Englewood

In the year 1840 this swampy and oak forest lined land was officially discovered and documented by the Land Office of the City of Chicago. A settler named “Wilcox” charted the area over by where Vincennes Avenue presently is situated. The charting date and the original charters has been under dispute since the 19th century as nobody knows who “Wilcox” is and there was another charter only known as “Bailey.”  The dispute with the settlement date is either 1840 or 1842 according to several sources that can be found on the internet and in books, so let’s just say it was chartered in the early 1840s.  After the charting of the area settlement by Irish and German canal workers happened but they did not stay in the area.

In 1850 this area became a part of Lake Township and by 1852 railroad tracks were laid in the area to form a junction of tracks that gave the area the name “Junction Grove.”  After Junction Grove was established land was put up for sale.  According to Chicagology.com Mr. David Tipton stated that when he moved to Chicago in 1864 Englewood didn’t exist and said Junction Grove area was just a transfer house or shed and there was a depot at 62nd Street.  He said there was just a few scatted houses along the railroad tracks and some roadhouses and one tavern on State Street.  The site also shows a document which is an advertisement selling acres at Junction Grove. 

Up until 1865 this area was the sight of scattered truck farms where Irish and German laborers worked on them, it remained a rural area. In 1865 the area was annexed into the town of “Lake” as German and Irish immigrant settlers began employment at the Union Stock Yards in the town of Lake which is presently known as the Back of The Yards community. 

In the year 1868 Henry B. Lewis came to the area and wanted it to have a name of its own apart from Lake, that is when he came up with the name “Englewood” that he got from Englewood New Jersey. In 1868 L. W. Beck donated a tract of 10 acres to make way for Cook County Normal School which opened in 1869 as a college mainly for teachers.  This college prompted a middle-class subdivision to be platted near the school.  Scottish immigrants then arrived in the neighborhood after the college opened and after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 several more Chicagoans came to this neighborhood after their homes were destroyed.  The original Englewood was a town with prestige and class with marvelous homes built of fine construction. 

In the 1880s the population of Englewood grew, and this brought about more public transportation and annexation as an official Chicago neighborhood in the year 1889.  The subdivision of West Englewood started as just that in the early 1870s but by 1889 had become a community of its own; therefore, it was annexed as a separate Chicago community in 1889, Racine Avenue became the dividing line between the two communities which began their separate and unique existence. Up until the 1950s, Englewood’s boundaries extended to State Street on the east.  Englewood was 55th Street to 75th St and from Racine Avenue to State Street before the Dan Ryan Expressway was built.

The darker history of Englewood would start in 1886 when Henry W. Howard moved to this neighborhood in August of 1886.  H.H. Holmes as he was more referred to in history took up employment at “Elizabeth S. Holton’s Drugstore” at the intersection of 63rd Street and Wallace, shortly after Elizabeth’s husband died H.H. Holmes bought the store from her and she disappeared after that.  From there Holmes purchased a large three-story hotel across the street that locals nicknamed “The Castle” because it was so big.  He then moved the drug store into the first floor of the building and then hired workers to redo the upper two floors to make it into a confusing labyrinth of rooms and hallways that would often lead nowhere or connected in unconventional ways.

Holmes had a sinister grand vision for something evil in the near future and he needed to create a maze of confusion that he would be the only one to understand.  If workers complained or tried to construct it to make sense he fired them instantly as he took no objection or curbing of his plan, finally he discovered a carpenter Benjamin Pitezel who was a carpenter many did not want to hire because of his criminal record; however, a skilled carpenter with a past was perfect for Holmes as he could lay out why he needed this hotel designed in such a devious way.  He created soundproof rooms and torture chambers for his would-be victims.

By the time the Columbian Exposition Fair came to Chicago in 1893, Holmes was ready to carry out his diabolical plans of murder he had been plotting since 1889.  He advertised his hotel as a place to lodge fair goers, but he especially wanted females to frequent his establishment.  He then led them into this maze of death into rooms with gas chambers, hanging nooses, and suffocation chambers.  He would kill his victims through the various methods of torture or instant death then dump their bodies down a chute that led into the basement, there he would carve the bodies up ripping off limbs, incinerating bodies in ovens or acid, removing skeletons to sell to universities for research or even chain some live victims up on stretching racks to torture them as their limbs were slowly pulled off while they were alive.

Shortly after the fair ended in 1894 Holmes was arrested and then hanged in 1896, the murder castle was torn down in 1938.  This was the first part of Englewood’s dark history and would not be the first time and not the last time this neighborhood would deal with murder.

I could not find much information about the growth of Englewood in the 19th century but I theorize the town was heavily built up by the time H.H. Holmes arrived and even more so because of the World’s Columbia Exposition.  It is a fact that multiple south side communities were developed because of the fair but Englewood lacks general information about the development and the population stats until 1920.

