Video Gaming in Chicago's 21st Ward — bars, licensing, status

History

Farmers made up most of Washington Heights from the 1830s to the 1860s, and after that railroads dominated its economy. Roseland's origins go back to 1849, when Dutch families built homes along the Chicago-Thornton Road. Washington Heights had enough residents to incorporate by 1874 and was annexed to Chicago in 1890; brick bungalows built from 1920 to 1950 defined its look. West Pullman grew from Kensington, a railroad junction town, from Gano, where Pullman workers wanted to own their homes, and from a subdivision launched in 1891 for factory families, with International Harvester among the employers. Morgan Park was laid out in the 1870s as a Baptist community, and its village barred liquor sales between Western and Vincennes avenues when it incorporated in 1882. Between 1913 and 1918, streetcar lines on Halsted reached 119th Street. After World War II, African Americans began settling just east of Halsted in Washington Heights, and its population peaked in 1970.

The area today

Ald. Ronnie L. Mosley represents the 21st Ward from a Constituent Service Office at 10801 S. Halsted St. Mosley won the April 2023 runoff with 52 percent of the vote. The ward runs, roughly, through Washington Heights, West Pullman, Morgan Park and Roseland, with part of Auburn Gresham. Metra's Rock Island line stops at Gresham, Longwood and Washington Heights. The Carter G. Woodson Regional Library at 95th and Halsted holds the Vivian Harsh Collection of African American history and literature. Fernwood Park, on Wallace Street, began on a 12-acre farm and now has a fieldhouse and a pool. West Pullman's Cooper Park is named for Jack L. Cooper, whom the Park District calls the nation's first African-American radio personality.

Bars and restaurants here

The nonprofit Far South CDC describes South Halsted as a busy commercial corridor bordering Morgan Park, West Pullman and Roseland, and has worked on a corridor plan for Halsted between 95th and 123rd Streets. The group's plans for the Maple Park Marketplace plaza, at Halsted and 115th, include a dine-in restaurant. On 95th Street toward Halsted, the executive director of the Endeleo Institute said that corridor had been overlooked for decades and that residents should not have to travel far to sit down for a meal or a cup of coffee.