| McKinley Park,
one of the 77 official community areas of Chicago, Illinois,
is located on the city's southwest side.
McKinley Park has been a working-class
area throughout its long history. This tradition began
around 1836 when Irish workers on the Illinois &
Michigan Canal took squatter's rights to small tracts
of land. By the 1840s, a few farmers had purchased and
drained land and sent the Irish squatters packing. One
of the first attempts at town building, Canalport, died
stillborn, but Brighton was platted in 1840 and incorporated
in 1851.
The completion of the Illinois
& Michigan Canal in 1848 and the coming of the Chicago
& Alton Railroad in 1857 spurred further subdivision
of the area. The rails amplified the transportation
advantages of the area, and during the Civil War industries
located along the waterways and the railroad. The Union
Rolling Mill was founded in the early 1860s along the
south fork of the Chicago River and produced 50 tons
of rails per day. Eventually, the firm became part of
U.S. Steel.
Many steelworkers lived in the
triangle formed by Ashland and Archer Avenue and 35th
Street in an area called Mt. Pleasant. The name was
probably ironic because of the adjacent steel mills,
and because much of the area was swampy and undrained.
|
