Portal:Chicago/Selected article/30

Hyde Park Township, Cook County, Illinois is a former civil township in Cook County, Illinois, United States that existed as a separate municipality from 1861 until 1889 when it was annexed into the city of Chicago. Its borders are Pershing Road (formerly 39th Street) on the north, State Street on the west, Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line on the east, and 138th Street and the Calumet River on the south (see map in footnote). This region comprised most of what are now known as the South Side of Chicago including the entirety of the following community areas: Hyde Park, Kenwood, Woodlawn, South Shore, South Chicago, East Side, Hegewisch, Avalon Park, Calumet Heights, South Deering, Burnside, Pullman, and Riverdale as well as the Southern part of Oakland and the eastern parts of Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, Greater Grand Crossing, Chatham, Roseland, and West Pullman. During its brief history it developed from unpopulated wildlife to a largely developed residential, commercial and resort community. However, due to infrastructure limitations, legislative incentives and the lure of better municipal services it, along with numerous adjoining townships, agreed to be annexed into the city of Chicago, creating the largest city in the United States at that time.