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Central Manufacturing District
Address: 1961 W. Pershing Rd.
Neighborhood: McKinley Park
Architect: Various
Date: 1905
OVERVIEW:
The Central Manufacturing District was the first planned industrial district in the nation and began as an outgrowth of the nearby and equally famous (or infamous) Chicago Union Stock Yards.
HISTORY:
The 265-acre Central Manufacturing District is bounded roughly by 35th Street to the north, Morgan Street to the east, Pershing Road to the south, and Ashland Avenue to the west. It was originally envisioned as a way to enhance business opportunities available because of the convergence of the trunk lines of the nation’s railways and the proximity
of the Chicago Union Stockyards, which had strong rail links.
Frederick Henry Prince, an East Coast Investor was behind the CMD concept and within 10 years more than 200 firms were operating within its borders. The CMD was so successful that Prince later executed a second manufacturing development on the south side of Pershing Road. Many of the buildings were built with rail tracks running through, between and under them to make shipping and transportation still more convenient.
In 1925 there were more than 40,000 people working at the CMD and the Union Stockyards with the CMD working as a private banker, business incubator and maintaining the general grounds of the development.
It was once such an important and bustling district that it had its own police force and during the Great Depression the company extended credit terms and worked with firms at the CMD so that only a single company failed. It housed big name companies like Wrigley, Goodyear, Westinghouse and manufacturers of all kinds of goods. It also contains offices used by the U. S. government for warehousing and distribution.
Today the city of Chicago owns many of the buildings in the Central Manufacturing District. The original concept spanned copycat developments across the country and the original company still maintains ownership of a later industrial development in the northwestern suburb of Itasca. The Prince family remains involved with the company.
THREAT:
The CMD contains many buildings of high quality and various styles beyond typical utilitarian industrial styles. It had its own in-house architecture bureau that ensured that high quality during the Arts & Crafts movement leading to unique and beautiful amalgams of industry and art.
However, the development is largely vacant. In January 2013 a building in the CMD caught fire in subzero temperatures that made it almost impossible to extinguish. It smoldered for days.
Chicago Fire officials noted at that time that vacancy is a great danger to these buildings and it’s an ever present danger until new uses are found for them. The district as a whole deserves protection and a plan for the reuse of the historic buildings.