Every big city faces big challenges, Chicago is not an exemption. The multiculturality that people usually highlight as one of the most unique features of the windy city carries a long history of many communities trying to find their place in this sprawling land while accomplishing the difficult task of preserving their roots and integrating in a broader landscape. 

Migrants often arrive with rich traditions and new ways of seeing the world. Yet they are usually minorities, vulnerable to exclusion. In some cases, they even confront systemic segregation. Such adversities can erode migrants’ pride and sense of belonging, particularly for future generations raised in a broader social environment that often undervalues minority cultures. For instance, minority children frequently face bullying at school based upon race or ethnicity, also known as Biased Bullying (Walton, 2018), which can lead them to hide their origins. 

This paper explores how communities build a sense of pride and preserve it over time, even amid political, economic, and social changes. It focuses on the neighborhood of Bronzeville on Chicago’s South Side and examines the physical transformation of buildings around 35th Street. By reviewing major urban renovation projects in the neighborhood, the paper contrasts historical landmarks with what now stands in their place. This paper reports how Bronzeville is likely preserving its pride while evolving to being an integrated part of the city and leaving back any negative label that could be related to the neighborhood.

The contributions of this study are twofold: first it provides a timeline of the most significant changes in Bronzeville’s buildings, and second it shows how these changes foster social integration—both within the neighborhood and with the broader city and argues that beyond preserving historic buildings, neighborhoods sustain their identity by socially protecting their residents—allowing them to remain in the community and preventing displacement due to gentrification or discrimination. One way to achieve this is through economic integration and development with the rest of the city, ensuring that resources flow into the neighborhood and improve the welfare of its cultural minority.

The remainder of the paper outlines a description of Bronzeville’s history and significance in Chicago, examines the suitability of analyzing community pride through changes in the built environment, and presents evidence on the neighborhood’s current condition following multiple urban renovation programs. Finally, it concludes with a discussion of whether preserving buildings is an effective way to safeguard cultural heritage in a neighborhood.

It is important to acknowledge that this paper reflects the perspective of a visitor to the neighborhood, and some deeper realities may only emerge through prolonged observation. Throughout the text, I aim to distinguish clearly between assertions that are informed conjectures and those that are grounded in evidence.

Description of Bronzeville

According to the Illinois Institute of Technology (n.d.), the Bronzeville area stretches from 31st Street in the north to Pershing Road in the south and from Dan Ryan Expressway in the west to Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is crossed by major avenues such as Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. and State Street, and is served by stations on Chicago’s Red Line and Green Line subway lines and the Metra Rock Island District line, which strive to connect Bronzeville with the rest of the city as efficiently as possible. (It should be noted that there is no Metra Electric station between 27th and 47th Streets—Pershing Road lies near 40th Street—even though the line runs along the entire eastern edge of Bronzeville, parallel to Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan).

Assessing Built Environment as a Lens for Community Pride

Buildings are typically designed to last. Over their lifespan, a residential building can house multiple generations and become an integral part of many people’s lives. The same holds true for other types of public buildings, such as libraries, universities, and even parks. As visible elements of daily life, these structures remain in people’s memories and foster a sense of belonging.

However, even though a building may stand for many years, technological change and the evolving needs of cities and neighborhoods often require urban renewal. In these cases, it is not always feasible to preserve existing structures—even historic ones—because the cost of renovations and adjustments may exceed that of demolition and rebuilding from scratch. Such demolitions are often viewed as a loss of cultural heritage, yet obsolete buildings can hinder development and generate new problems. By contrast, new construction can create jobs and attract investment.

Bronzeville’s 35th Street today

On 35th Street, in the middle of the Dan Ryan Expressway, stands the Sox–35th Red Line station, opened in 1969. Looking west from the station, you see the White Sox stadium; looking east, beyond the railroad tracks, the first prominent landmark is the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, completed in the latter half of the 20th century. Picture 1a and 1b, on the left side, shows the view approaching from the red line station, while the right side focuses on the IIT signs. In fact, one block further east is State Avenue, from where you can see IIT’s Crown Hall, built by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and considered “a masterpiece of postmodernism and the epitome of Mies’ “less is more” philosophy” (WTTW, 2013).

Crown Hall, shown in picture 2, now home to IIT’s College of Architecture, stands on the former site of the famous Mecca Flats. As Bluestone (1998) notes, Mecca Flats was originally built as a hotel for the 1892 World’s Columbian Exposition and later converted into housing before being demolished during urban renewal projects. Although little photographic evidence remains, its role in shaping Bronzeville’s cultural identity is undeniable, captured in Gwendolyn Brooks’s National Book Award–nominated poem In the Mecca. Despite protests against the renewal projects, this building was ultimately destroyed. This has led some residents to believe that: “By demolishing multiple generations of buildings, Chicago has erased the memory of the generations of Black people who have lived within just a few square miles.” (AHMED, 2022).