In the 1900s-decade Polish, Norwegians and Germans came to this community and by the 1910s and 1920s several apartment buildings were constructed in the neighborhood to likely house younger people or possibly workers from the stock yards.  According to Encyclopedia of Chicago website, the apartments built in Englewood caused population density issues and economic segregation.  This was the first sign of the poor or lower-income residents being isolated into a cluster in their own areas.  This led to apartments being operated in slum lord fashion which added to some of the character of Englewood that was now becoming known to house some of the most impoverished Chicagoans.  These apartments were mainly found between 63th Street to 69th Street east of Halsted Street.  These apartments began construction during the late 1910s, during the World War I years and they were built through the 1920s and this was the first site of Englewood poverty and some blight.  Not all these apartments were harsh but the earliest signs of decline began before the Great Depression. 

More Irish migrated to Englewood to escape the harshness of the Back of The Yards and Bridgeport as they achieved upward mobility, these people may have been many of the ones to rent in the new apartments.

Civil unrest came to Englewood in July of 1919 when the race riots were occuring.  Angry white rioter came to the Ogden Park area armed with weapons looking to attack the black community.  African American residents repelled the assault by shooting down two rioters scaring the rest away. The reason this area was targeted by the rioters is because African Americans came to Englewood in small numbers in the late 1910s and into West Englewood.  According to local legends restrictive Covenants were placed by both the West Englewood and Englewood community to keep any migrating African Americans to an area within Ashland Avenue to Halsted Street and from 63rd Street to 67th Street in the area surrounding Ogden Park.  African Americans were not allowed to move outside of those boundaries if they were to live in these two communities.  Ogden Park area was still heavily white with African Americans living sparsely in the area and most African Americans lived on the West Englewood side and lessor in Englewood.  When the attackers came in 1919, they knew exactly where to target which coincides with documented history from the 1919 attack.  Local legend could be tough for some to believe but this is facts according to the streets and people that once lived here, take it or leave it, but I am going to say African Americans came to Ogden Park in the World War 1 years. 

The 1930s did see a boom in the neighborhood as the 63rd Street and Halsted shopping center was constructed and became a very busy retail district that was the second busiest shopping area in the entire city.  The Sears store built in the neighborhood generated lots of employment and revenue for the community by 1934.

The 1930s was also hard on this community during these Great Depression years as businesses and banks closed as other businesses like Sears opened.  The college now known as Chicago Normal College closed down in 1932 which ceased revenue and many jobs for the residents of Englewood. This neighborhood was now a cheaper place to rent or own property because of the Great Depression and the fact that World War II efforts caused a lack of materials needed to renovate deteriorating buildings.  When the college closed in 1932 the once prestigious neighborhood that was built around the college at 68th and Stewart Avenue now became an area with divided houses turned into apartments for the poor.  The central-eastern part of Englewood appears to be first site of poverty and it was not African Americans who were the poverty-stricken ones.  In these times, local legends described that moving to Englewood meant you were “coming up” or doing well enough financially to live in this area for African Americans.  The growing poverty area was cut off to African Americans as they were not allowed to venture east of Hasted Street and weren’t even allowed to shop at the 63rd and Halsted shopping area. I saw multiple people posting on Facebook pages talking about that shopping center and many older African Americans recalled back then when they were not allowed to shop there during the first 25 years of the shopping area’s existence.  Even though there was poverty in central Englewood, the neighborhood was not heavily blighted and ran down, there was just dotted areas that had this issue.

The African American population of Englewood was 1,126 in 1930 which was 1.3% of Englewood’s population and that population reached a mere 2% by 1940 but by 1950 the African American population reached 11% which means about just over 10,000 African Americans now lived in Englewood of the about 94,000 people that lived in Englewood (http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/426.html). 

During the second World War many African Americans migrated to Chicago seeking work now that several jobs were created for the war effort which is what brought more African Americans to the Ogden Park area and as African Americans moved into this area whites moved out out of fear the area would lose value due to several African American neighbors. 

