Gage Park is one of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

's 77 well-defined community areas, located on the city's southwest side; it is also the name of a park within the neighborhood. Gage Park's population is largely working-class, and its housing stock is mostly

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s. For generations, the neighborhood was

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an and

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

. The neighborhood remains overwhelmingly

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

with the addition of many

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

residents. Gage Park is bounded by 49th Street to the north, 59th Street to the south, Central Park Ave to the west, and Leavitt Street to the east.

History

The development of Gage Park began in 1873 when South Park Commissioner George W. Gage began working on a planned park at the intersection of Western Ave. and Garfield Boulevard. Upon Gage's death in 1875, the park was renamed Gage Park in his honor. The area developed after Gage's passing, slowly adding more and more land and offering up more services to the local community. By 1919, Gage Park had added more land and the park now included ball fields, tennis courts, separate men's and women's gymnasiums, gardens, and a wading pool. A large field house and auditorium was later added in 1928, with a large mural by Tom Lea added in 1931. On February 4, 2016, the bodies of six people were discovered in a home on the 5700 block of South California Avenue.

Education

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

operates district public schools. *K-8 schools serving sections of Gage Park include Morrill, Carson, Talman, Nightingale, Christopher, Fulton, Henderson, Sawyer, Tonti, Sandoval, and Hernandez. * Gage Park High School serves most of the community area. Some sections are served by Hubbard, Kelly,

Curie Curie may refer to: *Curie family, a family of distinguished scientists: :* Jacques Curie (1856–1941), French physicist, Pierre's brother :* Pierre Curie (1859–1906), French physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Marie's husband :* Marie Curi ...

, and Solorio high schools. Gage Park High School is located on South Rockwell Street, where 728 students attended during the 2013–2014 school year. Of the 728, 96.6% were from low-income households and 18.3% are homeless. The average ACT score in 2014 was 15.2 with the state average being 20. The United Neighborhood Organization operates the

charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

Rufino Tamayo School and Jovita Idar School.UNO Charter Schools
." United Neighborhood Organization. Retrieved on June 16, 2012.

Politics

The Gage Park community area has supported the Democratic Party in the past two presidential elections. In the 2016 presidential election, the Gage Park cast 6,966 votes for

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and cast 494 votes for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

(90.44% to 6.41%). In the 2012 presidential election, Gage Park cast 5,725 votes for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and cast 554 votes for

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

(90.27% to 8.74%).

Religion

The

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church located in Northeast Illinois, Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. The Vatican erected it as a diocese in 1843 and e ...

operates Catholic churches. On July 1, 2020, St. Gall Parish will incorporate St. Simon the Apostle Parish into its structure, and St. Gall will be the main church of the merged entity. On the same day St. Rita of Cascia Parish will incorporate St. Clare of Montefalco, and the former will be the main church of the combined entity.

Notable people

* Victor Adeyanju,

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. Adeyanju, who lived in Gage Park from age seven until graduating from high school, played for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

from 2006 to 2010. * Bill Redmond, Republican member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from New Mexico's 3rd congressional district from May 13, 1997 – January 3, 1999. He was raised in Gage Park and attended Gage Park High School. * James Adeyanju,

in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

. Adeyanju, who lived in Gage Park from birth until graduating from high school, played for the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

Badgers from 2011 to 2014. He now lives in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

References

External links

Official City of Chicago Gage Park Community Map

Chicago Park District: Gage Park
{{Geographic Location , Center = Gage Park, Chicago , North =

Brighton Park, Chicago Brighton Park is a community area located on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois. It is number 58 of the 77 community areas of Chicago. Brighton Park is bordered on the north by the former Illinois and Michigan Canal and the current Chicag ...

, Northeast =

New City, Chicago New City is one of Chicago's 77 official community areas, located on the southwest side of the city in the South Side district. It contains the neighborhoods of Canaryville and Back of the Yards. The boundaries of New City are Pershing Road ...

, East = Fuller Park, Chicago , Southeast = West Englewood, Chicago , South =

Chicago Lawn, Chicago Chicago Lawn is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. It is located on the southwest side of the city. Its community neighbors include Gage Park, West Englewood, Ashburn, and West Lawn. It is bounded by the CSX and Norfolk S ...

, Southwest = West Lawn, Chicago , West = West Elsdon, Chicago , Northwest = Archer Heights, Chicago Community areas of Chicago Populated places established in 1873 South Side, Chicago