Heading east along 35th Street, one first encounters a Green Line station and several unremarkable commercial buildings. More noteworthy are the vibrant cultural elements: barbershops, honorary street names, the Chicago Military Academy, the Victory Monument, and the Supreme Life Building. The building was constructed in 1921 as the longtime headquarters of the first African American–owned insurance company, which probably remain standing, as its offices are still useful for businesses and part of the building has been converted into an African restaurant called Yassa. It is worth mentioning that the skies of Bronzeville are filled with advertisements promoting education and a better future (see Picture 3a and 3b). This is also a sign of cultural identity preservation and hope.

Only after crossing Martin Luther King Avenue do modern buildings draw attention away from the absence of other traditional Bronzeville buildings like the Ida B. Wells Homes, a 1,600-unit public housing project that, according to the Chicago Architecture Center (n.d.), received more than 18,000 applications when it opened in 1941. A project of this scale, home to so many families, inevitably left a deep cultural mark on its residents. Yet, between 2001 and 2011 it was closed and demolished, gradually giving way to parks with monuments as well as new housing, mixed-use developments and a school. One of the reasons for the demolition, according to Birchmier & Delano (n.d.) is that “by the 1980s and 90s, Ida B. Wells Homes had fallen into disrepair due to Chicago Housing Authority’s neglect of maintenance, policies designed to create vacant properties, and the “web of urban racism” that Black residents continued to face.”

Picture 4a and 4b presents signage located near the former site of the Ida B. Wells Homes. The sign on the left (4a) commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Pullman Porter Museum, an institution dedicated to recognizing the contributions of African Americans employed as railroad porters under conditions characterized by long hours, low wages, and pervasive racial discrimination (Museum of the American Railroad, n.d.). The sign on the right (4b) reflects a municipal initiative to establish a school safety zone, aimed at discouraging the recruitment of minors into criminal gangs through the imposition of legal penalties.

There are still many green spaces in Bronzeville, along with numerous vacant lots, making it easy to imagine new buildings rising in the future and reshaping the neighborhood’s appearance. Some projects are already underway, such as Metropolis Pointe, a 50-story tower expected to become Chicago’s next landmark, and Legends South A3, a housing complex. These developments could attract additional investment, creating positive economic cycles that revitalize iconic places and bring better opportunities for residents. In this sense, even though the buildings are new, if residents are guaranteed a decent quality of life, the neighborhood’s culture can be preserved more effectively than by simply maintaining older structures that may become obsolete over time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many ways to preserve the culture of a place, and it is difficult to determine what makes a neighborhood more or less valuable in terms of its buildings or infrastructure. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is the inhabitants who give it its true value and sense of pride, and it is through the preservation of these that the origin and culture of a place can truly be preserved. Evidence from a brief visit to Bronzeville indicates that, despite the fact that urban renewal has destroyed historic buildings, culture has been preserved in a certain way by its inhabitants, and the construction of new buildings has provided new opportunities for some of them. It is true that it is possible to take more focused action to improve the well-being of Bronzeville’s residents, but investing in renovating or maintaining buildings that are already very old may not be the best use of resources.

Bibliography

AHMED, Q. (2022, December 26). While Mecca Flats might be gone, it’s not forgotten. https://uni.xyz/journal/while-mecca-flats-might-be-gone-its-not- 

Birchmier, C., & Delano, J. (n.d.). Ida B. Wells. The Hal Baron Project. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from https://halbaronproject.web.illinois.edu/items/show/47 

Bluestone, D. (1998). Chicago’s Mecca Flat Blues. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 57(4), 382–403. https://doi.org/10.2307/991458 

Chicago Architecture Center. (n.d.). Ida B. Wells-Barnett and the Ida B. Wells Housing Projects (Homes). Retrieved August 21, 2025, from https://www.architecture.org/online-resources/stories-of-chicago/ida-b-wells-barnett-and-the-ida-b-wells-housing-projects-homes 

Choose Chicago. (n.d.). Bronzeville—Chicago Neighborhoods. Choose Chicago. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://www.choosechicago.com/neighborhoods/bronzeville/ 

Illinois Institute of Technology. (n.d.). History of Bronzeville. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://www.iit.edu/community-affairs/about/history-bronzeville 

Museum of the American Railroad. (n.d.). The Pullman Porter. Museum of the American Railroad. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from https://www.historictrains.org/collection/philippe-9z32w 

Walton, L. M. (2018). The Effects of “Bias Based Bullying” (BBB) on Health, Education, and Cognitive–Social–Emotional Outcomes in Children with Minority Backgrounds: Proposed Comprehensive Public Health Intervention Solutions. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 20(2), 492–496. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0547-y 

WTTW. (2013, November 25). IIT CAMPUS. WTTW Chicago. https://www.wttw.com/timemachine/iit-campus