The Chicago neighborhood of Lawndale is on the western edge of the City of Chicago. It is 13 miles west of Chicago’s downtown Loop. The Town of Cicero lies directly west of Lawndale. The Little Village and Garfield Park neighborhoods lie just outside the boundaries of Lawndale.
Lawndale was once part of Cicero, but the area was annexed to the city of Chicago in 1969 by the Illinois state legislature. The name "Lawndale" was supplied by a real estate firm that subdivided the area in 1870. In 1871, after the Great Chicago Fire, the McCormick Reaper Co. (later International Harvester) built a large plant in the South Lawndale neighborhood, and many plant workers moved to eastern North Lawndale. Another section of Lawndale was annexed in 1889 by a resolution of the Cook County Commissioners.
In the early 1900s, Sears, Roebuck & Company’s mail order facility and administrative headquarters were located in Lawndale. Over the years, the neighborhood’s population grew rapidly and then began to decline. In the latter half of the 20th century, many industries began closing in Lawndale. These included International Harvester in 1969, Sears (partially in 1974 and completely by 1987), Zenith and Sunbeam in the 1970s and Western Electric in the 1980s.
Lawndale is comprised of several neighborhoods. K-Town is an area in which all street names begin with the letter “K.” Lawndale is divided into North and South Lawndale. The site of the former Sears headquarters has been redeveloped into the Homan Square neighborhood.
According to the 2010 census, the population of Lawndale was 112,961. Median household income in 2013 was $35,874 compared to $47,099 in Chicago as a whole. The average household size in Lawndale is 3.5 people compared to 2.6 people throughout Chicago. The percentage of people who do not speak English at all or not well in Lawndale is 21 percent, while that number is 8.9 percent in the rest of Chicago. More than half of all Lawndale residents have never finished high school, compared to 15 percent in Chicago. The average home in Lawndale costs $137,771 compared to $262,973 in Chicago.
The Chicago Transit Authority serves the neighborhood. Both the Blue Line and Pink Line run through Lawndale, with stations located at Kedzie, Central Park, Pulaski, Kostner, Forest Park and Cermak. The area is accessible by car via Interstate 290. There are also Chicago Transit Authority buses that run on most of the major streets in the neighborhood.
Lawndale is home to North Lawndale College Prep High School and St. Augustine College. St. Anthony Hospital serves Lawndale residents.
Lawndale is an easy commute to Chicago’s Loop by way of the Forest Park and Cermak branches of the Blue Line CTA as well as by car by way of Interstate 290.
Kreisman Law Offices handles Illinois lawsuits for the entire Chicago Metropolitan area, including the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. Kreisman Law Offices has over 40 years of trial experience and specializes in a wide range of legal services, including Illinois personal injury law, Illinois product defect/product liability law, Illinois medical malpractice claims and Illinois nursing home abuse cases. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free at 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online.
Our Chicago Loop office is in a convenient location for Lawndale residents. Kreisman Law Offices is located at the corner of Dearborn and Monroe Street or if you prefer, there are many convenient modes of public transportation to Kreisman Law Offices, including the Chicago Transit Authority’s buses and trains.