During the 1940s decade Ogden Park area of Englewood transformed from a mostly white area to almost an all-black community of middle-class blacks.  In the 1940 census Englewood had close to 93,000 people and about 1,800 of those residents were black.  In the 1950 census the population slightly increased to close to 94,000 residents.  The 1950 census now showed a black population for Englewood as 28,059 which is about 30% of Englewood’s population (Fact source: Urban American: Growth, Crisis, and Rebirth, John F. McDonald).  This is a large exponential growth and from all the facts I found scattered around the internet and social media posts of former residents I found that all the former white residents that lived in Englewood in the 40s and later did not claim to have lived within the Ogden Park area but African American posters in social media outlets like Facebook claimed to have lived in the Ogden Park area in the 40s and 50s which says to me that almost all the black population was confined to Ogden Park between Racine to Halsted and from 63rd to 67th Streets. Restrictive racial covenants were deemed illegal by the Supreme court in 1948 and this meant African Americans were supposed to be legally able to move anywhere they wanted and that applied to Englewood too; however, according to local legends it was still unofficially segregated and scores of whites patrolled along 63rd Street, 67th Street and along Halsted to make sure blacks did not cross the racial boundaries.  Many white residents made it hard for black families to move outside of Ogden Park through legal means and through violence.  This is not stuff you can look up on the internet or books but if you go to various social media outlets on Facebook and YouTube you can find witness testimony among several older African Americans that give great details of beatings and tormenting from the police or white residents in Englewood in these old days when blacks crossed into certain areas of Englewood and many others agree with their posts and no one contests what they say unless it is to argue that black residents were also a big problem.  These are facts because I can also see other testimonies from other older African American residents that do not mention these hateful actions but cheerfully state which street corner area and what year they moved to Englewood and in the 40s and most of the 50s it was all within the Ogden Park area and later addresses were referencing later dates by posters.  If you only go by books and articles to get your Englewood racial history you will not gather even a percent of what happened, it is best to hear it from those that lived here in those years, and it would be too much to claim that all these people are lying or mistaken.  Even many former white residents attested to the racism and violence.  This doesn’t mean Englewood was dangerous in these 40s and 50s decades it just means it was dangerous for many African Americans to venture into certain areas of the neighborhood but the community was not full of crime back then.

In the year 1949, African Americans attended a union gathering at a Jewish families’ home at 5643 S. Peoria St (57th and Peoria). This fueled a rumor that the house was about to be sold to African Americans in this middle class section. Many viewed this as the start of a takeover by blacks and communists, and a mob of 10,000 whites attacked several Jews and blacks and anyone they thought was a communist, this was a massive racial onslaught.  This riot received very minimal media attention as the city didn’t want violent racial issues to be published at this time in history, this is documented information about Mayor Kennelly’s media preferences.  57th and Peoria was a very white neighborhood in 1949 and into the 50s which was an area blacks were previously not allowed to venture to until much later in time.

The reason many Englewood residents were so angry about blacks moving into their community was they feared redlining, block busting and blight.  Their fears are often thought of as invalid and hateful, but their fears were valid, not because African Americans are the problem, it is because racism starts as a business and becomes personal.  Englewood became a neighborhood that big businesses like banks and real estate wanted to see become an impoverished African American area because there was big business in realty from the process of exchanging areas where whites lived for African Americans while the whites were pushed to other neighborhoods or into the suburbs through the use of false fears and creating a financial collapse through the banks. The name of the game is push African Americans into a slightly rougher white neighborhood and let it go to waste while realty reaps their profits from re-locating the African Americans.  Landlords reap the profits out of this process because the housing becomes cheap, and they can stuff several families into one building and charge them stupid rent prices for a piece of garbage place to live while walking away and letting it fall apart.  Slumlords pull in major profits from not fixing their buildings or maintaining them and they know the impoverished African American community often does not have the resources to fight these situations legally.  The city does not want to invest dollars and time in addressing slumlords in neighborhoods like Englewood which allows the practice to continue.  Many families in these buildings also lack educations and do not know how to explore legal measures to go against landlords.  Landlords were also known the retaliate through evictions if they were opposed and the city was too lazy or not caring to go to bat for these people so many of them chose to let it happen.  It is a fact that the poor were historically not heard and were considered uneducated and ignorant, they also lacked the power of the media back in these times.  Mayors like Daley and Kennelly kept these racial conflicts out of the media deliberately, an example was Kennelly keeping the Englewood riot of 1949 mostly quiet along with two other racial riots that same year in Roseland and in West Elsdon.

In the early 50s racial tension escalated and very few African Americans could move anywhere else than Ogden Park because of fear of retaliation.  Ogden Park was not a bad area back then but it was becoming overcrowded and African Americans needed available housing on the other side of Halsted and 63rd, especially in the cheaper apartments that were in abundance east of Halsted.  Attempts at migration would be blocked and often groups of whites retaliated against migrating blacks in these more eastern areas by burning crosses on the lawn of the black family or other ways of exerting dominance and intimidation.  To make matters worse, if blacks moved east of Halsted whites may come into the Ogden Park area seeking revenge, these are all legends I heard that cannot be found in official books and documents, believe it if you want.  The problem often faced by Ogden Park black families was the need to venture into other parts of Englewood for school, recreation or shopping, which became inhibiting but worst of all was being invaded and taunted at the neighborhood borders by scores of white gangs that came there looking for fun or take out aggression.  In the year 1953, the African American youths of Ogden Park assembled the “Englewood Boys” as a club to help them fight back against angry whites.

