Coordinates 41.8508° N, 87.6280° W Constructed 1954–55 | Status Demolished Demolished 2009–11 | |
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Location Bordered by Cermak Road, 25th Street and State and Federal StreetsChicago, Illinois United States GoverningBody | ||
Harold L. Ickes Homes was a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project in the Near South Side neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was bordered between State Street and Federal Avenue and Cermak Road and 25th Street. It was a part of the State Street Corridor, which included other CHA properties: Robert Taylor Homes, Dearborn Homes, Stateway Gardens and Hilliard Homes.
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History
Named for a United States administrator and politician, Harold LeClair Ickes. The housing project was constructed by the Public Works Administration between 1954 and 1955 . It consisted of eleven 9-story high-rise buildings with a total of 738 apartments [1]. In 2007, Ickes residents recorded acts of police harassment which included strip searches of African-American men as children watched; The footage aired on NBC's Channel 5. On October 9, 2007 Rev. Jesse Jackson along with ministers from Chicago's west side and community members moved into the housing project to bring attention to the harassment situation.
Redevelopment
As of May 2015, most of the site remains undeveloped following its demolition as part of the Plan for Transformation/Plan Forward. In September 2013, two years after the final building was demolished, former residents called for the housing authority to build replacement housing as promised. One former resident was quoted as saying: "We were told by the CHA that once the Ickes was torn down replacement units would then be built. That has not happened even though taxpayers' money is being used to help build a new Green Line station on 22nd Street and a new stadium for DePaul."
