A Chicago Suburb DESTROYED By Gang Violence | Ford Heights
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- Опубликовано: 3 июн 2024
- For this video I’ll be showing you all there is to see in Ford Heights these days, which isn’t much. The suburb is about 25 miles south from Downtown Chicago. It’s actually closer to Gary, Indiana, which is only 15 miles to the northeast. Ford Heights is kind of dreary, kind of depressing, hopeless, the blight seems endless, and at times, the village leadership over the years has been a circus. I’ll start out the video by telling you what the place is like today before talking about the story of Ford Heights and how it became to be the way that it is today.
Thanks to these two websites for sharing some awesome documentation and knowledge of the history in Ford Heights, a place that was difficult to find information on:
www.chicagoganghistory.com
www.southcookexplore.com
Edit: The Ford Heights 4 were 4 men. The woman that I showed a picture of was a witness who was also wrongfully charged with a crime.
Intro: 0:00 - 0:57
Current State of Ford Heights: 0:57 - 10:00
History: 10:00 - 31:40
Chris Livability Score and Final Thoughts: 31:40 - 37:31
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Thanks to these two websites for sharing some awesome documentation and knowledge of the history in Ford Heights, a place that was difficult to find information on:
www.chicagoganghistory.com
www.southcookexplore.com
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Edit: The Ford Heights 4 were 4 men. The woman that I showed a picture of was a witness who was also wrongfully charged with a crime.
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Chris all the information pic data is at village hall on ford heights/ east heights
FYI, next time you decide to prepare a documentary, please do interviews from the people that actually live there or have lived there because this reporting is not including a complete picture of what and when the demise of the town. Your reporting does not capture the true essence of how this community was like a family. I grew up here as well as throughout the South Suburban area.
@aprilsanders8484 ...thank you for saying that, these ppl are the very benefactors of the blight and demise of our communities. One of these ppl will come in backed by politicians and borrowed bank funds scheming so sort of way to squeeze land and equity profits out of Ford Heights. They did it in the South when they seized lands and turned them into PGA golf faiways!
@@aprilsanders8484
Chill out April, lets see You make a video than ?
He made this video the best he could, least You could be is Thankful someone at least TRIED.
That's more than enough to ask for, effort is more important then getting it right. He can always improve without people complaining and whinning at him.
He did a fantastic job with the time and resources he has available.
Next time remember that money doesn't grow on trees and everything takes time and he will learn to improve as time goes on.
@@RaisedxFist stop talking!
Even the trees look like they don't want to be there.
That liquor store is popping 24/7 doesn’t matter the weather.
I used to work for the police department for only six months. Everything you said is accurate. I only work dayshift. The shootouts were real. Cook County sheriffs police came in and took over right after we walked off and quit. Yeah. It’s bad.
So unfortunate!
I've been on the fire department out here for 10 years man it is finally starting to get better. We got a couple multi-million-dollar projects taking place. There's a plan to build some container homes a lot of the homes that have been burned down have been torn down and rebuilt the mayor is trying to really turn that place around it has been in the gutter for way too long and it's time that he gets back to what it used to be Ford Heights used to be called East Chicago Heights. it was a very thriving neighborhood for some reason it fell apart but it is finally being reimagined to be better than what it was in the past
This would have been a great place to build tiny homes for the migrants or renovate the houses already there for them and it would rather than have then overlapping in the city and on the streets, I wonder why Johnson or Pritzker didn't couldn't wouldn't think of that idea or is the fix already in for whocthey have chosen to oppress and annihilate.
I worked in that area for 20 years. Bad place with very little hope……never once were we able to retain a local for employment.
@@ronu6264 well I've been on the fire department for 10 years out there and the mayor that we have right now has got multi-million-dollar projects in development he is getting rid of all the houses that have been burned out and rebuilding them he is really putting forth an effort to try and turn that town around so don't count them out just yet but man were they headed in a very very very very very very bad Direction
Grew up in Park Forest Illinois which is 5 miles west of there on Route 30. One day you should that town too. East Chicago Heights/Ford Heights was always bad and considered the local joke until the rest of the area started to decline also. Thanks for this trip down memory lane as painful as it was.
Are they ever going to demolish The Executive building next to the police station in Chicago Heights?
Don't forget Robbins.
Iam glad I stay in home wood Flossmoor it’s the best suburb all the rest is trash ghetto
Sorry bro but,east heights in 50 and 60s was middle class black working community. The blight of started when they bought out people to build the projects.
Park forest used to be so nice everybody wanted to move there
This is my hometown. It was funny when he talked about trying to find out what The Bronx and Vietnam looked like, as I have vivid memories of them from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. I'm glad he did the video and talked about the struggles of the place. When I worked at the Chicago Tribune, I still remember the newsroom got quiet for a second when the woman I was talking to heard I was from Ford Heights. She said, "Nobody comes from there..." Yeah, it was a 'different' place. Funny though, it went from 'Black Mayberry' in the early to mid-'80s to Beirut by the late '80s seemingly overnight once drugs hit the village.