In the year 1955, African Americans were venturing more east of Halsted and landing as far as near State Street within the 63rd Street to 67 Street confines.  Block busting tactics were now moving east of Halsted, especially since these agents saw lower-income apartments and some blighted buildings, this was fuel for these agents to con white families into becoming scared and leaving the area.  Real estate agents could now show that well over 30,000 African American families lived in Englewood on record and that many more were going to spread outside of Ogden Park area.  I began to see on social media outlets that more and more older African Americans were saying they arrived in this more eastern area beginning in 1955 and they said they were the first black family on their block upon arrival, this is evidence of the migration pattern during these times. The whites that would post on social media would say they moved out around this time and their timelines were cut off by 1960, indicating a racial change in a certain area of Englewood. Many of these brave African American pioneers took up residence in the many apartments in this area and slumlords were more than happy to accommodate by charging the African American family more rent while spending less money on repairs.  One Facebook comment I saw an older white woman post about 63rd and Halsted shopping center said that she lived in Englewood as a young girl in the more northern part of the community, she said her family was forced to move in 1960 because her landlord wanted to evict all the white tenants because black families would pay more money and this post was not contested by anyone else on Facebook and this post had lots of exposure for anyone to contest it, all I saw was agreement to her statement and likes.  This woman was not bitter at all toward blacks and said great things about living near blacks, she simply stated what she had heard was the reason for their eviction/lack of lease renewal and I have heard of this being very true and history shows as the many apartments in central Englewood began to turn African American later in the 50s.  Once African Americans came to this part of Englewood block busting became simpler for real estate.

The white flight would spread south of 67th Street in the later 50s as one white family after another left out of fear or hate.  Most white families that lived in Englewood do not talk about it and just quietly left the area.  On social media I see the cheery comments in groups about their fond childhoods, but they never say anything negative, but I’m left with the question of if it was so great why the hell did you leave?  I kinda hate how they never say why but then I pull back and understand why they say nothing, no one wants to seem like a racist.  For too long many have accused these people of wrongdoing and racism but there is something everyone must understand and it’s if the shoes were on the other feet wouldn’t we all leave higher crime and blight?  We all have to do what’s best for us and our families.  The real culprit is not the people, not white people, not black people, the real culprit is business, the business of banks and real estate that relies on the distraction of racial bickering to cover up their racially motivated business dealings.  As common people argued over time about which race was to blame for the change of Englewood, the big crooks took all the money laughing to the bank, we need to stop blaming each other!

Between 1955 and 1958, African Americans spread as far south as 75th/76th Street moving in along the borders with Greater Grand Crossing at first nearer to Hamilton Park.  Neighboring Auburn Gresham did not start to become more African American until the 60s; therefore, African American migration into the southeast side of Englewood at first stayed east of Halsted away from the Auburn Gresham border, Greater Grand Crossing was more African American by the mid-late 50s making southeast Englewood more of an area for racial transition.  I am not sure if it was because of racial conflict or because of other African American gangs from Greater Grand Crossing but 75th Street area African American youths formed the “75th Street Brims” to fight off hostiles in southern Englewood prior to 1958.  From the street legends I heard the 75th Street Brims and Englewood Boys were allies.

I don’t have the most information about white gangs that once dwelled on the streets of Englewood and perhaps there were no organized clubs east of Racine Avenue.  I know there were many greaser clubs west of Racine Avenue, especially Italians but nothing in Englewood that I know of.  Englewood just seemed to have white groups and groups of white adults that enforced racial boundaries.  Besides Englewood Boys and 75th Street Brims I have heard of no other black gangs either prior to the later 50s.

1958 was a historic year for Englewood because the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway damaged this community forever.  The expressway was deliberately designed to cut through the south side’s poorest black communities.  Starting from the Interstate-57 branch of this expressway, it sliced through the designated black community in Morgan Park then extended to carve up the growing black community in northern Washington Heights then into the black community in northern Roseland which brings us to the Dan Ryan (94) interchange that completely uprooted much of the oldest and poorest black community in Roseland.  The highway then carved up the growing black community in Chatham, Greater Grand Crossing and carved into the poorest black communities of Washington Park and the Englewood border, the highway also removed about one third of the Fuller Park impoverished black community then the highway served as a border to keep Bronzeville separate from white communities west of the expressway.  The expressway especially affected east Englewood and changed the border between Englewood and Washington Park as now Englewood no longer extended to State Street, the new cut off on the east became the railroad tracks east of La Salle Street.  When this construction happened, almost every single white person moved out of Englewood from 63rd Street down to 67th Street and from 67th to 75th east of Halsted every white person moved out of that southeast area too.  A majority white population would only remain in the southwest area between 67th and 75th and from Halsted to Racine and in the northern area from 55th to 63rd and from Racine to the neighborhood border on the east just west of State Street; however, white flight accelerated between 61st to 63rd Street pushing the color boundary up to 61st by 1958 and that would soon change fast. In a last ditch effort to conserve the majority white areas, white youth gangs formed to enforce color boundaries more than ever and this was evidenced According to former Chicago police detective Frank Pape, who was interviewed for the Chicago Tribune. Pape explained how when he was transferred to Englewood in the late 1950s, he remembers the original Egyptian Cobras (Mickey Cobras) when they first started in Englewood battling with a white gang (no name mentioned) and how they wanted to mediate their demands through him (Chicago Tribune Feb 9, 1994).

