Stateway gardens history book

Before being torn down in 2007, the stateway gardens public housi. Before they were torn down in 2007, the stateway gardens public housing projects on chicagos south side were known as a hotbed of poverty, drugs, gangs, and crime. But for some, like tracy, the shy, intelligent young boy at the center of this collection of linked stories, they are simply home. Stateway gardens housing project for which the book is named. Before they were torn down in 2007, the stateway gardens public housing projects on chicagos south side were known as a hotbed of. Stateways garden is a comingofage story told in short stories, through the lens of a childhood made rough by the crush of poverty and violence, with the crack epidemic a looming specter ahead. His debut collection, stateways garden, captures the citys unique, ugly. A collection of linked short stories takes readers inside life in chicagos stateway gardens projects. This book takes place in the real and true former stateway gardens which was public housing in chicago. Stateway gardens was a chicago housing authority cha public housing project located in the bronzeville neighborhood of the south side of chicago, illinois, united states.

This debut book is set mostly in the 1980s in one of the. Because so many of the books elements come together in stateway condo gentrification, the stories that follow have a richer energy. Robert taylor homes, dearborn homes, harold ickes homes and hillard homes. It was located alongside the dan ryan expressway, adjacent to the former robert taylor homes. They have since been torn down, but this book brought the gardens back to life. The buildings were overrun with crime and fell into disrepair. Over the years, gang violence and neglect created terrible conditions for the residents in stateway. Before being torn down in 2007, the stateway gardens public housing. Built in 1955 and offering shelter for over 3000 people, this project soon became a nest for criminal activity and fell under the control of several gangs. The stateway gardens were one of the first projects to start going bad in the second half of the 1960s as graffiti and deterioration set in early on.

This bold outing vividly encapsulates a chapter of chicagos complex history. Stateway gardens relatively close to the robert taylor homes, in the neighborhood of bronzeville, was the stateway gardens housing complex. And yet, through the experiences and ambitions of tracy and other young characters, drain reveals a vibrant community that creates its own ecosystem. This debut book is set mostly in the 1980s in one of the south sides largest, most segregated housing projects. Stateway gardens was a part of the state street corridor which included other cha properties. The stories in this chicago housing project could fill a book the. Linking these stories, set in the era of reaganomics, is tracy, a smart kid with a mother as emotional as the pages of a science textbook. Jasmon drain stateways garden ben austen uchicago arts. Shameless takes place in chicagos south side, just as this book does. Jasmon drain joins the ranks of chicagos greatest authors book.

Before being torn down in 2007, the stateway gardens public housing projects on chicagos south side were ridden with deprivation and crime. Revising the history of chicago in a sweeping debut novel. Jasmon drain s debut work stateways gardens is a compilation of short stories bound by linked characters, tracy and his older brother jacob who reside with their mother in the housing project known as the stateway s garden located in southside chicago. However, the south side as portrayed in the book and on tv are two different places entirely. Stateway gardens eight highrise apartment blocks built in the 1950s and demolished by 2007 formed a neighborhood notorious for grinding poverty, violence, drug use, and crime. Stateway gardens, now park boulevard, is a neighborhood located in the douglas community area on the south side of chicago, illinois the neighborhood was named after the chicago housing development, stateway gardens, that once took up most of the area. As the 1970s progressed these projects would became worse and by the late 1970s drugs, gangs and addiction ran rampant in these buildings as they severely decayed. The stories in this chicago housing project could fill a book.