Where is Roseland Heights????
CHICAGO — where exactly do the borders of our neighborhood begin and end?
If you are looking for an official decision on where each neighborhood exactly is, forget it.
But for many a Chicagoan, neighborhood borders are sources of pride.
"Borders are important as they draw people together and maintain a cohesiveness of the neighborhood. Back in the 1920s, a team at the University of Chicago researched and divided the city into 75 community areas, distinct parts of the city recognized officially by the city and the U.S. Census Bureau. A 76th was later added to cover the O'Hare area, and in 1980 Edgewater became the 77th after it was separated from Uptown.
But if you look at the official community area map, places like Roseland Heights, West Chesterfield, Rosemoor, Ravenswood, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Chinatown and Bronzeville don't officially exist. Neighborhoods aren't the same thing as community areas.
In 1978, the city conducted a survey of residents in neighborhoods across the city to figure out officially where one neighborhood begins and another ends.
Here's the result: It included neighborhoods like Big Oaks, Nortown and East Hyde Park. An area known variously today as Douglas, Grand Boulevard or Bronzeville is simply known as South Side. It didn't even include places like Boystown, Wrigleyville, Roseland Heights, West Chesterfield or Rosemoor.
The City Council adopted the map officially in 1993, but now the city says the neighborhood names and boundaries are all unofficial.
The city's Office of Tourism, which morphed into the nonprofit Choose Chicago, has its own neighborhood map — which does include Boystown and Wrigleyville — that serves the basis for guides posted on Downtown streets.
Choose Chicago officials say that these maps aren't official and the community area map is the only official one. The organization has no plans to embark on making official neighborhood maps.
The city doesn't recognize neighborhood borders: As city officials and organizations have stepped away from solidifying Chicago neighborhood borders, people have been left to figure out their own ways to settle the borders.
"It's important for the community to make sure the differences between the neighborhoods continue," said Drutchas, "One of the great things about Chicago is being able to have a different feeling because of how the neighborhood has grown over the last hundred years."
So By the charter granted the Roseland Heights Community Association in 1956 here are the BOUNDARIES: Roseland Heights is on Chicago's South Side, Bordered on the south by 99th Place, and to the north 95th Street. State Street/Abbott Park borders it on the west and Cottage Grove/ Chicago State University campus to the east.
-- Clevan Tucker Jr.
