 25, 1934, it was announced that a new housing project would be constructed in the vicinity, which was the second such project in Chicago and would entail the condemnation of the properties of the area, including Aldine Square. The Federal Government sent photographers to document the neighborhood between 1934 and 1936. The neighborhood was demolished in 1938 for the construction of the

, along with the rest of the vicinity. A replica of Aldine Square was exhibited at a March 1939 flower show at

Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of shops, restaura ...

; at that time the pylons at the entrance of the neighborhood and the park itself were still standing, but only the foundations of the houses remained.

References

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