Uptown, Chicago

Uptown is one of Chicago's 77 community areas. It is bounded by Foster Avenue to the north; Montrose Avenue and Irving Park Road to the south; Lake Michigan to the east; and Ravenswood Avenue and Clark Street to the west.

Uptown rose to prominence in the early twentieth century as Chicagoland's largest commercial and entertainment center outside of the Loop thanks to its plentiful theaters, clubs, shops and parkland. It was also a center for early film-making. To this day Uptown remains a hub for live entertainment, particularly Uptown Square.

Uptown's amenities include Montrose Beach and multiple nature reserves. It is also home to Truman College and the historic Graceland Cemetery.

The historical, cultural, and commercial center of Uptown is Broadway, with Uptown Square at the center. In 1900, the Northwestern Elevated Railroad constructed its terminal at Wilson and Broadway (now part of the CTA Red Line). Uptown became a summer resort town for downtown dwellers, and derived its name from the Uptown Store, which was the commercial center for the community. For a time^[when?], all northbound elevated trains from downtown terminated in Uptown. Uptown became known as an entertainment destination. Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson and other early film stars produced films at the Essanay Studios on Argyle Street. The Aragon Ballroom, Riviera Theater, Uptown Theatre, and Green Mill Jazz Club are all located within a half block of Lawrence and Broadway. Uptown is also home to one of Chicago's most celebrated final resting spots, Graceland Cemetery.

The Uptown neighborhood boundary once extended farther to the North, to Hollywood Avenue. Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, just after the World's Columbian Exposition, the entire area had experienced a housing construction boom. In the mid-1920s, construction of large and luxurious entertainment venues resulted in many of the ornate and historic Uptown Square buildings which exist today. The craftsmanship and artistry of those Uptown Square buildings reflects the ornate pavilions of the Exposition.

For over a century, Uptown has been a popular Chicago entertainment district, playing a significant role in ushering in the Gilded Age, the American Lyceum movement, the jazz age, the silent film era, the swing era, the big band era, and the rock and roll era. It has also been a filming location for over 480 movies. Uptown has ties to significant spectator sport athletes and organizations, including the Chicago Blackhawks and three Olympic figure skaters, as well as theater, comedy clubs, dance performers who later became nationally famous, and even "The People's Music School," a needs-based, tuition-free music school for formal classical music training.

By the 1950s, the middle class was leaving Uptown for more distant suburbs, as commuter rail and elevated train lines were extended. Uptown's housing stock was aging, and old mansions were subdivided. Residential hotels which had housed wives of sailors attached to the Great Lakes Naval Station during World War II now served low-income migrants from the South and Appalachia. Uptown developed a reputation as "Hillbilly Heaven" in the 1950s and the 1960s. The Council of the Southern Mountains, headquartered in Berea, Kentucky, launched the Chicago Southern Center in 1963 in Uptown, with help from the Chicago philanthropist W. Clement Stone. Chicago's anti-poverty program opened the Montrose Urban Progress Center. Students for a Democratic Society initiated a community organizing project, JOIN (Jobs or Income Now) in 1963. Large-scale urban renewal projects like Harry S. Truman College eliminated much low-cost housing, and the low-income Southern white residents dispersed. New waves of Asian, Hispanic, and African-American migrants moved into the remaining neighborhoods.

Beginning in the 1950s, Native Americans came to Chicago in increasing numbers as part of a relocation program initiated by the federal government, although those sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs may have constituted a minority of arrivals, who often came to the city independently in search of economic opportunities. With supportive neighborhood institutions such as the American Indian Center, availability of social services, and low housing costs, Uptown established itself as the central hub for the growing community. Indeed, the Native population in Chicago nearly doubled from 3,400 in the 1960 Census to at least 6,500 by the end of the decade, with growth continuing even after the lapse of the federal relocation program. The majority of Uptown's Native American residents dispersed following the decline in factory jobs throughout the 1980s, with some moving to neighborhoods west of Uptown while others returned to their reservations altogether.