Kennedy, Illinois

Kennedy is a city in southern Illinois and the seat of Wabash County. The population in 2000 was 416,276; making it the second largest city in Illinois. It is the largest city in the Kennedy-Johnson-Southaven CSA and the Kennedy-Wabash Heights-Jacksonville MSA.

History
Kennedy was first formed when Dr. James Dole purchased a 640-acre parcel of land in the western portion of Wabash County in 1801. Dole built a dirt road through the land and called it Laeux Valley. He established a small fur trading post along the road and built himself a cabin next door. In 1807, Dole surveyed the land and recorded a population of 37.

Nineteenth Century (1810-1900)
In 1810, Dole hired local mine manager Henry Coneo to build a gravel road to intersect the existing trail and eventually lead to the river. The road was completed in 1813. In 1815, at the intersection of the roads, a settler named James Hanfield of Norfolk, Virginia built a general store. The entire Hanfield family as well as at least 100 settlers from Norfolk moved to the region, building small farms along the roads.

Dole purchased 3 square miles of land around Laeux Valley and began selling individual plats in 1820. The population as Dole recorded in 1825 was 304. In 1830, Dole recorded it as 742.



Crime became a major problem in the area around 1840. The settlers voted to approve a charter which authorized appointed prefects to control and record crime. The town was among the first to record crime rates in the United States. The murder rate as recorded in 1841 was 404.3 per 100,000 (3 murders). Livestock slaughter was the most popular crime with 8,625.3 per 100,000 (64 slaughters total).

The prefecture system caused great disarray in the town. Officers became abusive and lacked self control. As a result, 12 civillians were killed by police, and 22 officers were killed by civillians from 1840 to 1860. Over half of the 1,739 settlers recorded in the 1860 United States Census left the area, establishing new communities. The population as recorded in 1870 by the census was 422 free men and women and 334 slaves, totalling 756 people.

The City of Kennedy was commissioned as McWalter Charter Township in 1894. The township was named after Fielding McWalter, a settler in the area. It consisted of multiple towns south of the Stuyvesant River; those towns being Coneo, Orleans, Heklam, Cayuga and Louis.

Industrialization and Mass Growth (1900-1953)
Industrialization took the township by storm around 1902 with the establishment of the cross-state railroad connecting the township to Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. This railroad allowed businesses and residents from the south to settle themselves in the township. The population of the township doubled from 21,973 in 1890 to 67,254 in 1910. The majority of the population growth was centered around the development of the unincorporated city of Dawson which was formed in 1905 and by 1910 had a population of 19,442.

McWalter Charter Township formed a merger with Gasheban Township to the north of the Stuyvesant River as Lincoln Township in 1918. The population was 134,988. By 1920, it was the largest township in the United States, and voters continued to vote against establishing it as a city.

The population of Lincoln Township boomed greatly during the 1920s as the automotive and banking industries began to establish their roots there. New migrants and immigrants found it unreasonable for such a large, dense settlement to be restricted by a township charter and a majority vote of 62% established the city of Stuyvesant, Illinois in 1934. With the vote, an annex was also approved to include 5.7 square miles of land to the west of the city limits.

In 1944, another important land annex was made. The annex totalled 12.7 square miles and added 2-5 square miles of land to the city limits in each direction. Although the annex itself only had a population in total of 71,132; it allowed new industrial land to develop under Stuyvesant's municipal tax laws and further develop it's population.

Decline and Reconstruction (1953-1990)
However, the annex was short-lived. In 1953, the city of Orleans was established, removing 7.4 square miles of land from the city. Stuyvesant government officials responded in order to keep housing development stable by claiming 4 square miles of unincorporated urban land to the east in 1954, connecting the city with outlying suburbs.

In 1957, construction began on Interstate 157, which would circle around the city and connect with Illinois Route 199, a service highway eventually leading out into Interstate 57 in Marion, Illinois Flight from the city began around the same time as the development of the highway as suburbanization allowed many new communities to form outside of the urban area. As the population of the city proper fell, the population of the metropolitian area stayed relatively the same. The land area of places considered to be in the metropolis, however, increased greatly.

The collapse of the banking industry in the city, circa 1958, also led to further population decrease. As the economy of the city fell, less and less houses were selling. Eventually, abandonment became a recurring trend, especially in the west side where the banking economy and personal affluence was the strongest.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. The city voted to rename in order to honor their fallen president. The motion was passed with a 78% majority vote and the city was renamed to Kennedy, Illinois.