In the year 1958, the notorious Egyptian Cobras street gang from the North Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago’s west side gave influence to African American youths in the Fuller Park neighborhood but this organization did not branch out to the south side instead youths that knew the Cobras started their own Egyptian Cobras on the south side in Fuller Park along Princeton Avenue.  Once the Day Ryan carved up Fuller Park the Cobras were carved up, especially the members that lived nearest to State Street were pushed into the Englewood community and arrived alongside impoverished African American families moving into the 63rd to 75^th Street area east of Halsted Street.  As mentioned by Frank Pape, the Egyptian Cobras was a gang he encountered once he was assigned to Englewood and this is hard evidence that Cobras were there in the late 50s, I just wish he mentioned the white gang name.  Because of racial strife in Englewood the Cobras recruited aggressively among African American youths and did not take kindly to being told no.  The Cobras were very aggressive and had become the most dangerous and violent African American gang in south side history at that point.  Cobras robbed and killed on the south side streets and just wanted to swell in numbers.  Their intentions started out as a defense for black youths but mushroomed into a crime syndicate because they were not organized enough which allowed bravado and criminal behavior to dominate their ranks.  Many of the youths in their recruitment pool already lacked guidance and were drowning in poverty which resulted in a force to be reckoned with.  Much dysfunction was brewing in Englewood very fast as the community was overwhelmed with intense poverty in such a short period leading to white flight and black flight of the middle class.  Landlords conquered this community fast and turned once beautiful homes into deteriorated apartments for the poor.  Ogden Park was once a beautiful neighborhood shared by both whites and blacks and was still a solid community in the 40s after whites left but now black flight was rapid in this area by 1958 and the impoverished were moving in and slumlords were ready to accommodate the growing impoverished African Americans.  This was a clear cut case of greedy little businessmen taking advantage of a damaged people.

The Egyptian Cobras were not welcomed by African American youths that had lived in this community a significant time which included Englewood Boys and 75th Street Brims.  These gangs fought Cobras heavily but were outnumbered by the more popular gang.  By 1958, African American families were allowed to shop at the 63rd and Halsted shopping area because by the end of the year Englewood was majority African American especially on both sides of Halsted from 63rd down to 75th.  Several youths, mostly from the 63rd Street area, had enough of the Cobras and racial discrimination and they got together with black youths from northern Hyde Park and Kenwood.  Both Kenwood and northern Hyde Park were also dealing with racial change and Cobras leading these youths to come together between the neighborhoods and start a movement.  This movement they started was called the “Devil’s Disciples” or known in the newspapers as “Disciples.”  The original Disciples were 11–13-year-old boys but once they connected with the 75th Street Brims and the Englewood Boys they now had older members that could assume leadership.  The Disciples were just like the Cobras they got real big in size and soon matched the Cobra numbers.  By the time Disciples formed there was not as much racial battles and instead Disciples were mainly fighting with Cobras for control of Englewood.  Disciples would not only dominate the Ogden Park area they also dominated much of the area from Halsted to the east border from 63rd to 67th mixed in with Cobra territories but the Cobras seemed to be more centered south of 65th Street between 65th to 75th Street area east of Halsted.  A violent gang war erupted between the two groups and soon the racial war became a lessor issue.  Both gangs wanted northern Englewood and members were moving into this area as far north as near 55th Street causing this majority white area to flip out.  Whites began moving out in heavier volume in the northern area the closer they lived to Fuller Park and Washington Park east of Normal Boulevard and Egyptian Cobras were moving into this area especially once they ventured down Princeton Avenue from 55th to 57th and from Shields Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expressway.  The Disciples would push for just south of 57th in this area. 

In the year 1960, the Cobras had grown more powerful after they merged with another gang called the “King Cobras” becoming the “Egyptian King Cobras;” however, I am not sure if this merger helped their Englewood territory.  In the 1960 census Englewood’s population had grown to 97,595 and 67,216 of those residents were African American (68.9%) while the white population was still strong at 30,107 (30.8%) but much of this count was made in 1959.  Whites were living north of 59th Street up to 55th and west of Halsted by 1960 and west of Halsted and south of 67th to 75th.  These were the only areas where large amounts of whites were living.  The southeast area was filled with Cobras and now Disciples had advanced up west of Shields Avenue to Halsted between 59th and 63rd and were knocking at the door at the 59th Street racial border.  In this northern area of Englewood where whites were still living landlords were informing their white residents that they could finish their leases in the many apartments then they had to leave because they were the wrong race.  This was not black landlords telling them to leave, this was white landlords that said they wanted black families so they could charge them more rent, this further drove white flight.