I think i remember you, i use to live in Ford Heights also, in the Bronx Actually, once my mother left i never went back
So back in the days did the old people refer to the town as Ford Heights or East Chicago Heights?
@@michelleavant8627My uncle built the only remaining church that’s still standing there! The Red brick church that affectionately called the house that Jack built. The kindest man you could ever meet who had a big camper in his yard and loved everyone! May he Rest in Peace!
Myself, also a native of Ford Heights.......I was just getting ready to write something about this video on my hometown, too. Even though he's correct on SOME things, he did get some things incorrect. Chris did point out that you can't find much info on Ford Heights...most of that has to do with the media slowly erasing the village's existence from ANY available data pool. His best option to get the true vibe of Ford Heights would've been just to ask the people of the village itself....especially the old-timers if they're still around...depending on how brave he would've been. lol!! My view on this video is that its just another "hit piece" on East Chicago Heights (Ford Heights)....even if its more than deserved or self inflicted! Ive always wondered why ECH was singled out as most impoverished village in the south burbs when you had towns like Dixmoor, Robbins and Phoenix a few miles away. I agree with your example of comparison though, 'Black Mayberry' to Beirut.....but I was thinking more like early '90s Compton!
It would be interesting to see interviews from long-time residents.
I love how you go in depth and give a history of the neighborhood instead of just driving around it saying "what a sh!thole". Honestly, I don't think I've ever done more head shaking (in disbelief) while watching a video on YT.
dude should go into the store though. its run by south asians but the local business men stand in the parking lot selling their wares. my coworker took me in there. i was like lol really? this the store you wanted to stop at? okay.
“No work boots zone”
🤣😂🤣❗️👍
No book stores allowed
Yep any town with a certain percent of 13's is basically ruined.
I almost bought a house in Ford Heights but my family had an intervention 😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂😂
Lol
I am in Chicago Heights, literally about 5 minutes away from Ford Heights. I do DoorDash, Uber Eats, and GrubHub for side gigs, there are times I have to deliver in Ford Heights late at night. The other day, someone on a bike from the liquor store rode out right in front of my car and then somehow flipped over the handlebars, I almost ran him over. His phone was busted and there was a large crowd which were yelling at him, maybe he stole the bike and tried getting away?
Very entertaining video. But it was a time when the three schools in then East Chicago Heights, housed kids from K to 8th grade. Woodlawn, Cottage Grove and Medgar Evers. We competed against each other in everything. Including basketball, volleyball, track and scholastic honors. This would be from 73 to 82 for me. I attended Bloom Trail in the fall of 82 and graduated in 86. Some beautiful times in between living in messed up circumstances. Again, it was a very enjoyable watch. 🙌🏿
Now the demographics of all those towns changed them into high crime towns. Lots of towns in the late 70’s and 80’s were nice.
I'm gonna surmise that the other school districts are not interested in taking the students from the remaining two Ford Heights schools and can't imagine why.
I lived in Sauk Village from 76 to 97. I am a Bloom Trail graduate.
The area has always struggled. The area was build around manufacturing, and for many people who lacked in education and skills, they could find a job in manufacturing and be represented by a union.
Around late 70's-, the economy went bad. I remember very well of the manufacturers and chemical companies laying people off, and lots of people left.
When the Chicago Robert Taylor Homes (projects) and Cabrini Greene started being closed down, those people came to the only place they could afford. Section 8 gave those people assistance to purchase houses, but since they didn't work for those houses they didn't take care of them.
Many people I went to high school with from East Chicago Heights (It was still that name), wanted to do the right thing and be good upstanding citizens of a respectable community, but crime and other stuff paid better.
I heard a person that I graduated with had 11 kids before the 10 year high school reunion. Poor people do NOT have to live in filth, they can clean their area and make an improvement.
Seeing this reminded me of some things I learned in my medical pathology training. You see what you know and you have to know what is normal before you can identify abnormal. In yet another magnificant Chris Harden video we have all that here. No one person can solve the world's problems but we can each make a difference. Drug dealing is a serious crime as is corruption denying a library to a community. Just simple things matter. Give a warm smile to a child, it might be the only one they see in a long time. Take a little time to point out something positive in someone. During my long career prior to retirement two fellow coworkers exhibited skill sets that they were unaware of. Just a couple of minutes with each led to years later two productive people becoming much more productive and content. Thanks again Chris for shining a light on a very dark corner with explanations of the causes and positive productive thoughts. Craig
@craignovy2090: Every country no matter where you go has extremely major high crimes like ours . It's even bad in Japan as well you'll notice drugs and homelessness on their subways and stations.
