West Chesterfield Community Association Archives

Abstract

West Chesterfield Community Association was founded in 1956 to promote community awareness and development. It lies between the Chatham and Roseland communities. These papers include monthly board and community meeting notes, community-based projects, newsletters and financial records.

Biographical/Historical

West Chesterfield Community Association, Inc. (WCCA) was organized in 1956, and is a State of Illinois Non-Profit organization. Their mission is to promote community awareness and to encourage involvement, as it related to problems facing the community.

It is considered a historically African American community bounded by the B & O Railroad tracks on the North, 95^th Street on the South, State Street on the West, and the west side of Martin Luther King on the East. African Americans migrated into the community during World War I. In 1923 there were no streets, sidewalks, sewers or water, just farmland and prairie. By 1924 the land was subdivided into 91 lots and named Booker Highland. According to one of the old settlers, this was to indicate that the area was black and the name probably referred to Booker T. Washington.

After the Great Depression, white families started leaving their homes and African American families began to replace them. Black laborers, doctors and other professionals started buying and building homes. West Chesterfield has been home to many renowned African Americans including Judge R. Eugene Pincham, Dr. William Gibbs, Maudelle Bousfield, Jacoby Dickens and Ed Gardner to name a few.

The organization purchased a home in 1985 as a cultural center and meeting place. They established 501(c)3 status and worked briefly with the West Chesterfield Historical Society. West Chesterfield is in the 9^th Ward and is working aggressively on development issues as they relate to the 95^th Street Terminal Development and the land surrounding it. Michael LaFargue, a past president of WCCA, donated the papers in 2020. He is now president of the Redline Extension Association which took over after Developing Community Projects closed.

Sources

LaFargue, Michael. West Chesterfield Community Association: neighborhood/community history, 2013

Scope and Contents

These papers include monthly board and community meeting notes, community-based projects, newsletters and financial records.

Arrangement

There are four series in this collection. They are: Administrative Records,

Monthly meetings, WCCA Projects and Subject Research Files.

Related Materials

Related materials at the Chicago Public Library include:

• Developing Community Projects
• People for Community Recovery
• Washington Heights Civic Organization Archives

Collection Inventory

Series 1: Administrative Records, 2000-2013, undated

Scope and Contents

West Chesterfield Community Association constitution and by-laws and business records as they relate to the running of the association are in this series.

Arrangement

This series is in alphabetical order.

Series 2: Monthly meetings, 2007-2019

Scope and Contents

These folders contain board and community meeting notes, newspaper articles, special reports and financial reports. Each folder contains all the activities that went on before that month: this includes sign in sheets for CAPS meeting, correspondence relating to West Chesterfield business, financial reports, special reports, newsletters. The signed protest ballots regarding redistricting of the 6^th ward are in the 2011 November minutes.

Arrangement

This series is in chronological order.

Series 3: Projects, 2012-2013

Scope and Contents

WCCA had two special community that grew out of grants. The Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA) was created by the Illinois Violence Prevention Act of 1995. The act called for a comprehensive, collaborative approach to violence prevention and authorized IVPA to plan, coordinate, fund and evaluated public health and public safety approaches to violence prevention in the state. The Center for Strategic Investment in Youth and Families was also part of IVPA.

Arrangement

This series is in chronological order.

Series 4: Subject Research Files, 2013, undated

Scope and Contents

This series contain biographies of prominent African Americans who lived in the West Chesterfield community. The miscellaneous files are names they intended to research.

Arrangement

This series is in alphabetical order.