York Center, Illinois

Last updated

York Center, Illinois
USA Illinois location map.svg
Red pog.svg
York Center, Illinois
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
York Center, Illinois
Coordinates: 41°51′25″N87°59′16″W / 41.85694°N 87.98778°W / 41.85694; -87.98778
Country United States
State Illinois
County DuPage
Township York
Elevation
722 ft (220 m)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
60148 (Lombard)
Area code(s) 630 & 331
GNIS feature ID422172 [1]

York Center is an unincorporated community in York Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. York Center is located by Meyers Road and 16th Street, near the southern border of Lombard, and the western border of Oakbrook Terrace. York Center has an elementary school, established in 1958, [2] and a fire protection district, [3] which covers unincorporated areas of Lombard, Villa Park, Oak Brook, and Oakbrook Terrace.

The York Center Cooperative (Co-op) community was founded immediately after World War II as a co-op on the principles of shared ownership "to promote and develop good will, high moral values, wholesome cooperative activities and healthy civic spirit." The Rochdale Principles were formative and the main road around the community was named Rochdale Circle. Louis Shirky, who also established a Church of the Brethren in York Center, purchased the Goltermann farm for the housing cooperative. [4] [5] At its founding, the co-op was an experiment in what was then considered radical living. [6] Chicagoans who wanted to escape the prejudice and confinement of the city to build affordable homes in the suburbs flocked to what was then a bucolic farm, which the people of the co-op purchased and subdivided. Members learned to tout the 100 acres of communally-owned property as an economically mixed community that was tolerant of all races, religions and ethnicities. [7] Many, but not all, of early residents, including Louis Shirky, were members of the York Center Church of the Brethren. [8] The purpose was to establish a new kind of community, a housing cooperative based on open membership "to all persons of good will." [9]

Archivist Dennis Bilger of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, has stated, "It is probably true that the York Center Cooperative was, if not the first, one of the very earliest integrated housing developments in the United States." [9] In 1949, President Harry Truman issued an executive order declaring racial discrimination illegal in the granting of Federal Housing Administration loans. The watershed edict came after York Center Co-op members teamed up with the NAACP in a test case. [10]

Girl Scouting was an important aspect of life in York Center. The Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana now serves the area which was led by R. Hopley "Hop" Roberts in the days when it was part of the DuPage County Council. [11]

The York Center Cooperative was legally dissolved in 2010. [12] [13]

In 2021, the Lombard Historical Society produced the documentary, Common Good ~ The York Center Co-op Story, which is characterized as "An epic tale of a pioneering, faith-based effort that provided fair housing, community and opportunity in an era of white flight, redlining and restrictive covenants that effectively prevented non-white Americans from fully participating in the American dream." [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DuPage County, Illinois</span> County in Illinois, United States

DuPage County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it Illinois' second-most populous county. Its county seat is Wheaton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois</span> Suburb of Chicago

Oakbrook Terrace is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, and is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 2,751. It is the smallest town in DuPage County, in terms of area and population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housing cooperative</span> Type of housing development that emphasizes self-governance and quasi-communal living

A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Typically housing cooperatives are owned by shareholders but in some cases they can be owned by a non-profit organization. They are a distinctive form of home ownership that have many characteristics that differ from other residential arrangements such as single family home ownership, condominiums and renting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Co-op City, Bronx</span> Neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City

Co-op City is a cooperative housing development located in the northeast section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is bounded by Interstate 95 to the southwest, west, and north and the Hutchinson River Parkway to the east and southeast, and is partially in the Baychester and Eastchester neighborhoods. With 43,752 residents as of the 2010 United States Census, it is the largest housing cooperative in the world. It is in New York City Council District 12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan</span>

The Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan (ICC) is a student owned and operated housing cooperative serving students and community members in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The ICC is an active member of NASCO.

The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) is a student housing cooperative serving primarily UC Berkeley students, but open to any full-time post-secondary student. The BSC houses and/or feeds over 1,300 students in 17 houses and three apartment buildings. Food is provided to residents of the 17 houses, which also offer boarding meal plans to non-residents. As part of their rental agreement, residents of the houses are required to perform workshifts, typically five hours per week. The BSC is led by a board of directors which is primarily composed of and elected by student members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consumers' co-operative</span> Autonomous association owned and managed democratically by its clients

A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a form of mutual aid, oriented toward service rather than pecuniary profit. Many cooperatives, however, do have a degree of profit orientation. Just like other corporations, some cooperatives issue dividends to owners based on a share of total net profit or earnings ; or based on a percentage of the total amount of purchases made by the owner. Regardless of whether they issue a dividend or not, most consumers’ cooperatives will offer owners discounts and preferential access to good and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois Technology and Research Corridor</span> Region of commerce and industry along Interstate 88 in the Chicago metropolitan area

The Illinois Technology and Research Corridor is a region of commerce and industry located along Interstate 88 in the Chicago metropolitan area, primarily in DuPage, Kane, and DeKalb Counties. The corridor is home to the headquarters or regional centers for many Fortune 1000 companies, several office and industrial parks, colleges and universities, research and scientific institutions, medical centers, government centers, and abundant shopping, dining, lodging, and entertainment amenities. In addition to the I-90 Golden Corridor, the I-94 Lakeshore Corridor, and the I-55 Industrial Corridor, the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor is one of the principal economic centers in suburban Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakbrook Center</span> Shopping center in Oak Brook, Illinois

