South Chicago was a steel town inside the city. The North Chicago Rolling Mill Company opened at the mouth of the Calumet River in 1881, it became U.S. Steel South Works in 1901, and the mill ran along the shoreline until 1992. The neighborhood grew to house its workers, and its streets still follow that history.
Where South Chicago sits
The community has a chevron shape. 79th Street is its northern edge, and South Chicago Avenue, with the Chicago Skyway running along it, cuts the southwest side. A short stretch of 95th Street closes the bottom, and the Calumet River runs along the southeast. Lake Michigan is on the east. Nearly every address here uses the 60617 ZIP code.
Before it was South Chicago, it was Ainsworth, and four smaller communities came together to form it: the Bush, Millgate, Cheltenham and Calumet. People still say “the Bush” for the northeast section near the old mill, and “Millgate” for the blocks around 89th Street and Green Bay Avenue.
Sunken yards and old frame houses
This is the part of South Chicago that changes how a car comes out. The wood-frame houses in the Bush, Millgate and eastern Cheltenham were built at the old ground level, and the streets were built up around them, so many sit in “sunken yards”, with bridge-like walk-ups connecting the front door to the sidewalk on streets like Houston, Baltimore and Brandon Avenues. A car parked in a side yard or behind one of those houses may be below street level.
That’s fine, but the driver needs to know. Tell us if the car is lower than the road, how much room there is beside the house, and whether it’s reached from an alley. North of 83rd Street and west of Manistee Avenue, the houses are mostly post-war brick, and pickups there are usually ordinary curb or garage jobs.
Getting a tow truck to Commercial Avenue
Our trucks leave South Yale Avenue in West Pullman and head up Princeton Avenue to 115th Street, east to Michigan Avenue, then across on 111th Street to the Bishop Ford Freeway. North on the Bishop Ford, the road becomes the Stony Island Expressway and then Stony Island Avenue. From there it’s east on 87th Street and onto Commercial Avenue, about eight miles in total.
Commercial Avenue is where South Chicago shops, and businesses line 83rd and 87th Streets too. If the car is on one of those busy stretches, give us the exact block.
Rules for a dead car on a South Chicago street
79th Street, along the northern edge, is on the city’s Winter Overnight Parking Ban list. From December 1 through April 1, parking there is banned from 3 am to 7 am, and towed cars on this side of the city go to Pound 2 at 10301 South Doty Avenue.
The bigger risk for a long-parked car is the city’s abandoned-vehicle rule. A car left in disrepair so it can’t be driven, or one that hasn’t moved in more than seven days and looks deserted, can be reported to 311 and towed. If nobody claims it, the city sells it for scrap and the owner has lost the car.
Wrecked, flooded or burned cars near the Calumet River
A crash, a flooded street or a garage fire can each turn a car into scrap. We buy them as they are. Our page on selling a wrecked car covers crash damage, and the flood and fire damage page covers the rest.
Some owners in South Chicago ask whether they’d do better calling a scrapyard directly. It depends on whether you can deliver the car yourself and how much time you have. Our guide on a junkyard versus a junk car buyer lays out the trade-offs. With us the tow is free, and you’re paid when it’s loaded.
Landmarks in South Chicago
Drivers find cars fastest with a named place:
- Bessemer Park, between 89th Street, Muskegon Avenue and South Chicago Avenue, designed by the Olmsted Brothers and finished in 1905.
- Russell Square Park at Bond Avenue and 83rd Street, in the Bush.
- Eckersall Stadium at 83rd Street and Yates Avenue.
- The 93rd Street Metra station on Baltimore Avenue, end of the South Chicago Branch, plus stops at 83rd and 87th.
Churches work well too. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the oldest parish founded by Mexican families in Chicago, and Immaculate Conception and St. Michael’s are both built in the Polish Cathedral style.
You can see how the pickup works before you call.
Neighbours of South Chicago
North across 79th Street is South Shore, which shares the lakefront with South Chicago. West of South Chicago Avenue, Calumet Heights runs from 87th to 95th, and Avalon Park sits above it between 79th and 87th.