South Avenues A through O (Chicago, Cicero: high crime, homes, purchasing)

[ChiMack]

why didnt they continue the whole alphabet why did they stop at O does anyone know and whats the reason for naming those streets like that? also what kind of area is it down there i remember a friend had family down there andi went with him once that area is mostly hispanic and black right? on thedrive through there some places looked beat up while others faily decent

[noid_1985]

I think in most cases any street that started with the letter P-Z would be outside of the city. The beginning letter of the street (i think) represented how many miles it was from the Indiana border

[icebergsyndrome]

From Wikipedia:

While all north-south streets within city limits are named, rather than numbered, smaller streets in some areas are named in groups all starting with the same letter; thus, when traveling westward on a Chicago street, starting just past Pulaski Road (4000 W), one will cross a mile-long stretch of streets which have names starting with the letter K (From east to west: Komensky, Karlov, Kedvale, Keeler, Tripp, Kildare, Kolin, Kostner, Kenneth, Kilbourn, Kolmar, Kenton, Knox, Kilpatrick, Keating), giving rise to the expression "K-town." These streets are found approximately in the 11th mile west of the Indiana state line, and so begin with the 11th letter of the alphabet. A mile later, just past Cicero (4800 W), the starting letter changes to L, and mile by mile the letters progress up to P. Additionally, for most of the first mile west of the Illinois/Indiana state line, streets are lettered from Avenue A at the state line (4100 E) to Avenue O (3430 E), forming the A group. The areas that might otherwise be the B through J groups are the older parts of the city where street names were already well established before this system was developed (although some small groups of streets seem to have been given names intended to conform to the system), and the Q group (8800 to 9600 W) would fall west of the city, as the only land in Chicago west of 8800 West is O'Hare Airport, undeveloped forest preserve, and a small strip of land connecting O'Hare to the rest of the city and containing only Foster Avenue.

[chet everett]

Years ago that area was all "super emigrant city" -- like you would swear you were in Europe. It was so isolated from other parts of Chicago that you could get by knowing only Polish or Lithuanian or German or anything BUT English. The steel mills were great for hiring big tough men that did not know how to talk to one another because the noise was so bad that you could not hear anything but the roar or furnaces and the pounding of forges. My dad had business associated with supplying general material to the mill and one weekend I got a "tour on the sly" from somebody that my dad knew on the purchasing / administrative side. Like a dream move to a grade school kid!!! I am sure that was unbelievably crappy work but it was all like "special effects" to me...

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohisto...ages/2882.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=pSP...esult&resnum=6

http://www.neiu.edu/~reseller/scussteel.html

[Chuckity]

I grew up there.

The East Side & Hegewisch is definitely more black and hispanic than it was in years past. Some parts are tougher than others (mainly north of 106th Street) but even then, for the most part, it's not a high crime area.

Until probably 15 years ago, Polish was probably the most dominant nationality. But there were also strong groups of Greeks & Arabs as well.

A lot of city workers still live in the area - at this point, I'd say the greatest concentration is in Avalon Trails in Hegewisch. Many of the homes in that area have been passed from parents to their kids - kind of quaint but there's a real sense of community where everyone still knows everyone else.

BTW, that last link that Chet posted was done by my old high school.