By the year 1962, only scattered whites remained in Englewood and there was no longer a white colony as whites had now evacuated in the far north and in the southwest as mainly Disciples moved in on their old neighborhoods.  The black middle-class was mainly prevalent south of 71st Street and north of 59th but many tried to remain in the rest of Englewood, but their expensive mortgages became too tough to bear any longer and much of the black middle-class became fed up with high crime and poorly performing schools, they were also concerned with declining home values due to redlining and needed to leave before it got worse; therefore, black flighters left for the same exact reasons as white flighters.  As the last of the whites moved out of northern Englewood between 55th and 57th and Halsted a Puerto Rican colony moved into the many apartments along Halsted which brought in Puerto Rican gang activity in the Back of the Yards side north of 55th.  These Puerto Ricans moved from the Woodlawn community as there was a small Puerto Rican enclave in Woodlawn in the 50s and now northern Englewood would be their new home. The Disciples were trying to conquer 55th and Halsted and this caused a major clash with the Puerto Ricans and the whites and white and Puerto Rican gangs from 55th and Halsted area.  The whole Egyptian Cobra demonstration was converted into Black Stone Rangers known more as “Cobrastones” or “Egyptian King Cobras” in 1962 which was an invitation for Blackstone Rangers to move into Englewood and many of them moved into old Cobra territory between 65th to 71st near Halsted, especially the Double Six Kings, a Blackstone Ranger group.

The Puerto Rican community was especially clustered around 55^th and Halsted but the enclave actually spread from 55^th to 57^th and from Racine Avenue to Lowe Avenue.  In the heart of this strip of land once sat the Byrnes apartments located between Halsted and Green Street along 55^th Street.  These apartments once housed several people and ended up becoming apartments for lower-income residents.  In 1962, Puerto Rican people moved into these buildings and the Village Sharks gang was formed to protect the Puerto Rican community mostly from the Disciples and any hostile white groups from the Back of the Yards. 

In the year 1963, the Devil’s Disciples moved their headquarters to Englewood from Hyde Park at 63rd and Normal/Stewart which further intensified their presence in the community and put pressure on the Cobras at 63^rd and Halsted.

In the year 1964, the Supreme Gangsters were formed near Ogden Park at 68th and Green in a large apartment building across from a playground.   In the same year more Puerto Rican people moved into the far northern part of Englewood and the Emerald Knights Puerto Rican street gang formed in Emerald Park at 56^th and Emerald, the Emerald Knights joined the Village Sharks in fighting against Disciples.

In the year 1966, the Latin Kings moved into the Puerto Rican area claiming 57^th and Halsted immediately putting them at odds with Disciples, Emerald Knights and Village Sharks.  This is the notorious Latin Kings we are all familiar with and yes, they had a presence in Englewood.  Old pics from the late 60s and early 70s of Emerald Knights and Latin Souls show them throwing down a Latin King sweater for a reason, also a newspaper article from June 11, 1969, in the Chicago Tribune is proof as they said the Latin Kings were at 57^th and Halsted.

In the year 1968 a Disciple group formed on these streets that were called the Bostonian Pimps at 59^th and May.  This group would eventually become the notorious “Boss Pimps” and they would team up with fellow Disciples the Falcon Disciples to fight Puerto Rican gangs in the area and the Cobras in the east near Princeton Avenue. 

In the same year of 1968, the Village Sharks went into retirement after going to Vietnam, this is when the young kids in the Byrnes apartments took over and formed the “Latin Souls” that would lay claim to 55^th and Halsted.  Many believe the Souls are a Back of the yards gang because they ended up taking over southeast Back of the Yards in the late 60s and early 70s but, they actually formed on the streets of Englewood. They were at 55^th and Halsted but were at first on the south side of 55^th on the Englewood side. The Byrnes apartments were the first piece of Latin Soul territory and many members lived in those buildings claiming 55^th and Halsted to Green Street on the Englewood side because southeast Back of the Yards was a white neighborhood in the late 60s.

In the year 1968 the Devil’s Disciples and Supreme Gangsters went to war adding more violent conflict to this neighborhood; however, in 1969 the two became allies again under the Black Gangster Disciples banner.  After the Black Gangster Disciples was formed the two groups heavily dominated the neighborhood as they both were engaging in violent gang wars with Black P Stones (formerly Blackstone Rangers).

I don’t know exactly when it happened but sometime in the 1970s and later most of the Cobra gangs in Englewood flipped to Disciples.  All records stop about Englewood Cobras after 1969 which says to me they flipped once the Black Gangster Disciple demonstration started.  Cobras would remain in Moe Town from 55^th to 57^th and from Racine to the Dan Ryan.  Cobras may have still been present in the southwest in the 72^nd and May area because this area remains a Black P Stone section presently.  Perhaps those Stones were never Cobras in the old days, but I haven’t heard of any Stones/Rangers in that area in the 60s but since that area is so deeply held by the Stones, it leads me to believe Stones have always been there but I am not sure if they were formerly Cobrastones or not. 

