1929 Map of Blue Island

About this map

Blue Island serves as the industrial and transit nexus for this south Chicagoland landscape in the late 1920s. A dense concentration of railroads, including the Grand Trunk Western and Indiana Harbor Belt, converges near the intersection of the Little Calumet River and the Calumet Sag Channel. The map reveals a specialized land-use pattern where residential growth in settlements like Evergreen Park and Mount Greenwood is interspersed with sprawling cemeteries such as Mt Hope Cemetery, Oak Hill Cemetery, and St Maria Cemetery. Beyond the urban grid of West Pullman, the area transitions into recreational and rural spaces, evidenced by the Midlothian Country Club and smaller local institutions like the Hazel Green School. This survey, compiled in part from Air Corps aerial photography, captures the region just as the suburban grid began to firmly establish itself over the old prairie drainage of Stony Creek.