York Center, Illinois
York Center, Illinois | |
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![]() ![]() York Center, Illinois | |
Coordinates: 41°51′25″N 87°59′16″W / 41.85694°N 87.98778°WCoordinates: 41°51′25″N 87°59′16″W / 41.85694°N 87.98778°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Illinois |
County | DuPage |
Township | York |
Elevation | 722 ft (220 m) |
Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
ZIP code | 60148 |
Area code(s) | 630 & 331 |
GNIS feature ID | 422172[1] |
York Center is an unincorporated community in York Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. York Center is located by Meyers Road and 16th Street, near the southern border of Lombard, and the western border of Oakbrook Terrace. York Center has an elementary school, established in 1958,[2] and a fire protection district,[3] which covers unincorporated areas of Lombard, Villa Park, Oak Brook, and Oakbrook Terrace.
The York Center Cooperative (Co-op) community was founded immediately after World War II as a co-op on the principles of shared ownership "to promote and develop good will, high moral values, wholesome cooperative activities and healthy civic spirit." Louis Shirky, who also established a Church of the Brethren in York Center, purchased the Goltermann farm for the housing cooperative.[4][5] At its founding, the co-op was an experiment in what was then considered radical living.[6] Chicagoans who wanted to escape the prejudice and confinement of the city to build affordable homes in the suburbs flocked to what was then a bucolic farm, which the people of the co-op purchased and subdivided. Members learned to tout the 100 acres of communally-owned property as an economically mixed community that was tolerant of all races, religions and ethnicities.[7] Many, but not all, of early residents, including Louis Shirky, were members of the York Center Church of the Brethren.[8] The purpose was to establish a new kind of community, a housing cooperative based on open membership "to all persons of good will."[9]
Archivist Dennis Bilger of the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., has stated, "It is probably true that the York Center Cooperative was, if not the first, one of the very earliest integrated housing developments in the United States."[9] In 1949, President Harry Truman issued an executive order declaring racial discrimination illegal in the granting of Federal Housing Administration loans. The watershed edict came after York Center Co-op members teamed up with the NAACP in a test case.[10]
Girl Scouting was an important aspect of life in York Center. The Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana now serves the area which was led by R. Hopley "Hop" Roberts in the days when it was part of the DuPage County Council.[11]
The York Center Cooperative was legally dissolved in 2010.[12]
In 2021, the Lombard Historical Society produced the documentary, Common Good ~ The York Center Co-op Story, which is characterized as "An epic tale of a pioneering, faith-based effort that provided fair housing, community and opportunity in an era of white flight, redlining and restrictive covenants that effectively prevented non-white Americans from fully participating in the American dream."[13]
References[]
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: York Center, Illinois
- ^ "York Center Elementary School". Public School Review. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
- ^ "About Us". York Center Fire Protection District. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
- ^ "Goltermann, Louis Heinrich Friedrich". Franzosenbusch Heritage Society. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ "CHAPTER 5 The Transplants". Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, Truman (1976). History of York Center Cooperative, Inc. OCLC 11388792.
- ^ "Now, York Center Cooperative Confronts An Age-old Problem." June 24, 1993.By Jennifer Lenhart Chicago Tribune.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-06-24/news/9306240126_1_co-op-photo-album-houses
- ^ "Who We Are". York Center Church of the Brethren. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ a b Lundy, Betty (14 August 1988). "Cooperation Is The Glue Of York Center". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ "Dupage Housing Co-op Marks 50 Years Of Diversity" Chicago Tribune April 21, 1995|By Lynn Van Matre. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-08-14/features/8801230018_1_co-op-housing-legal-details/2
- ^ R. Hopley "Hop" Roberts. December 18, 1997. Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-12-18/news/9712180165_1_lombard-hop-mrs-roberts
- ^ "All About York Center Co-op". Lombard Historical Society. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ^ "Premier Common Good ~ The York Center Co-op Story" (Press release). Lombard Historical Society and Tim Frakes Productions. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- 1940s establishments in Illinois
- Church of the Brethren
- History of racial segregation in the United States
- Unincorporated communities in DuPage County, Illinois
- Unincorporated communities in Illinois