Oakbrook Center is a shopping center established in 1962 and located near Interstate 88 and Route 83 in Oak Brook, Illinois. It is the second largest shopping center in the Chicago metropolitan area by gross leasable area, only surpassed by Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. The mall has retail anchor tenants including Macy's, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus, and specialty retailers such as Altar'd State, Oak+Fort, Tory Burch, Allbirds, Arc'teryx, Golden Goose, Fabletics, Rhone, and Warby Parker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochdale Village, Queens</span> Housing cooperative in New York City

Rochdale Village is a housing cooperative and neighborhood in the southeastern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in Community District 12, Rochdale Village is grouped as part of Greater Jamaica, corresponding to the former Town of Jamaica. It is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: St. Albans to the east, South Jamaica to the west, Locust Manor to the north, and Springfield Gardens to the south across the Belt Parkway. Rochdale is about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the Queens/Nassau border and about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of John F. Kennedy International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cooperative Village</span> Housing cooperatives in Manhattan, New York

Cooperative Village is a community of housing cooperatives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The cooperatives are centered on Grand Street in an area south of the entrance ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge and west of the FDR Drive. Combined, the four cooperatives have 4,500 apartments in twelve buildings.

A student housing cooperative, also known as co-operative housing, is a housing cooperative for student members. Members live in alternative cooperative housing that they personally own and maintain. These houses are designed to lower housing costs while providing an educational and community environment for students to live and grow in. They are, in general, nonprofit, communal, and self-governing, with students pooling their monetary and personal resources to create a community style home. Many student housing cooperatives share operation and governing of the house. As with most cooperatives, student housing coops follow the Rochdale Principles and promote collaboration and community work done by the members for mutual benefit.

The United Housing Foundation (UHF) was a real estate investment trust in New York that constructed numerous cooperative housing projects, including Rochdale Village in Queens and Co-op City in the Bronx.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham E. Kazan</span> American activist

Abraham E. Kazan (1889–1971) is considered the "father of U.S. cooperative housing".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Miglin</span> American real estate developer (1924–1997)

Lee Albert Miglin was an American business tycoon and philanthropist. After starting his career as a door-to-door salesman and then broker, Miglin became a successful real estate developer. He was an early developer of business parks. His firm, at one point, proposed the construction of the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle, which was planned to be the tallest building in the world. Miglin was murdered in his home in May 1997 by Andrew Cunanan, a spree killer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorktown Center</span> Shopping mall in Lombard, Illinois

Yorktown Center is a shopping mall located in the village of Lombard, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The mall features JCPenney, Von Maur in addition to an 18-screen dine-in AMC Theatres.

The history of cooperatives in the United States extends to pre-independence times. With the exception of credit unions and mutual banking institutions, most cooperatives have held a comparatively light footprint on the economic history of the United States in comparison to the economies of Europe.

From 1967 to 1973, an extended period of racial unrest occurred in the town of Cairo, Illinois. The city had long had racial tensions which boiled over after a black soldier was found hanged in his jail cell. Over the next several years, fire bombings, racially charged boycotts and shootouts were common place in Cairo, with 170 nights of gunfire reported in 1969 alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oberlin Student Cooperative Association</span>

The Oberlin Student Cooperative Association (OSCA) is a non-profit corporation founded in 1962 that feeds and houses Oberlin College students. Located in the town of Oberlin, Ohio, it is independent from but closely tied to Oberlin College. OSCA is one of the largest student housing cooperatives in North America, though membership has declined in recent years.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: York Center, Illinois
  2. "York Center Elementary School". Public School Review. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  3. "About Us". York Center Fire Protection District. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  4. "Goltermann, Louis Heinrich Friedrich". Franzosenbusch Heritage Society. Archived from the original on December 15, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  5. "CHAPTER 5 The Transplants". Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  6. Kirkpatrick, Truman (1976). History of York Center Cooperative, Inc. OCLC   11388792.
  7. "Now, York Center Cooperative Confronts An Age-old Problem." June 24, 1993.By Jennifer Lenhart Chicago Tribune.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-06-24/news/9306240126_1_co-op-photo-album-houses
  8. "Who We Are". York Center Church of the Brethren. November 7, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  9. 1 2 Lundy, Betty (August 14, 1988). "Cooperation Is The Glue Of York Center". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  10. "Dupage Housing Co-op Marks 50 Years Of Diversity" Chicago Tribune April 21, 1995|By Lynn Van Matre. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-08-14/features/8801230018_1_co-op-housing-legal-details/2
  11. R. Hopley "Hop" Roberts. December 18, 1997. Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-12-18/news/9712180165_1_lombard-hop-mrs-roberts
  12. Thompson David J. Weavers of Dreams : Founders of the Modern Co-Operative Movement. 2nd ed. Twin Pines Press 2012.
  13. "All About York Center Co-op". Lombard Historical Society. June 16, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  14. "Premier Common Good ~ The York Center Co-op Story" (Press release). Lombard Historical Society and Tim Frakes Productions. September 1, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2021.