Mapping the University of Chicago's 135-year expansion into Hyde Park and beyond

Thank you for working on and sharing this project, it's a wonderful example of how maps help tell / connect the stories through the years. It was also nice to see the piece you drew inspiration from that you linked to in another comment.

I'm curious -- each section (after the transitional animation) seems like it translates quite well to being a fixed page, and I'm wondering if you've looked at there being an easy way to generate a version that could be printed?

The reason I ask is that I'm working on a family history project which involves various locations, maps, newspaper stories and old photographs, and whilst something interactive feels like it would be an engaging way to do it, for the long term it's always good to have a printed copy of anything :)

I could imagine if there was an easy way to generate a print version of your articles, some people would pay for a copy (that was printed professionally in a suitable photobook-style format).

Apologies if there is a simple way to generate this and I've missed it in my cursory glance around the code :)

This is absolutely lovely. Thank you.

The underlying map is modern across all timelines. What would be super awesome is if the underlying map would also change, based on historical propery deeds, maps and ariel photos. For example, the 1893 world's fair is when much housing was constructed. The entire coastline also changed during this timeline. This would be an order of magnitude more work...

Is there a place to submit an issue with the data? The final map makes it look like a bunch of properties around the neighborhood were purchased by the University between 2004 and 2005. But I recognize one of them (5125 S. Kenwood, just south of Hyde Park Blvd/51st St.) as my first grad school apartment: I lived there throughout the 1998-99 academic year, and it was definitely a university-owned/managed building at the time.

Interesting, it's been around for awhile, I have rarely had trouble. This one was the one that I loved the most: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/07/16/world/europe/....

https://ig.ft.com/baltic-sea/ this one from this week I thought was excellent

it's really awesome !

hahahaha i'm stealing scrollytelling, that's brilliant

Go to the museum of science and industry. And Powells. And the Oriental institute.

I second this recommendation. Perhaps most interesting is that despite the author literally spending thousands of hours with literal gang members, the only time he's truly afraid is when he's describing the police gang that's been shaking down drug dealers and ordinary residents of the public housing in which he does his research.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2023/02/05/chi...

The New York Times does a lot of great scrolling interactive data stories, unfortunately paywalled, and they don't translate well to archive sites.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/12/20/us/2024-year-...

I just moved away from Chicago but it took me a few years to appreciate the city (and I never found visiting that compelling). I miss it now though, I think the best way to learn to appreciate the city is to go out and do things in the city and find the stuff you like. There is tons of great music, food, art museums, shows (especially improv, idk if the IO Theater is back running but the Improv Shakespeare that they did was amazing). You can find pretty much anything there, the only thing I struggled with is I like the outdoors and there isn't good hiking (but Chicago actually has really good birdwatching in the city).

As a lifelong native, I highly recommend one of the architecture boat tours. Never gets old, and the guides usually manage to pack in a fair bit of history. I know it changed my personal connection to the city.

I’m also convinced that if someone hasn’t connected to the city yet, they just haven’t been to the right neighborhood. They are many, and cater to many tastes.

Poverty, housing/employment, and generally, migration are hard topics.

The university has so many buildings in Hyde Park that they often make the decisions about which businesses are there or not. I've been happy with most of their choices recently; bringing in a Trader Joe, for example. However, some residents have differing opinions.

>I've lived on one of the streets mentioned in the article and its hard to overstate how shockingly dangerous the area is

Just anecdata. I had a family member living there for the six years, several addresses including their condo on Drexel Ave, one block from Cottage Grove (more or less the western boundary of campus proper). Their first child was born there, mom often went on long walks with the stroller to parks, etc with no problems. I visited several times, never had a problem. I walked to The Cove at night for a few beers, Sister Sledge on the jukebox was a conversation starter. Reggie's at the Beach (63rd St.) was a nice place, easy parking.

Every large city has "dangerous" areas, Hyde Park probably has fewer per capita than most.

> I've lived on one of the streets mentioned in the article and its hard to overstate how shockingly dangerous the area is.

The army used to train their trauma surgeons in Chicago because of the number of knife and gunshot wounds seen in the city's hospitals. From 2001 to 2021, there were about 1,000 more murders in the city than American soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It's not far from Englewood and New City (Back of the Yards / Canaryville). Some of the worst areas anywhere (although waaaay nicer than when I lived in Chicago 30 years ago).

There was a race riot there in 1919: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_race_riot_of_1919

"What a non-issue. You have this massive development that's going to benefit your community "

Yes, because it is no longer "your" community. Most of those residents complaining know they will in short order be priced out. The relatively few residents who own property and can hold onto it aren't the ones complaining.

> You have this massive development that's going to benefit your community

A community is made up of people, not real estate, and if you get priced out of your neighborhood, it is of no benefit to you. It's a "non-issue" like me kicking you out of your house and fixing it up, and then for some reason you're not happy about how much better the house looks now that you're on the street. A truly YIMBY view of the world.

Will the people who can only afford to live in a "shockingly dangerous" neighborhood, after being priced out, end up in a less dangerous place?

Anti-gentrification is a very strange confluence of extreme small-c conservativism and leftism. Quite the odd bedfellows.

> If anything, the University and its police force should do more to rid the neighborhood of its anti-social element.

AKA "the blacks".

Ironically, you are positing the same concerns as the people you claim are "entitled" but instead of questioning the university's policies you want to give them more power to enforce racial segregation.

Even more confusingly, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign now has a Chicago location as well.

> I seem to remember a homeless fellow who used a key to extract some change from a vending machine that was surprisingly on UoC property and got a 12-year sentence.

Well, there are two problems there:

- Being in a school is not an aggravating factor (in reality; I'm not making any claim about the law) for that crime;

- Stealing change from a vending machine shouldn't involve a 6-year sentence.

But neither of those really undermines the general concept of crimes on the property "usually" including an aggravating factor for the location.