Video Gaming in Chicago's 6th Ward — bars, licensing, status

History

Greater Grand Crossing, which the ward takes in part of, began with a wreck. In 1853 a train accident at an Illinois Central crossing, at what is now 75th Street and South Chicago Avenue, killed 18 people. The developer Paul Cornell began buying land nearby in 1855, believing rail service would make the prairie and swamp ideal for suburbs, and the area joined Chicago with Hyde Park Township in 1889.

Chatham, to the south, was swamp that hunters called Mud Lake, and its first buildings were Illinois Central corncribs put up in 1860. Growth took off in the 1880s, and the 1914 subdivision of Chatham Fields brought strict zoning and property standards to the whole community. Bungalows filled in during the 1920s, when the population swelled from 9,774 to 36,228, and the 1941 Chatham Park housing complex helped turn Cottage Grove Avenue into a shopping district. African American residents were under 1 percent of Chatham in 1950 and 63.7 percent in 1960, as middle-class families were drawn by its property standards, community organizations and schools. Johnson Products, maker of Ultra Sheen hair products, and Seaway National Bank were among the Black-owned businesses based there.

The area today

Ald. William E. Hall represents the 6th Ward from a ward office at 8541 S. State St. A Chatham pastor, Hall won the April 2023 runoff with 58 percent of the vote and was sworn in that May. The ward takes in parts of Chatham, Park Manor, Grand Crossing, West Woodlawn and Englewood, running roughly from 64th Street to 95th Street and from Halsted east toward Ellis Avenue. The Red Line stops at 69th and 79th Streets inside the ward. Nat King Cole Park, named for the singer in 1967, anchors Chatham at 85th Street, and Hamilton Park, created in 1904, anchors the Englewood side. Along 79th Street between State Street and Cottage Grove Avenue runs Mahalia's Mile, a state-designated cultural district named for gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.

Bars and restaurants here

Two corridors carry the ward's dining out. On 75th Street, Restaurant Row mixes decades-old, multi-generational storefronts with newer businesses, from barbecue and vegan kitchens to a bakery and a wine-and-spirits shop that offers live jazz some nights. High-traffic times there are usually Thursday through Sunday, and restaurants across Greater Chatham draw many diners from elsewhere on the South Side and the south suburbs. Head south to 79th Street and Mahalia's Mile is a stretch of small local businesses, a gift shop and an egg roll counter among them.