Adding libraries and things of that nature are a waste of tax payers money. They get destroyed almost as soon as they go up. My steg grandfather worked at the Ford Plant in Ford Heights ( it was the only building that wasn't in decline) and the reason why is because of the razorwire fencing and the security they had there. Throwing money at these problems won't help. I lived in Sauk Village when I was younger and my early teens ( which is about 10 to 15 minutes from Ford Heights). Sauk Village was a town where mostly retired Vets lived and families. A lot of us kids in Sauk Village had both parents who worked ( we were latch key kids) they built a rec center on the police station grounds and we would go there everyday after school, the cops would help us with our home work, play pool, basketball, board games etc etc with us and on Fridays they would rent a movie or two and order a pizza for us, once or twice a month we would have a pot luck dinner on Sunday at the rec center... So from my experience ( and the kids I grew up with) the problems can't be solved with money. The problems are solved when communities unite. Us kids could ride our bikes all over that town until 10pm to 11pm and never had to worry because everyone knew each other. It takes a Village to raise a child and those parents weren't afraid to discipline other people's children back than. I knew if my friends mother's caught me acting a fool , I was getting my ass whooped by them and my mom. Lol
You are right and wrong. Unfortunately the towns with high crime either have alot of gangs or if you look at the demographics of the town the majority of the race in the towns can be the problem. Some towns have too many white people and some have too many African Americans not enough diversity.
Very good points made in the replies! Chris Harden's work is expectional in illustrating places and the why and how behind them. It is like taking a great humanities course and leads me to ponder more my own environment.
Why would you put a library in a place where no one reads? This is a farm to populate private prisons
Interesting how the Chicago street names extend out this far - Cottage Grove, Ellis, Greenwood, Woodlawn.
Chicago is the easiest city in the country to navigate. Washington D.C. is easy too
@@terrencerandle1184 I agree, with the grid and distance standards. My ancestors lived in “K-town” on the West Side.
Yup stony island too
I deliver on Stoney Island in Crete, IL . 243rd st. In fact the numbers count to the 300's as a typical address 29995!!
With all of the content Chris provide to you all, your comment is about how far south of Chicago certain street names continued? Boy! Aren’t you all the smartest in your classroom! You get another scoop of ice cream before we tuck you in tonight.
Awesome Job! Yeah, I grew up on Drexal Avenue, Berkely Avenue, and Finally 1048 Lexington Circle in East Chicago Heights, Went to Medgar Evers, Woodlawn, and Cottage Grove Schools! My family departed in 1974 for Park Forest. My Family and Aunts, Uncles, Cousins made it out! Now, the East Gate Section of Park Forest is not much better than Ford Heights, Especially Allegheny Street. Keep up the Awesome work. I am sure my family has pictures of East Chicago Heights from 1959-1974. Wow, very Powerful.
It’d be so interesting to see pictures from that era
Hello 👋🏿 Chris this is the 2nd video that I’ve seen from you I seen the Dixmoor IL video the other day. You seem to have a gift of making these videos that depict and analyze these municipalities. So I’m going to watch more…and go from there my name is Jesse.
New sub here....... Good content man. Research, a dash of humor and quality editing........
This was pretty fascinating! I grew up in Chicago Heights, just west of this town. We had friends who used to live there in this big green house on Woodlawn Ave but it was abandoned and demolished years ago. Even back in the late 80s/ early 90s, it wasn’t a very nice place to live. A lot of family friends used McCullough’s Funeral Services. Also, there used to be a currency exchange somewhere close to the fried chicken/fish shop, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it closed. This whole town is just a sad, sad mess. Chicago Heights was a little better than Ford Heights, but definitely not by much 😒
The currency exchange gone its something else there plus the chicken spot this there and the made a Family Dollar over there too
I remember when my family moved to Markham in 82, my siblings all wore glasses 🤓 and are opthalmologist was in Harvey, IL outside of that business the city looked like a dump.
Chicago heights just started getting bad
I lived in Sauk Village and Chicago Heights ( Ford Heights is in between) Chicago Heights wasn't horrible my friends and I were still able to walk around the neighborhood ( I was born in St.James hospital) but I digress... Chicago Heights and Sauk Village have become unrecognizable to me these past 15 to 20 yrs. It's sad.
@jay-kq5kv yeah it started about 10 maybe 15 yrs ago, just like Sauk Village, and Steger, and Create.
Ford Heights is a fascinating place. Used to drive through there often in the 90s. It’s a ghost town surrounded by the rest of Chicagoland. You should do Hammond, East Chicago (include Marktown) and Whiting. All really interesting especially as they go north towards the lake.
