Chicago Public Library
Special Collections and Preservation Division
Neighborhood History Research Collection

Brighton Park Community Collection, 1927 – 1992
0.5 linear feet; 4 oversize folders; 2 photographs; 1 audio cassette
Call number: Archives_BPCC

Historical Note | Scope and Content | Provenance
Access | Box and Folder Inventory | Separation Record

Historical Note

Brighton Park is located southwest of Chicago’s Loop, between Central Park Avenue to the west, Western Avenue to the east, the Stevenson Expressway to the north, and 49th Street to the south. Settlers first located in this area (at that time swampy land) in the 1830s. The fledgling town had aspirations to become Chicago’s livestock trading center but these plans were dashed when the Union Stock Yards opened in 1865 in another Chicago neighborhood. Brighton Park continued to be an industrial area with the establishment of the Santa Fe Railroad’s Corwith Yards at 35th Street and Central Park Avenue. The developing rail network in Chicago ensured Brighton Park’s future growth as both an industrial and residential neighborhood. The community of Brighton Park, part of Lake Township, was finally annexed into Chicago in 1889.

Brighton Park’s proximity to both Chicago’s Loop and to Midway Airport, along with excellent public transportation, keeps the area vibrant despite the decline in the community’s industrial base.   

Scope and Content

Brighton Park Community Collection is organized into four series: historical sketches; schools; street scenes; and religious organizations. Photographs and an audio cassette have been removed to the Audio/Visual collection and are described following the Box and Folder Inventory.

Most of the material in the Brighton Park Community Collection was created by local historian and reporter, Joseph Hamzik, during the 1960s. Hamzik wrote articles for several community newspapers, including Brighton Park Life, Back of the Yards Journal, Southwest News Herald, and the Bridgeport News. Copies of many of these articles are in the collection. A smaller amount of information relates to schools and churches in the area.

Provenance

Materials in the Brighton Park Community Collection were transferred to the Special Collections and Preservation Division from the Brighton Park Branch Library in 2002.

Access

The Brighton Park Community Collection is available to the public for research in the Special Collections and Preservation Division Reading Room on the 9th floor of the Chicago Public Library's Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60605. The collection does not circulate, although photocopy and photoreproduction services are available depending upon the condition of the original materials. First time patrons to Special Collections must present photo identification and complete a Reader Registration Form. Telephone inquiries on this collection and other Special Collections holdings can be directed to 312-747-4875.

 

Box and Folder Inventory
Box 1					Historical Sketches
Folder				1	The Kelly Community, A Survey by Students of the Thomas Kelly High School, 1938
				2	Gleanings of Archer Road by Joseph Hamzik, 1961
				3	Gleanings of Archer Road by Joseph Hamzik, 2nd copy, incomplete, 1961
				4	Community newspaper articles written by Joseph Hamzik, 1 of 2, 1961 – 1975
				5	Community newspaper articles written by Joseph Hamzik, 2 of 2, 1961 – 1975
				6	History of Public Schools in Brighton Park by Joseph Hamzik, 1992
				7	Essays on Chicago, What Chicago Means to Me, 1970
				8	History of Brighton Park by Mary Degner, c. 1970s
				9	The History of Brighton Park by Joseph Hamzik, also Teaching Unit, n.d., see also Audio Cassette # 1 for original recording.
					Religious Organizations
				10	Evangelical Lutheran Church of Peace, U.A.C., Twenty-fifth Anniversary, 1927
				11	St. Agnes Church, history of, n.d.
				12	St. Joseph and St. Anne Church, Golden Jubilee, 1939
					Newspaper, Welcome Pope John Paul II, issue of Brighton Park, McKinley Park Life covering Pope John Paul II’s visit to Chicago, October 4, 1979, see oversize folder 1
					Schools
					History of Public Schools in Brighton Park, by Joseph Hamzik, 1992, see Box 1, folder 6
				13	Kelly High School, clippings, 1966
				14	Mark Twain School, history of, 1938
					Street Scenes
					Map, Percent of Negro Population, in Census Tracts, City of Chicago, 1950, 1960 [two sided] see oversize folder 2
					Map, reproduction of Map of Chicago and its Southern and Western Suburbs, 1853, annotated by Joseph Hamzik to highlight Town of Brighton, 1962, see oversize folder 3
					Map, reproduction of Map of Chicago, Omnibus Lines, 1857, annotated by Joseph Hamzik to show Brighton House Line, c. 1962, see oversize folder 4
				15	Map, hand-drawn, showing Archer Road, Central Park, 43rd Street, 47th Street, n.d.
Oversize Folders
				1	Newspaper, Welcome Pope John Paul II, issue of Brighton Park, McKinley Park Life covering Pope John Paul II’s visit to Chicago, October 4, 1979
				2	Map, Percent of Negro Population, in Census Tracts, City of Chicago, 1950, 1960 [two sided]
				3	Map, reproduction of Map of Chicago and its Southern and Western Suburbs, 1853, annotated by Joseph Hamzik to highlight Town of Brighton, 1962
				4	Map, reproduction of Map of Chicago, Omnibus Lines, 1857, annotated by Joseph Hamzik to show Brighton House Line, c. 1962
Audio/Visual
	Photographs
				1.1	Brighton Park Race Track, n.d.
				1.2	Map, Unincorporated “Town of Brighton” created November 19, 1853, by J. Hamzik, n.d.
		Audio Cassette
			1		Recording of The History of Brighton Park, written and narrated by Joseph Hamzik, n.d.
Separation Record
McKinley Monument Memorial, prepared by the South Park Commissioners, Chicago, 1905 is cataloged in the Special Collections and Preservation Division, call number  E711.6 .C45 1905. Hundred years of the Chicago School History, by John Howatt, Chicago, 1940 is cataloged in the Special Collections and Preservation Division, call number LA269.C4H83 1940.