In the year 1976 the Sears shopping center closed which severely deprived Englewood even further of any economic prosperity.  In 1976 the Byrnes apartments were torn down and this erased what was left of the Puerto Rican identity in Englewood, the area then became African American like the rest of Englewood.  Emerald Knights went extinct while Latin Souls moved to the Back of the Yards west of Ashland Avenue.  Latin Kings would also leave the area. After the Puerto Rican gangs left northern Englewood and African Americans moved in, the King Cobrastones and Black P Stones began moving into this area and the Cobrastones began calling it “Moe Town” on the Englewood side too between 55^th to 56^th. 

In the year 1981, Illinois had an early release program for prisoners due to prison overcrowding that ran from 1979-1982.  Amid these released inmates, key members of the Disciples were released from prison in 1981 and took to the streets of Englewood and most of Chicago to prophecize the Folk alliance and a new alliance arrangement for Gangsters and Disciples.  This message was especially brought to Englewood because the neighborhood was the most dominated by Disciples of anywhere else in the city.   The announcement was that “Black Gangster Disciples” now referred to all Supreme Gangsters and the Gangster nation allies and to the majority of the Disciples that were the most allied with the Gangsters which took up at least 80% of the B.G.D.N. The rest of the Disciples would become “Black Disciples” and Englewood would house the most Black Disciples in the whole city.  This was to be a peaceful alliance within the Folk alliance and when it first hit the streets of Englewood in 1981 it was mostly peaceful. 

The alliance between Black Gangster Disciples and Black Disciples began the earliest stages of going sour in 1987 when crack cocaine began to be heavily peddled by both gangs.  They tried to work with each other about drug territories, but greed became a major issue that hampered these relations. By 1989, these relations worsened to the point where both gangs didn’t like each other and only got along when their leaders didn’t want violence.  Many of the younger Black Gangster Disciples in Englewood started calling themselves “Gangster Disciples” or “GDs” and they began tagging that on the walls.  They dropped the “black” from their name to dishonor BDs; however, it was not official yet.

In the year 1990, the Mickey Cobras (formerly known as King Cobrastones) withdrew from Moe Town and the Black P Stones moved into that far northern Englewood area and this group also coined the term “Moe Town” but under their banner because the Mickey Cobras had used that terms when they were part of the Black P Stone alliance until 1977; therefore, the name was rightfully part of Black P Stone history.  Mickey Cobra influence had became weakened in the northern part of the community after Teddy Bear was put in prison for 14 years in 1987, so when Price Wakeeta, the son of Black P Stone founder Jeff Fort, came to Moe Town he took over quickly from Racine to Lowe while the Cobras remained east of Normal Boulevard, an area they would hold until the later 1990s.   Moe Town became notorious once the Black P Stones took over.

Beginning in 1991 and continuing into 1994, on and off gang wars erupted between BGDs and BDs claiming the lives of important leaders including Mickey “Bull” Johnson of the Black Disciples that was killed by BGDs in August of 1991.  By 1994, the war between BGDs and BDs was unresolvable and has never been stopped since then.  BGDs in Englewood were already claiming “GD” instead of “BGD” but now “Gangster Disciples” became official as of 1994.

Crack cocaine was one of the major issues that destroyed Englewood further.  Competition for drug territory has been nothing short of excessively violent between GDs and BDs.  As the decades have passed one building after another has crumbled and/or been abandoned.  Entire blocks have been gutted in post-apocalyptic looking scenes to the point where the community looks highly rural. The vicious cycle has been going on since the 50s. The process started with African American middle-class home buyers purchased a home in the 40s, 50s and 60s for an inflated rate because of their skin color until they end up foreclosing by the 60s or 70s.  The buildings then get passed to slumlords that buy the property for bottom rate and convert this once elegant home into an apartment building for the poor.  The slumlord then neglects the property for a number of years allowing the building to rot in the ground until it is uninhabitable.  Once the building closes, a bank or an organization with deep pockets buys the property and lets it sit vacant for many years as it becomes the home of vagrants and drug dens until it collapses.  The next stage is to tear the building down and leave it as a vacant lot still owned by the same ownership.  The ownership then retains ownership of the lot and offers a high buying price for the land which prevents easy development for any private interest or for government to be interested in purchasing.  The vacant lot then becomes a trash breeding heap for vermin and drug needles, this is the vicious cycle of property in Englewood and this community has been targeted by greed several times over and has often made the top 5 most dangerous communities in Chicago several times. Police patrols become inadequate because of city tax payors are not in enough abundance for this area, causing patrols to not be justified enough for this area.

