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The neighborhood that fed the country for a century: the stockyards are gone but the limestone gate still stands, an Olmsted-firm park loops around its own lagoon island, and the workers cottages that housed the yards are some of the city’s most attainable starter homes.
From 1865 to 1971 the Union Stock Yards ran the biggest livestock market on earth here, the place Carl Sandburg meant by "Hog Butcher for the World." The yards became an industrial park, but the landmark limestone gate still guards Exchange Avenue, and The Plant, a former meatpacking building, now houses a collective of food businesses, brewers and growers. The neighborhood around it, officially New City, was built to house the workforce and still reads that way: straight streets of cottages and flats, church spires every few blocks, 47th Street selling everything.
Sherman Park is the jewel: 61 acres by the Olmsted firm with a lagoon that wraps a walking-loop island, crossed by little bridges, around a grand 1905 fieldhouse. It is one of the most beautiful neighborhood parks in Chicago and most of the city has never seen it.
Frame workers cottages, brick two-flats and small apartment buildings, with prices among the most approachable within four miles of the Loop’s edge. Cottages this age reward careful inspection, foundations, framing and old wiring above all, so read our foundations guide, electrical guide and older-homes guide before you tour, and we will point you at the blocks where restoration is already underway.
Written by our team, free, no sign-in.
We can walk the cottage blocks with you, show you Sherman Park at golden hour, and talk plainly about condition and lending. Tell us what you are after.
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