The South Shore area was still mainly swampland when a German farmer, used trails in elevated land to bring goods to Chicago. In the decades that followed, workers, started to settle in the area. The population then increased with the construction of a railroad station in 1881, incorporation into Chicago in 1889, and the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.
Before the area was named South Shore, it was a collection of settlements, a part of the Hyde Park Township – the Essex, Bryn Mawr, Parkside, Cheltenham Beach, and Windsor Park were all settlements named to indicate the British heritage of the Illinois Central Railroad and steel mill workers who had come to inhabit them
The cultural life of the area has been enhanced since the Park District purchased the waning South Shore Country Club in 1972, once an exclusive lakeshore country club, it’s now home to a theater, nature center and nine-hole golf course open to the public. The center offers an array of cultural arts programming and performances.
The Jackson Park Highlands district, which was built by various architects in 1905, the area was designated a Chicago Landmark on October 25, 1989. The area takes its name from a ridge that formerly overlooked Jackson Park. The area features numerous 19th century homes in the Colonial Revival, American Foursquare and Renaissance Revival styles.
The Allan Miller House in Bryn Mawr, constructed in 1915, is the only remaining building in Chicago designed by John Van Bergen, from the architectural firm of Frank Lloyd Wright.
High rises in the area offer some of the best views of the city and lake, along with older mansions and single family homes are found through the area.
Along with South Shore Drive and the lakefront, the Metra also passes through the area.