Englewood’s history has long been forgotten and it was hard for me to find much because this once cherished neighborhood became forgotten long ago because crime, blight and poverty erased the history.  This neighborhood has seen the worst redlining and block busting Chicago had to offer and this is the results.  Once grand mansions built in the 19^th century and early 20^th century became gutted, boarded up with vines of overgrowth wrapping around the outer walls.  Some blocks in Englewood have 10 or more abandoned homes and one can see from one block to another easily because of so many vacant lots.  Shopping lacks and even along Halsted and along 63^rd Street several rows of abandoned storefronts sit to decay with time which suffocates a job market for Englewood residents that often do not own vehicles to travel outside the community seeking work.  Englewood’s  population has severely declined since the 1960s, falling to 86,659 in 1970, 59,075 in 1980, 48,434 in 1990, 40,222 in 2000, 30,654 in 2010 and 24,369 in 2020 and continues to drop.  Much of the reason for the loss of population is often the rot of the buildings residents live in, once they fall apart and no one maintains them they become abandoned and fall apart and the landlords take the money they earned and suffer no great losses as they were already aware that they would run the buildings until they fell apart and get as much money as possible. 

South of 71st Street is an area that has much less vacancies and abandoned homes, if homes are abandoned, they have not been vacant for long.  This area is a little more well-kept and residents tend to have a tighter community watch which causes crime to be less between 71st and 75th Street.

GDs and BDs remain dominant in this community numbering in the thousands in this community and crack cocaine still runs rampant as now GDs BDs and Moe Town Black P Stones are divided into money-making cliques that kill viciously over drugs.  There is no longer order and law among the gangs.

One day when all the housing completely collapses and more people move out, those stagnant property owners will pull in a fortune selling their property at high rates and Englewood will end up rebuilt and too expensive for those with lower incomes, a very sad reality.

Englewood is the founding area of the Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples and Latin Souls.

The known gangs that have walked these streets over time are:

Boss Pimps Established 1968

59^th and May

Black P Stones Established 1962-present years

72nd to 74th, Racine to May (May Block)

55th to 57th, Ashland to Union (Moe Town) 1990-present years

74th & Halsted

Latin Kings Established 1966-1976

57th & Halsted

Black Disciples Established 1958-present years as Devil’s Disciples

59th & Normal

61st to 62nd, Wallace to Stewart (Tay Town 300, formerly known as E-Town)

64th to 66th, Peoria to Halsted (AMG MacBlock HBE)

65th to 66th, Lowe to Union (Lowelife)

63rd to 65th, Parnell to Normal (Lamron 300)

68th to 70th, Halsted to Union (ShawnMoney HBE)

71st to 73rd, Green to Halsted (Dogpound HBE)

71st to 72nd, Parnell to Eggleston (Dipset Tygang)

67th & Lowe

57th to 59th, Morgan to Lowe (Shorteyville, D-City)

57th from Morgan to Racine (BD Ave)

59th & Racine (9-Ball)

65th & Morgan

Gangster Disciples Established 1958-present years as Devil’s Disciples, 1964 as Supreme Gangsters

63rd to 71st, Halsted to Dan Ryan Expressway (G-Town) Established 1958 as Devil’s Disciples

56th & Aberdeen

56th & Princeton

56th & Lowe

57th & Union

59th to 61st, Racine to Union

Halsted from 59th to 61st

61st & Racine

61st & Sangamon

63rd & Sangamon (Gambinos)

63rd & Normal Established 1958 as Devil’s Disciples

67th & May (May Mob)

68th & Green (shared with Black Disciples) Established 1964 as Supreme Gangsters

Carpenter from 70th to 71st (Walk Town)

73rd & Racine (Seven Trey)

55th to 57th, Aberdeen to Carpenter (CPT Landlord No Love City)

56th to 58th, Halsted to Union (MOE No Love City)

55th to 57th, Union to Lowe (WMG No Love City)

57th to 59th, Stewart to Wells (Travis World)

58th to 60th, Racine to Aberdeen (MOM)

58th to 59th, Sangamon to Green (Wallygang No Love City)

59th to 61st, Morgan to Sangamon (Freakyworld No Love City)

60th to 61st, Halsted to Union

63rd to 65th, Morgan to Sangamon (Creep City Trigworld)

67th to 68th, Carpenter to Sangamon (Tunchieville)

70th to 71st, Aberdeen to Sangamon (Crazyville)

69th to 70th, Sangamon to Green (CMB)

69th to 71st, Wallace to Normal (Block Burna Jojo World)

69th to 70th, Normal to Harvard (Brick Squad Jojo World) border with Greater Grand Crossing

72nd to 73rd, Carpenter to Morgan (YMM)

Union from 75th to 76th (Ublock)

69th & Eggleston

69th & Perry

66th & Peoria

70th & Peoria

Mickey Cobras Established 1958-2000s as Egyptian Cobras

55th & Normal (Dodge City Dirty World Cobras)

55th & Shields

Conservative Vice Lords

74th to 75th, Aberdeen to Racine

All images below are of buildings that were abandoned at the time of the picture.  All images are courtesy of Google Maps