Slot Machines for Bars in South Chicago, Chicago

History

Much of the lakefront land where South Works stood was built up with fill made from molten slag. The mill went up in the early 1880s where the Calumet River meets Lake Michigan and covered 600 acres, and by 1901, the year U.S. Steel acquired it, it reached north to 79th Street. More than 20,000 people worked there at the peak. Downsizing began in the 1970s, and the mill closed in 1992.

The mill followed the river, the harbor and the railroads. A harbor company that James Bowen formed in 1869 bought up land and platted streets, and Congress funded dredging the Calumet the next year. Brown Iron and Steel opened on the river in 1875, and lumber yards, forges and rail lines followed. A commercial district for the workers took shape around 92nd Street and Commercial Avenue, which residents later called Downtown. Chicago annexed the community in 1889. Mexican families who came for mill jobs in the 1910s helped establish Our Lady of Guadalupe, the city's first Mexican parish, in the 1920s.

The area today

Steel left its mark on the public places. Bessemer Park, about a mile from where the mills stood, opened in 1905 and took its name in 1907 from Sir Henry Bessemer, the Englishman who perfected the steelmaking process. At 87th Street and the lake, Steelworkers Park sits on part of the old South Works site. The Park District acquired the site in 2002 and named the park in 2014, and its climbing wall is built on one of the mill's old ore walls. Our Lady of Guadalupe is also home to the National Shrine of St. Jude, whose first Solemn Novena was held in 1929. Metra Electric stations named South Chicago stand at 83rd, 87th and 93rd Streets. In September 2022, thousands lined Commercial between 88th and 100th Streets for the Mexican Independence Day parade, which the Sun-Times traced to the late 1930s and to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish.

Bars and restaurants here

Few rooms here hold a City liquor license. Off Commercial Avenue, a tavern license is held on 92nd Street, and a room on 83rd Street holds music-and-dance and tavern licenses. On the avenue itself the licensed rooms are restaurants that serve alcohol alongside food. Some establishments here have applied with the state for video gaming licenses.