Hammond IN is brutal. I live there
What's brutal about Hammond? 😂
Nothing in East chicago.used to be a wonderful city. Got that BLACK MAYOR & well the rest is History.Worst thing that ever happened to that city
@@q.heffner3612no it's not😂😅HAMMOND POLICE DON'T PLAY & THEY HAVE A MAYOR THAT'S NOT HAVING IT
HMD is Thee most beautiful city in da World!
I live in Glenwood, I thank god for the farmland & cemetery in between us.
I grew up in Glenwood and Homewood. Ford Heights on route 30 was a place you avoided.
I’ve driven through Glenwood - not exactly the upper echelon of society either. 😒
@@MissKimLifeStyle Chicago's south suburbs has been on the decline for decades, it's like terminal cancer with no hope for the future.
@@MissKimLifeStyletrue, but it’s definitely light years ahead of FORD HEIGHTS!
Yeah, I just bought a house in Chicago Heights, pretty much as far west as I can be in Chicago Heights where it isn’t too bad, and I actually struggled to identify what is considered “Ford Heights” I see the signage, I see the water tower, I see the Ford plant but it’s like… blink and you’ll miss it! Most of the way down Rte 30 is still considered Chicago Heights and then bam, you’re in Indiana. But yeah, even though where I live in Chicago Heights is no Naperville or Aurora, and we still have a plethora of abandoned homes, it’s definitely not as bad Ford Heights. Plus they’ve been buying a lot of run-down and abandoned homes near me lately and remodeling them, so it’s looking up a little bit over here, especially now they’ve been doing some road resurfacing post-storm drain work.
I was on 16th st in 2018 ford heights ain’t got shit but about 5 streets
I am glad you did a video on Ford Heights. I heard awhile back it has a bad reputation, but heard no actual details, just you don't want to go there. So, this is a good video you can watch at home. Sad it was so dangerous even years ago.😮❤
It has been messed up for many years. It has been a bad area for at least 30 years. Look up the demographics. It had several project areas. We accidentally drove through there on our motorcycle and it was day time and we drove through as fast as possible down Lincoln highway. We were so glad we didn’t get shot at for being white. The majority of people there are black with a high murder rate.
Good video? How?
Yo Chris Ford heights was booming when people work for Ford motors. That's where Ford heights name come from but people left to Indiana because it's cheaper
thèse days you see more chicagoans in Indianapolis than native Indiana residents
Exactly. It wasn't always a dump. The plant close down doesn't help for sure
@@aimxdy8680true I lived there 6 years
Chris said that Ford was never there--adjacent. Some jobs--no tax revenue.
I can't say enough about your videos. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, will do!
Are you stopping at any trailer parks on your routes?
Definitely NOT!
I’m sorry, but as I’m taken away by the replies I’m reading through about this video and I’m sure others that you’re following by Chris, but at very most, please don’t ask him to keep up the good work! This ain’t WORK! This ain’t INFORMATIVE! This is the use of my 1st Amendment to spew hatred and racism.
This not " good work " ...period ...when us that knows... corrupt corrupt corrupt...people won't talk about that ! now would they.... names that go back even to AL Copo... ( gangster alright )
The USPS Creed “neither snow nor rain…” doesn’t mention gang violence. Yet back in the 1990s they stopped mail delivery for a couple weeks when the gangs were shooting at each other. So parts of the town had to pick up their mail from the main office located in Chicago Heights.
When I first moved to Chicago Heights from Mississippi, we got off on Lincoln Highway and that liquor store was full of people in the parking lot. My dad said “I never stop in this area” I quickly noticed why. The Cook County Sheriff’s Department is the police in Ford Heights, which says a lot about the economics of the town
I never understood why economics in Ford Heights were so low. They had the Ford Plant out there and 20yrs ago when I lives in Chicago Heights the gas price in Ford Heights was damn near $5 a gallon.
The Sheriff sits there 24hr 7 days
@@jennifermullen9891lazy people that’s why
@@edwardm9975 lol
@edwardm9975 yeah that never happened.
We drove all the time through East Chicago Heights/ Ford Heights back in the 70's early 80's to visit my aunt and uncle. And it wasn't much better then, I remember seeing all the abandoned buildings along Lincoln Hwy. Nothing but empty lots now, my relatives lived in Chicago Heights and it was a lot better than it is now.
You forgot to mention the murder of Richard Will back in 1999, he was beaten and burned near the Vietnam Projects.
Just looked up the Richard Will murder, looks like it actually happened in 1995, but the article about the sentencing was dated 1999. Sounds like it was horrific.
@@Sidewinder1999yeh the cops told the one guy, “your friend is on fire”
It seems like all 50 states have areas like Ford Heights and it's getting much much much worse!!!!!!!
its a damn shame about that guy who got sat on fire, but when you go out to areas like that....to feed your addictions....during those times of the night, you take your own life in your hands. That's not just with Ford Heights....that could happen anywhere.
