Encompassing the entire south and southwestern suburban area of Chicago city, Southland contains eighty-six suburban communities and has about 2.5 million residents. Southland is a diverse region, both ethnically and economically, with a wide range of neighborhoods and types of homes. Schools are consistently good, and local hospitals are top-notch; job opportunities abound in this powerhouse region.
Southland Chicago has an exciting arts and theater scene, with several good community theaters and music venues, including the Tweeter Center in Tinley Park, which hosts top names in popular music. Homewood’s yearly art fair brings hundreds of visitors to the town, and Flossmoor’s beautiful sculpture walk enriches the lives of all its citizens. Governor’s State University has the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park, famous around the world for its exquisite works by world-renowned artists.
Locals and visitors alike enjoy shopping in Southland Chicago. Apart from good malls and charming main street shopping districts, many communities (including Blue Island, Beecher, Crete, Frankfort, and Orland Park) have “antique rows”. Chicagoans like their local hang-out spots, and there are plenty of friendly bars, cafes, and restaurants throughout the Southland area.
There are several beautiful forest preserves in Chicago’s Southland and good community parks and recreational facilities. The award-winning Homewood-Flossmoor Park District is one of the best in Illinois. Recreational programs tend to be comprehensive, partly because locals like to spend their summers out of doors, and partly because they like to keep active during the cold winter months. Sport is big here, as it is in the rest of Chicago, and Crete has the Balmoral Park Race Track, Illinois' premier harness racing facility.
Location
Chicago’s south suburban area is inland south of Lake Michigan. A large metropolitan area, Chicago’s southland encompasses the suburbs of Bedford Park, Burbank, Chicago Ridge, Evergreen Park, Hometown, Oak Lawn, Worth, Bridgeview, Forest View, Hickory Hills, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Palos Park, Summit, Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, Orland Hills, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Alsip, Blue Island, Crestwood, Merrionette Park, Midlothian, Oak Forest, Posen, Robbins, Country Club Hills, East Hazel Crest, Flossmoor, Ford Heights, Glenwood, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Homewood, Markham, South Holland, Thornton, Burnham, Calumet City, Calumet Park, Dixmoor, Dolton, Lansing, Lynwood, Phoenix, Riverdale, Beecher, Chicago Heights, Crete, Matteson, Monee, Olympia Fields, Park Forest, Peotone, Richton Park, Sauk Village, South Chicago Heights, Steger, and University Park.
Chicago’s southern suburbs are all within a 25 miles of downtown Chicago and well connected by ample freeways.
Geography
Largely flat, the city of Chicago is built along the southwestern-most tip of Lake Michigan. The great lake dominates the city, spreading for about 30 miles along its eastern border, providing beaches, gorgeous views, running and bike trails and a great place to get outdoors year-round. Much of the original city was created by draining and infilling the lake and incoming streams.
Jobs
South Chicago is an economic powerhouse for the wider region, with a wide range of commerce, industry and economic sectors. Light industry, computer software and services, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are all found here. Many regional headquarters, multi-national companies and businesses are thriving here.
Major employers include the regional hospitals and universities, the Argonne National Laboratory in Bollingbrook (which employs about 5000), ComEd, in Joliet (2,500 staff), Harrah’s in Joliet (2,000 staff), Andrew Corporation in Orland Park (1,900), Tellabs in Bollingbrook (1250 staff), Aventis Behring in Bradley (1050 staff), and Allied Tube & Conduit in Harvey (1000 staff).
Many of the nation’s key interstates and important highways pass through Chicago’s Southland, making it one of the country’s best connected cities; the number of airports and their global reach provides local businesses with even more supportive infrastructure.
Housing
The Southland area has a diverse range of housing and neighborhoods. Home hunters can choose condominiums, town homes or single family dwellings in any part of Southland. Older communities like Blue Island, Frankfort, and Homewood have some lovely late Victorian and early twentieth-century homes, many architect designed and sitting on lovely properties.
Upscale suburbs like Flossmoor and Olympia Fields have elegant historical and contemporary properties, as do Palos Park and Mokena, the southland’s fastest growing community.
Tidy affordable homes attract young families to Orland Hills, Park Forest, Richton Park, and University Park, and Beecher, Lynwood, and Peotone are quiet communities with semi-rural appeal.
New, mid-priced homes are found in Chicago Heights, Manhattan, Matteson, Orland Park, and Tinley Park; these communities are currently experiencing rapid growth and home sales are rising steadily.
Recreation
Amenity-rich Southland has many beautiful parks, top golf courses, and excellent sport and recreation facilities. Ample community parks and green spaces bring charm to neighborhoods and recreational facilities are excellent, so that locals can swim, do yoga, and play tennis in comfort throughout the winter months. The world-famous Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University is a fantastic place to go walking, with 22 outdoor pieces by some of the world’s top sculptors.
