Parkway Garden Homes

Parkway Gardens Apartment Homes, known as O-Block is a group of apartments with 694 units located in the Greater Grand Crossing area. It is also on the border of Woodlawn and Washington Park. Chicago's Greater Grand Crossing, Woodlawn, and Washington Park community areas are in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The apartments were built from 1950 to 1955 by Henry K. Holsman, who planned many of Chicago's affordable housing developments, and designed the Modern buildings. 

The apartments were the first to be cooperatively owned by Chicago's African-American residents, who had a housing shortage during the Second Great Migration due to segregation. Early residents included former First Lady Michelle Obama, and more people such as Chief Keef, King Von, and Fredo Santana have lived here. Many other artists and music producers have come from Parkway Gardens as well. 

In recent years, however, the apartments have became the center of one of Chicago's most violent blocks. The complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 History 
Parkway Gardens Apartment Homes, built from 1950 to 1955, was the last of Henry K. Holsman's many house development designs in Chicago. Holsman began designing low-income housing in Chicago in the 1910s when a housing shortage started after World War I. He worked on many of the Chicago Housing Authority's major housing projects in the 1930s. Later in the decade, he began building his own projects with funding from the Federal Housing Authority. Starting in the 1940s, Holsman mainly designed houses for Chicago's African-American citizens, such as his Princeton Park community.

While Chicago's African-American population increased from 1920 to 1970 because of the Great Migrations, unfair housing rules forced African-Americans to live in the "Black Belt" section of the city's South Side, which did not have enough housing for them. After finishing the Winchester-Hood and Lunt-Lake Apartments on the North Side, Holsman started to work on building the Parkway Gardens to help the South Side African-American community. The apartments replaced the White City Amusement Park, which had been at the same place since 1905. Holsman's business went bankrupt before the apartments because of  bad decisions with their money, one bad decision made Holsman convicted for mail fraud. Michelle Obama, former First Lady, used to live here.

 Gang activity 
From the late-2000s to early 2010's, Parkway was the center of gang shootings mostly involving teenagers and young adults. People that live in Parkway and community leaders disliked the crime wave after the CHA demolished the Randolph Towers, nicknamed the "Calumet Building" which used to be located at 6217 S. Calumet Ave. The red brick building which had 16 stories was the base of operations for the Black Disciples gang. In a Chicago Tribune article from 2004, it said that drug dealers in the Randolph Towers were hauling in drug profits as much as $300,000 per day. After the demolition of Randolph Towers in 2006, Black Disciples moved their illegal business to Parkway Gardens which became Gangster Disciples territory.  

In the early 2010s, gang activity increased and Parkway Gardens became the center of one of Chicago's most violent blocks. The 6400 block of South King Drive was known locally as "WIIIC CITY", but then started to be called "O Block", after resident Odee Perry was murdered. Under this new name, it has become known across the United States because of former Parkway Gardens residents, such as rappers Chief Keef and King Von, whose music often has lyrics about Parkway Gardens and its violence.Between June 2011 and June 2014, Parkway Gardens had the most shootings of any block in Chicago. Many of these shootings occurred in 2011 and 2012, with city police saying that violence at the apartments has since steadily declined. The violence mainly starts from gang rivalries between the Gangster Disciples and Black Disciples, who both control territory near the block.

The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 22, 2011, for its important architectural developments and its role in African-American community development.

 Notable people 

 Dayvon Bennett (1994–2020), also known as "King Von", rapper and songwriter
 Keith Cozart, also known as "Chief Keef" (born 1995), rapper and record producer
 Michelle Obama, American attorney, author and first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017
 Durk Banks, also known as "Lil Durk" (born 1992), rapper and songwriter

 References 

Category:National Register of Historic Places
Category:Buildings and structures in Chicago