Ford Heights was a bit more notorious simply because that sort of thing happened quite often, but was rarely reported on
Went to high school and played ball with people from Ford Heights. They were good people, and I very much enjoyed their company.
I grew up in the south suburbs. Ford Heights was already a blight during the 1970s.
Born in Chicago Heights at ST JAMES HOSP. & RAISED IN East Chicago Heights, iL. It's hard to believe how my Hometown has suffered Over the Decades. You would never Imagine how Great My childhood and East Chicago Heights was for me. I lived right off that main Hwy 14th street in a House. Would U believe we had our own Local radio station called WMPP on AM radio (Hosted AL GREEN & several other celebs) . That abandon grade school U mention once hosted the JACKSON 5 who performed during a talent show. So much lost history but Chris you are def on point on your information.
Yep! I was naming the streets as he passed them too. East Chicago Heights/Ford Heights is my hometown too. I grew up in Golden Meadows on Diplomat Lane.
@@lanierholt9715 I lived there too
The dude would not know because he is not from there or grew up in the struggle or even walked from the circle to Vietnam across the Bronx to my grandmother's place in little Africa across from the bronx I loved the 80s in the heights
Mine Home as well...and proud to say so... it never was bad as this video trying to speak...and others folks who go by " oh I heard " yall always will take the bad...not nothing God giving truth... shame on "you people"
brought em damn drugs in ...
Yah call these people ( the destroyers of His inheritance) ...vengeance...is His 😮
I grew up near 14th and Halsted in Chicago Heights. I would listen to WMPP on my transistor radio in the early & mid 60s. The other r&b soul station was WVON in Chicago, but it didn't come in well on my radio. WMPP's signal was designed to reach Gary, so probably it was a main factor in the musical education of the Jackson family. How I miss it!
Blame it on everything but the ones that inhabit these places.
They’re never to blame they are perfect people that are just innocent victims.
Very interesting. Passed through there back & forth on Lincoln Highway many times back in the late 80's. Always knew it was as bad as it gets but I never knew the community's back story
Sheesh, probably the worst suburb of a 4 million + metro area I've ever seen. I don't know how this ceases to still exist 30 minutes outside of Chicago. Great video as usual, Chris.
9 million +
It’s other suburbs out there worser than this like Harvey, calumet city, Robbins, that’s worst than ford heights that’s why it’s mass up cause people from Chicago coming there and bring all that gang violence
Chicago has 30K immigrants who should be transported to Ford Hts to either sink or swim. I'm confident that they'll appreciate the town..and swim.
Don't send them no where out here
@@ramonjamison373they already did when the tore down Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor homes.
Deport
Actually, they were put in University Park already. With funding. Actual money orders in hand.
@@virgiabuckingham6727WOW 😲
“A satellite photo from 1938”
Uhhhhh hold up a sec
Yeah, I’m from Detroit and whenever I drive through Highway 30 through there I definitely get those vibes
My family has land there, farm and a farm house which a lot of livestock, horses, goats etc I never knew the rest of Ford Heights looked like this. The land my family has is so beautiful and I love going out there. My cousins go horseback riding while I talk jive to the turkeys. I'm in awe 😮
The gas station there off the highway, there was a yt man that came through and stopped for gas. He was taken back there and lynched in a tree. I lived all over the area, especially crawford countryside in matteson (if you haven't done a video yet) and all over park forest/ south suburbs/ oak lawn etc)
thanks for all these awesome documentaries! It's so sad how quickly things turned even when i was growing up there. It's like a depression hole, but it's home. Matteson from what I've seen the last few years is just terrible.
The Crack epidemic was definitely hard, especially near the abandoned gas station in Chicago Heights, 5th Avenue etc and the keyhole (the hill) the kingpins, corruption, gangs, and drugs were a plenty
I remember in the mid 90s they made a dude walk home after arresting his friend that was driving. Someone lit him on fire. His name was Richard will.
Great video by the way, this is the first video I saw of yours
Good job...nice history recap. Keep up the good work!
Thanks!
Please do a video on Chicago Heights which is pretty close. Also maybe try getting pics or info from older people about Ford Heights. I remember talking badly about Ford Heights to my neighbor an older white lady and she got so offended and quickly corrected me saying " Ford Heights wasn't always bad"
❤I agree I was born and raised there on this street embassy lane and my grandfather passed and his house is still here looking the same don't know how in side may look but outside looks the same and have many beautiful memories of my grandfather home
do that video > yourself > at less you should know the whole truth > even to talk to those who live through all that destruction... " a eye witness "
this fellow pay to speak drama out < I see many on this internet > driving through these property neighborhoods > calling them waste and criminal and ghetto > who stupid? who the one own and invest into those lands in the first place < then move when they got rich enough > like all those factory ( all around the East and Hgts ) communities...there was plenty of JOBS ...they ship em out to China ?
Like Chicago. Used to be nice on the west side and now it’s a war zone. Used to be nice on the NW side now it’s dodgy and even there isn’t great
It's a shame, grew up not too far from Ford Heights, had family in Chicago Heights, and we were just a bit further away.
The whole region down there kept declining. Moved away as the property values just kept tanking even when the market overall was booming.
Interesting street names, Cottage Grove is a suburb, in my home state, Woodlawn is an avenue near the Mississippi River in a pricier neighborhood of my hometown. They had a Ford plant making Ford Rangers in the post WW2 era there also. It was closed -- had part of the property remained -- it would have been over 100 years old! All in very good condition, also. IDK if it was completely razed for new construction in the area, or not.
There is never enough money to fix hopelessness. People in these situations wouldn’t help themselves, has been going on for a few generations.
I love your videos and what they stand for. Documenting the history of insignificant or forgotten places whose history would otherwise be lost or forgotten. So sad to see how our once great country has degraded in so many areas, especially in the great Midwest that was killed by the loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs, services that we basically handed to China. Great video as always man.
Thanks! The Midwest has a lot of dying yet historically relevant areas no doubt. A lot of abandoned stuff to look at too
I used to live in a city near there and even as a little kid, I was told to never visit Ford Heights because of all the issues mentioned in this video. It's always been bad. Filled with crime and drugs. I'm now 55 and glad I moved far away from there many, many years ago.
I'm watching your documentary on Ford heights. I used to live there. It my family that found those two people dead back in those projects caused we lived in them ourselves.
We lived in Richton Park and drove down US 30 at times. It was in 1982 and the type of area that when you drove through East Chicago Heights you cuss and lock your doors.
Never forget when I worked for the garage company Republic and 1 time i helped deliver some garbage cans there. Was like whoaaaa, even the church had barbed wire around.
I grew up just outside this area and I tell ppl all the time I never want to go back and people will argue with me for days about how it's not the same and it's better now and I'm just exaggerating how bad it is. This video says enough.
My buddy and his family lived there in Vietnam I believe, it’s been almost 30 years since I use to go hang out there. Spent many days waking up in FH.
fascinating content
I used to drive through here from New Lenox when I played in a band in Indiana. My family and friends always warned me about it.
My supervisor at the job I had at the time was from Chicago Heights, and had horror stories about this place. Shootouts would break out where the police would just leave.
You should do the town of Robbins as well! It looks about the same
Gotta come around between May-Sept between the hours of 4p.m - 9p.m
I remember having to walk thru that area 30 some years ago. It was extremely bad and dangerous then. The housing was full but really rough. It looks better than it did back then in the 80s as it was packed with people on the streets and very dangerous.
These kinda areas are a prime example of how wasteful our society is as a whole. What needs to be done here is providing everyone left living in these kinda places a better place to call home and cover any expenses to move them...then just bulldoze it all into a pile and revert the land back to park lands and farm fields...bring back some of the farms from states like California that cannot sustain it. Reverse that "urban sprawl" trend that ate up too much of our fertile farmland.
You do realize that many of your ancestors greatly contributed to what Chris has published and now you want there land back, right?
It seems to me that it should have started out as a rural community--in the first place.
So, WHO would be on the hook for "providing everyone left in these kinda places a better place"?
Calumet region: home of the king of pop.
Was his home but they busted tail to get out. Joe Jackson was tough but if they'd stayed all of his children would of been messed up.
I was born on the south east side of Chicago, I lived in the same home from 1958-1983
Despite it's problems and whatnot, it is a pretty town. The yards are, for the most part, kept tidy, and what homes remain occupied also look pretty tidy and cared for.
What a shame to let an area that could be beautiful just die off. What a waste.
Ford Heights spends around $28,000 per year per student. I believe the highest or amongst the top few highest per pupil spending in the state of IL. Naperville mentioned in the video spends around 19k.
Great video Chris
The projects with white siding are aluminum siding, I think the ones with beige siding are plastic, possibly from one of the "renovations". I suppose that many of those units have been stripped of copper wire. I took service calls all around the area from the 1978 until 2006. I watched it die, although it was a very scary place from the get-go.
Interesting!❤
Guy who does the lawns is a beast!
Excellent Video...very thorough...good content creator...
Yo Chris Harden great 👍 job on your video s as usual 😅
Hey now, don't knock swimming in Whiting, IN. We always drive the hour SouthEast to avoid the trashy Chicago beaches. Been doing it for 40 years now. I don't think I know anybody who would volunteer to a Chicago Beach anymore. Ford Heights may actually look safer than Chicago these days, lol
My grandpa worked in Chicago Heights, lived in Kankakee and worked on water pumps for fire trucks. He was one of the reasons I got interested in engineering. I had no idea East Chicago Heights existed until this video. I thought that entire area to the State Line was all Chicago Heights.
Glad to see you using the topo maps. I use topoview all the time to look at old maps and building locations. also you can utilize Cook County GIS as well. I wonder what data they have on this area.
In the day when it was called, 'East Chicago Hights,' it was great looking areas. If there were gangs living, there in the 70's? I must not have had a clue?
it might as well be all Chicago Heights.....Chicago Heights, Ford Heights and Sauk Village share the same area code.
There’s a bit of Lynwood right on the border of Indiana.
do you know that one o the roads that you driven in ord heights had dissaperd o the map
Turns out people do not like living in a shooting gallery.
That usual population ❗️
At 27:37, I and family lived in that house. My granddad built it. Cottage Grove School was directly across the street (Drexel). So, I'm saying we moved in with my grandparents. We first lived southeast of there between Greenwood and Woodlawn. There stood low income housing, likely built sometime in the late 40's or early 50's. We were maybe a quarter mile from the railroad tracks. We left summer 1966, as the crime (gangs, protection rackets) got out of hand. That activity drove the European immigrants (merchants/store owners) out. Grandaddy had a candy shack next to the now dilapidated garage in this vid. The school kids were regular customers. A few years later he and our grand mommy joined us in rural west Michigan. No more crime; just farms and pleasant neighbors - we were the only blacks most of our schoolmates had ever seen. We all got along very well, no racial issues whatsoever. The New York Times published a 1987 article about "The View From The Poorest U.S. Suburb" - forgive me if the vid poster or a commenter already mentioned that. Of course, the piece was on E.C.H. (Ford heights).
Yep, Little Brother, there were some good times in that house on Drexel. I loved sitting on Granddaddy's lap, eating peppermint pillows, and watching "Sing Along with Mitch!"
Nice new production buddy
Appreciate it!
19:00 very clean !
Chris, when you were talking about the businesses in Ford Hights you forgot to mention the McCullough Funeral & Cremation Services. My takeaway: Quit outsourcing jobs. Who will be left with money to buy the cheap import "stuff."
Yeah... I did. Sorry McCullough.
Ford Heights' decline was more-so due to public housing and gang activity then it was industrial jobs. Although at the same time, the region around Ford Heights has seen huge economic decline over the years.
More jobs = less public housing needed. Also jobs help keep "Kids" out of trouble. Chris, again another fine watch.......@@ChrisHarden
@@OmarsShotgunit’s people from Chicago coming there to mass stuff up
Failed to mention Dempsey Travis and efforts on build houses for blacks in late 60's and early 70's (Golden meadows)
Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father but through him.
I think eventually when there are only a few houses left some big companies will come in and buy up all the land and either build new homes and try to turn it in to a more middle to upper class area OR more warehouses for an amazon or similar will be built. Thanks for the town facts and drive Chris!👍
Very possible. Thanks for the watch!
It's cook county, with cook county taxes. No one will build houses there.
From what I'm seeing, houses are no longer being built. Everything going up is apartments. Say goodbye to neighborhood communities. 😢
What kind of people you will get out the community
You need to do Park Forest (true decline of a once decent suburb), Crete, and Hilbilly Steger
isnt crete nice? art shops and local restaurants... downtown street with businesses.
Didnt they make Tucker Automobiles in that Ford Plant or somewhere near that Ford Plant? Curious...I must google now...
Tuckers were made at Cicero & 76th street in what started out as a B-59 aircraft plant and is now, Ford City Mall.
Great vid! The place does look depressing. People live there because they have to not because they want to. So sad.
Very much so. Plenty of people there who are trying their best in life
Well, when all you do is destroy what can you really expect?
When I see garbage strewn all over the place I know that’s the first sign of ‘stay away, they don’t care about themselves let alone you!’
@@GfysimpletonsYou dont know what your talking about my guy sit in your basement and play with your train set where your safe. Good day
Been down there for a service call had a dump tarp stop at a scrap yard down there - dudes standing around barrel fires middle of the day in front of the liquor
I’m pretty sure I looked at a house in Ford Heights in the 2000’s that was newer construction in a pretty nice subdivision that was either relatively new or being built. I didn’t see any of that on this video. Ford Heights was only a place to go get weed back in the day it’s always been pretty scary. I didn’t know it had gotten this bad though.
That was the area called Sunnyfield. He didn't drive through there.
Please do Harvey Illinois
Damn… I miss the easy greasy!!!!
Dip set Fa show!!!!
Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t wanna live there!!!
Many areas like this so sad
Looks like every small town, south of the mason dixon line.
Great content
Should do a video about Thornton Illinois
"Satellite photo" in 1938 💀💀💀💀
The problem is simply put. It's black run. Robbins Illinois is also a black run problem.
There is infrastructure under those streets. Solid slabs and much brickwork that could be reworked. I know that many jobless migrants have skills to make these blighted areas come back to life. If nobody wants these abandoned places, why not give somebody a chance to use what's left and make it nice.
The Bronx, and Nam!
As a percentage of home value, Ford Heights has the highest property tax rates in the State of Illinois.
I looked on Zillow and the prices on these properties is ridiculous, considering the area. The other thing that's ridiculous is the property tax, I saw some that had a property tax greater than $2,000 per year, which is insanely high for that area. Clearly the level of service that they're getting from the City is not worth $2,000 per year when they don't even have a police dept. Still, they think they can sell a house for $180K, maybe $220K ... and these prices reflect the insanity of the residents. They must be hallucinating if they think that's some kind of post apocalyptic bargain.
And this is the truly sad thing about ghettos that nobody ever mentions. There were homeowners in that area who had a lot of money invested into their home. The gangs come in, the make the whole place utterly worthless, and the residents cannot get out because nobody in their right mind would buy the place. Hell I wouldn't want it if it was FREE. So just imagine how many people lost their life savings ... because gangs came in and trashed the whole area. Disgusting !!! I really feel sorry for these families who lose money like that, and many of them are probably also Af Amer ... it's tragic and totally unnecessary.
Illinois takes are damn high. The taxes are the death blow to communities like Ford Heights. No matter how run down the community is, no matter how poor the services are, no matter how far you have to drive to shop, no matter how bad the crime is, you have to pay those Illinois taxes.
I agree that $2K/year is high to live in a community that has virtually nothing to offer except blight and off the chart crime. But I live in Illinois and my property tax is over 5 times that. That's really expensive but at least I have good services like fire, police, and a whole lot of municipal services.
The flip side is that when you live close to the state line (like Ford Heights), the draw of lower taxes (much lower) and lower prices right over the border ensures that virtually no businesses will set up in your community, and that everybody with the means to do so will just move to Indiana (or Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, or Wisconsin) and enjoy lower taxes, lower prices, far better services, much lower crime, etc. This is a recurring theme and has completely destroyed cities like East St. Louis, Danville, and Cairo to name a few.
They got what they voted for
$2.000 a year is dirt cheap.
Can you do Dolton Illinois?
The super intelligent voters of Dolton are getting plenty of news coverage right now.
Dolton might be the most infamous town in America right now.
@@cjk8249
What news coverage??
@@Mikebuddy2229Quite a bit because of it's corrupt mayor.
@@cjk8249 If you would just a little RESEARCH, you will understand how Tahoe Tiff, got elected.
Phoenix Illinois which is also in the south burbs was always considered the poorest town in the area with Robbins and Ford Heights close seconds .
Robbins has been building a lot of new residential homes compared to nearby towns even though they recently closed down The Dollar Tree at 139th and Claire Ave. 😮
Robbins, Harvey, calumet city, Dalton, are all worse than ford heights it’s more cause people from Chicago coming there massing stuff up Iam glad I stay In home wood Flossmoor the best suburb big houses good environment no ghetto peoples no gangs just normal people
Phoenix looks like it was recently carpet bombed.
Posen and Dixmore, looks horrible. I saw a place out there that that had chicken coops. Reminded me of Mississippi.
@@Imissyoulou posen doesn't look like that you must be talking about Harvey because west of 147th Sibley is a nice area actually clean nothing abandoned and is next to the 294 ramp but east 147th Sibley that's Harvey and yea its horrible there alot of abandoned business and buildings plus crime is really bad there next to that is Dolton just as bad but looks was better then Harvey crime is horrible there too
Born and raised in Blue Island. I was in h/s in the early 90s, and the running joke was "If you had a problem with someone, drop um off in Ford Heights and you'll never see them again.."
B.I. is doing well these days. Olde Western Ave. and on Western south of 127th. anyways.
I noticed you passed a “Gentlemen’s Club” in Ford Heights. Did you consider whether the presence of this club produced conflict in the community, eg trafficking girls by pimps or coercing clients?
The community seemed alienated from the county and state administratively and practically. County police supervisors must have realized the high risk situation where only one officer was on duty. What policy led to this practice?
Lastly, the homes seemed ticky-tacky; were they economical in terms of utilities. What was the rent or mortgage? What was the property tax? Who had oversight on elections and hiring? Where did the people go for food? Where was housing administration?
Since you gave them a “very poor” score for assessment, what were some key factors necessary to maintain stability?
Watching this while driving through Ford Heights coming home from Fort Wayne. Lol
Does anyone remember Robert Fleming from Ford Hts 1975 ish? Incredibly talented wrestler that went to Bloom High School.
Bizarre place, gangbangers on one side of the street, and fields/farmland on the other side. Also try Robbins, thats also a terrible south suburb
Robbin’s is worse