The Forest Preserve District of Cook County cares for the area’s wilderness parks, ponds, picnic areas, bike paths, cross country skiing trails and the like. There are thousands of acres of forest preserve in Southland, each with scenic hiking and skiing trails, good campsites, pools, and golf courses.
With over 30 public and semi-private golf courses to choose from, Southland residents can really get the most out of their game. Cog Hill in Lemont was given a five-star ranking by Golf Digest Magazine and is among the nation's 50 finest courses. The PGA Western Open is held here annually, at Dubsdread, one of four 18-hole courses at Cog Hill. Southland also hosted the U.S. Open in 2003 at Olympia Fields.
Lake Michigan is perfect for boating and conditions in “the Windy City” ideal for sailing. Locals also enjoy a full range of water sports out on the lake.
Chicago is a major sports city, with several top national pro-sports teams and a number of historic venues. The White Sox play Major League April through September and Crestwood’s Hawkinson Ford Field hosts a number of pro-baseball leagues in summer. The Cook County Cheetahs Baseball Team also plays at Hawkinson Ford. The Balmoral Park Race Track in Crete is easily the best harness racing facility in Illinois.
Special Attractions/Events
With its charming neighborhoods, excellent career opportunities, ample parks and recreation, and sophisticated cultural scene, Chicago’s Southland is a great place to live. Property values are rising steadily and schools are good; Chicago has some of the best hospitals in the country and top universities.
Southland has several excellent art galleries and an internationally recognized sculpture park. The Tweeter Center of Chicago is found here (in Tinley Park), a superb rock venue that hosts top national and international stars, and there are several stellar local theaters, including the Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University, Moraine Valley Community College's Fine & Performing Arts Center, Freedom Hall in Park Forest, the Drama Group in Chicago Heights, the Illinois Theatre Center and Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra in Park Forest and the Southwest Symphony Orchestra at Oak Lawn. Southland has a colorful history and this is celebrated in the region’s numerous museums.
Southland is a large area and there’s always something on, whether it be a craft show, a holiday festival, sporting event, or ethnic celebration. A small sample of upcoming community events includes Harness Racing at Balmoral Park, the Swap-O-Rama Flea Market (a superb permanent market in Alsip), Homewood’s annual Fine Art Fair, and the 31st Annual Ice Show at the Homewood Flossmoor Ice Arena. Additional annual celebrations include Earth Day, Community Clean Up, Halloween, Christmas, and Memorial Day.
Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Places
Long home to the Fox Indians, the Chicago area was first visited by outsiders in 1673 when French explorers arrived. The Fox managed to drive them off, and to successfully deter subsequent arrivals from settling until 1779, when a Haitian immigrant succeeded in establishing a settlement at the mouth of the Chicago River. The US Army built a fort near the river mouth in 1803; this was razed by the Fox in 1812. The army rebuilt the fort in 1816 and two years later Illinois was made part of the Union. The first plans were drawn up for Chicago in 1830 and incorporation followed in 1833.
South of the new city, in what is now Chicago’s Southland, lay a network of trails, first laid by the Fox and then used by passing traders, explorers, trappers and the like. These now began to sprout wayside communities --- trading posts, and supply stops --- many of which became the Southland communities we see today.
Runaway slaves used this important south/north route often and many Southland communities (including Crete, Glenwood, Park Forest and Riverdale) have historic sites that were once stops on the Underground Railroad.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal was built to connect Chicago to the Illinois River and this ran directly through Southland. Thousands arrived to work on the canal; these workers and their families created the community of Lemont. Then railway arrived from the south, passing through Southland on its way to Chicago, further fueling the growth of local communities.
Most early Chicago Southland settlers were third and fourth generation families from the eastern United States, along with families of German, Dutch, Irish, and Italian descent. Many descendents of these original settlers still live in Southland today and their names are found on street signs and local landmarks. Many of the oldest South communities have historic architecture from their earliest days.
With the arrival of the automobile and the new highways built after WWI and II, Southland communities grew rapidly. The nation’s first transcontinental paved roadway, the Lincoln Highway, passes through here and is now a National Scenic Byway. Dixie Highway is another very early highway, built by a developer in 1915 as a route to bring northerners south to Florida. The Dixie crosses the Lincoln in Chicago Heights, which was popularly known for many years as "The Crossroads of the Nation." The Chicago Southland region still lives up to this moniker, with five of the nation’s primary interstates crossing through it (the I-80, I-94, I-57, I-55 and I-294) and several key U.S. Highways.
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