![]() ![]() The United States passed the Housing Act of 1949, assigning financial support to urban renewal projects and slum clearance, and was amended in 1954 to add funding for the rehabilitation of existing structures. ![]() These Acts gave municipalities broader rights of eminent domain and created state-level funding sources to demolish old buildings and construct new ones. The State of Illinois passed the Blighted Areas Redevelopment Act and the Relocation Act in July of 1947. Urban renewal was seen as a solution to these issues city planners argued that if unsafe dwellings and objectionable businesses were removed, they could be replaced by improved buildings and raise property values at the same time.įederal, state and local governments created legislation meant to safeguard the value of business centers and property tax bases while providing more modern structures for the city's residents. After World War II, a national housing crisis exacerbated the urgent need for improved urban planning. Overcrowding and lack of sanitation plagued many of these residences. Although the African American population had grown steadily throughout the Great Migration, from the 1920s to the 1940s, the vast majority of Blacks in Chicago lived in a limited area known as the "Black Belt," located on the city's South and West Sides. ![]() As suburbs developed, white, middle class residents moved out of the city in record numbers, resulting in lower property tax incomes and growing fear that "white flight," and deteriorating neighborhoods, especially those close to the downtown business center, could pose a threat to the city's economic future. In the years immediately following World War II, Chicago faced new housing and development challenges. Though the city continued to study land use and demographics, new building slowed drastically as attention was shifted to the war effort from 1939 to 1945. These studies continued through the 1940s and 1950s. However, Chicago's long-standing interest in addressing the structural and demographic makeup of the city began earlier than the creation of the DUR, as evident through a 1939 Works Progress Administration enumeration study that documented dwellings by homeownership and racial demographics. This merger was the result of the State of Illinois Urban Renewal Consolidation Act of 1961, which required municipalities to create departments of urban renewal to manage projects and funding related to land clearance and redevelopment. The Chicago Department of Urban Renewal (DUR) was created through the combination of the Chicago Land Clearance Commission and the Community Conservation Board in 1962. ![]() Additional processing by Johanna Russ, 2018. Processed by CLIR funded Black Metropolis Research Consortium "Color Curtain Processing Project." By Meghan Courtney and Dominique Fuqua, 2013. When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: Department of Urban Renewal Records,, Special Collections, Chicago Public Library No restrictions a portion of the collection is digitized and available here: Chicago Department of Urban Renewal Records: Photographic Negatives Digital Collection These records were transferred to Chicago Public Library in 1998. 37 linear feet, 1 oversize folder, 1 linear foot audiovisual materialĬhicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |