"A Pioneering Experiment": Documenting Urban Renewal in Hyde Park, Chicago

From the time of its founding, the University of Chicago has had a profound impact on the development and planning of Hyde Park, the neighborhood where it is located. Beginning in the late 1940s, the University administration advanced a narrative of neighborhood decline so profound as to potentially force the institution to leave the city for the suburbs. In 1952, University representatives assumed control of the Southeast Chicago Commission (SECC), a grassroots community organization in Hyde Park. In co-opting the group, the representatives advanced their agenda for the need for aggressive urban renewal in Hyde Park, and under the direction of the University. The University's campaign resulted in the Hyde Park A & B Urban Renewal Project. Beginning in the study phase, the University hired professional photographers to document the dilapidated building stock of the neighborhood to present a convincing case of poverty and dilapidated buildings in close proximity to the campus. Following funding of the project, these photographers documented the ensuing demolition of buildings, the reconfiguration of the streetscape, and the construction of new residential and commercial development. The University used these photographs to create a compelling narrative of blight and regeneration to ultimately serve the institution's agenda. Today, the photographs are a valuable document of a large-scale project that initiated the larger urban renewal movement in Chicago and elsewhere in the United States.