Exploring Hyde Park

Hyde Park, south of the loop, is the birthplace of atomic fission, home to the University of Chicago and the popular Museum of Science and Industry, and definitely worth a trip. You should allow at least half a day to explore the campus and neighborhood (one of Chicago's most successfully integrated) and a full day if you want to explore museums as well.

Some Hyde Park History

When Hyde Park was settled in 1850, it became Chicago's first suburb. A hundred years later, in the 1950s, it added another first to its impressive résumé, one that the current neighborhood is not particularly proud of: an urban-renewal plan. At the time, a certain amount of old commercial and housing stock -- just the kind of buildings that would be prized today -- was demolished rather than rehabilitated and replaced by projects and small shopping malls that actually make some corners of Hyde Park look more suburban, in the modern sense, than they really are.

What Hyde Park can be proud of is that, in racially balkanized Chicago, this neighborhood has found an alternative vision. As Southern blacks began to migrate to Chicago's South Side during World War I, many whites fled. But most whites here, especially those who wanted to stay near the university, chose integration as the only realistic strategy to preserve their neighborhood. The 2000 census proved that integration still works: About 40% of the residents are white and 37% are black; there is also a significant Asian population. Hyde Park is decidedly middle class, with pockets of affluence in Kenwood that reflect the days in the early 20th century when the well-to-do moved here to escape the decline of Prairie Avenue. The area's well-known black residents included the late Elijah Muhammad, and numerous Nation of Islam families continue to worship in a mosque, formerly a Greek Orthodox cathedral, that is one of the neighborhood's architectural landmarks. Surrounding this unusual enclave, however, are many marginal blocks where poverty and slum-housing abound. For all its nobility, Hyde Park's achievement in integration merely emphasizes that even more unwieldy than racial differences are socioeconomic ones.

The University of Chicago is widely hailed as one of the more intellectually exciting institutions of higher learning in the country, and has been home to some 73 Nobel laureates. The year the university opened its doors in 1892 was a big one for Hyde Park, but 1893 was even bigger. In that year, Chicago, chosen over other cities in a competitive international field, played host to the World's Columbian Exposition, commemorating the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in America.

To create a fairground, the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted was enlisted to fill in the marshlands along Hyde Park's lakefront and link what was to become Jackson Park to existing Washington Park on the neighborhood's western boundary with a narrow concourse called the Midway Plaisance. On the resulting 650 acres -- at a cost of $30 million -- 12 exhibit palaces, 57 buildings devoted to U.S. states and foreign governments, and dozens of smaller structures were constructed under the supervision of architect Daniel Burnham. Most of the buildings followed Burnham's preference for the Classical Revival style and white stucco exteriors. With the innovation of outdoor electric lighting, the sparkling result was the "White City," which attracted 27 million visitors in a single season, from May 1 to October 31, 1893. The exposition sponsors, in that brief time, had remarkably recovered their investment, but within a few short years of the fair's closing, vandalism and fire destroyed most of its buildings. Only the Palace of Fine Arts, occupying the eastern tip of the midway, survives to this day, and it now houses the Museum of Science and Industry.

Getting There

From the Loop, the ride to Hyde Park on the no. 6 Jeffrey Express bus takes about 30 minutes. The bus originates on Wacker Drive, travels south along State Street, and ultimately follows Lake Shore Drive to Hyde Park. The bus runs daily from early morning to late evening, with departures about every 5 minutes on weekdays and every 10 minutes on weekends and holidays. The southbound express bus fare adds a surcharge of 25¢ to the normal fare of $2 (there's no surcharge if you use a CTA transit card). The no. 1 local bus originates at Union Station on Jackson Boulevard and Canal Street and takes about an hour.

For a faster trip, take the Metra Electric train on the South Chicago line, which goes from downtown to Hyde Park in about 15 minutes. Trains run every hour (more frequently during rush hour) Monday through Saturday from 5:15am to 12:50am, and every 30 to 90 minutes on Sunday and holidays from 5am to 12:55am. Downtown stations are at Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue, Van Buren Street and Michigan Avenue, and Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue (near the Museum Campus in Grant Park). Printed schedules are available at the stations. The fare is approximately $2 each way.

For CTA bus and Metra train information, call tel. 836-7000 (from any city or suburban area code), or visit www.transitchicago.com or www.metrarail.com.

For taxis, dial tel. 312/TAXI-CAB (312/829-4222) for Yellow Cab or tel. 312/CHECKER (312/243-2537) for Checker. The one-way fare from downtown is around $15 to $20.

A Suggested Itinerary

A long 1-day itinerary for Hyde Park should include the following: a walk through the University of Chicago campus (including a stroll along the Midway Plaisance); a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry (for families), Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House or one of the other local museums; and lunch or dinner in the neighborhood's commercial center.

Did You Know?

The world's first Ferris wheel was built on Hyde Park's midway during the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It was eventually dynamited and sold for scrap metal.

Hyde Park Bites

When you're ready to take a break, Hyde Park has an eclectic selection of restaurants. As in any university town, you'll find plenty of affordable, student-friendly hangouts. The most famous University of Chicago gathering spot is Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap, 1172 E. 55th St. (tel. 773/643-5516). This 50-year-old bar and grill doesn't offer much in the way of atmosphere (and be prepared for cigarette smoke), but the hamburgers and sandwiches are cheap, and the person sitting next to you might just be a Nobel Prize-winning professor. Another casual spot near campus is Medici, 1327 E. 57th St. (tel. 773/667-7394), where a few generations' worth of students have carved their names into the tables while chowing down on pizza, the house specialty. Calypso Café, 5211 S. Harper St., near the Metra train tracks (tel. 773/955-0229), serves conch chowder, jerk chicken, and other Caribbean favorites in a bright, funky setting. A few blocks south you'll find La Petite Folie, 1504 E. 55th St. (tel. 773/493-1394), a French bistro that offers a refined escape from student life.

Enjoying the Outdoors in Hyde Park

Hyde Park is not only a haven for book lovers and culture aficionados; the community also has open-air attractions. Worthy outdoor environments near Lake Michigan include Lake Shore Drive, where many stately apartment houses follow the contour of the shoreline. A suitable locale for a quiet stroll during the day is Promontory Point, at 55th Street and Lake Michigan, a bulb of land that juts into the lake and offers a good view of Chicago to the north and the seasonally active 57th Street beach to the south.

Farther south, just below the Museum of Science and Industry, is Wooded Island in Jackson Park, the site of the Japanese Pavilion during the Columbian Exposition and today a lovely garden of meandering paths. In the Perennial Garden at 59th Street and Stony Island Avenue in Jackson Park, more than 180 varieties of flowering plants display a palette of colors that changes with the seasons.

More Frank Lloyd Wright Homes

In addition to Robie House, several of Wright's earlier works, still privately owned, dot the streets of Hyde Park. They include the Heller House, 5132 S. Woodlawn Ave. (1897); the Blossom House, 1332 E. 49th St. (1882); and the McArthur House, 4852 S. Kenwood Ave. (1892). Note: These houses are not open to the public, so they should only be admired from the outside.