During the 1960s there were multiple attempts to reconstruct the city. From 1962 to 1966, the city passed a bill that would allow them to close eight parks in order to allow small subdivisions to develop on the land. These subdivisions eventually failed due to the large number of low-income families attempting to move in who could not afford to pay for the houses.



The city took a different route and began building public housing projects around 1971. While these units began to stabilize the population in themselves, people became disgruntled by the massive amounts of crime it was creating in the neighborhoods. The city stopped building projects in 1984, but did not close down any of the seven existing projects.

In 1983, the city of Beiermann Farms, a former Kennedy neighborhood, incorporated in response to negligent city government.

Kennedy Today
Despite changes in the economy of the city, Kennedy still stands as a center for offices and light industry. Many factories still reside and operate in Kennedy, ranging from sheet metals to automobiles. Kennedy is known as a center for hip-hop culture, stemming from the area's multiple rappers and hip-hop artists.

The Mexicantown neighborhood on the south-east side of the city is reknowned for being a center of cultural culinary arts, a reputation with connections to the many culinary schools, both ethnic and non-ethnic, that reside in the neighborhood. The Mexicantown area has also been called "one of the trendiest working-class neighborhoods in America".

Even though many banks collapsed during the 1950s, western Kennedy is still known as the "land of banks". There are quite a few banks and credit unions throughout the area including the headquarters of the First State Bank of Southern Illinois.

Kennedy is also home to the Tri-State University at Kennedy, the only branch of the Tri-State University located within it's anchor city's limits. The university attracts hundreds of students a year and as of recently many have taken residence in Kennedy.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 416,127 people, 121,849 households, and 106,618 families residing in the city. The population density was 7,911.2 per square mile.

The racial makeup of the city was 51.3% White, 28.9% African American, 1.05% Native American, 7.03% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 11.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.72% of the population.

Top ancestries in the city were Polish (7.4%), Hispanic (6.7%), Welsh (6.1%), Yiddish (4.1%) and Italian (3.4%).

Income
The median income for a household in the city was $24,062, and the median income for a family was $28,223. The per capita income for the city was $11,323.

In 1990, the median income for a household in the city was $27,760, and the median income for a family was $32,638.

Income by Race

 * Native American: $21,546 (Family: $24,109)
 * Multi-Racial: $22,127 (Family: $29,574)
 * White: $23,693 (Family: $31,482)
 * Black: $25,475 (Family: $29,579)
 * Hispanic: $31,964 (Family: $37,939)
 * Asian: $37,848 (Family: $43,260)

Income by Education

 * Less than High School: $17,596 ($9,348 per capita)
 * High School or GED: $25,674 ($13,692 per capita)
 * Less than 1 year college: $29,483 ($14,247 per capita)
 * Associates' Degree: $35,844 ($15,049 per capita)
 * Bachelors' Degree: $40,475 ($17,392 per capita)
 * Masters' Degree: $44,576 ($19,596 per capita)
 * Doctorate Degree: $50,845 ($24,287 per capita)

Housing
The median house price in Kennedy was $53,981 in 2008. The median rent was $462 - $544 for houses and $380 for apartments. Renters made up 37.41% of the city population.

The city's vacancy rate was 16.4%, the third highest in the nation behind Las Vegas and Detroit. Foreclosures made up 29.9% of vacancies

Poverty
About 37.3% of families and 42.1% of the population were below the poverty line.

In 2008, about 23.12% of households were reported to receive food stamps, and about 43.18% received some kind of welfare benefits. According to the city's four school districts, the average amount of students receiving reduced lunches in city schools is 4%. However, the amount of students receiving free lunches is between 67% and 86%.

The poverty rate was most consistent in single-parent households, which consist of 44.2% of all families and have a poverty rate of 56.1%. Married-couple households with no children had the lowest poverty rate at 17.44%.

Approximately 59.3% of Whites, 51.6% of Blacks, 9.3% of Asians, 31.8% of Native Americans and 21.9% of Hispanics were below the poverty line.

Neighborhoods
The city of Kennedy is split up into multiple regions which contain various neighborhoods. The two main neighborhoods, Eastern and Western Kennedy; are seperated by Park du Toussaint Boulevard, which runs through the center of the city and intersects with Eastwood Boulevard in Downtown.

Crime
Crime in Kennedy has been a concern since the 19th century. The city has the 6th highest Violent Crime rate and the 3rd highest Property Crime rate in the nation.

The crime rate is not evenly dispersed over the city. Crimes on the west side accounted for 49.3% (per capita) of the crime rate. Crimes on the east side accounted for 24.6%. Crimes Downtown accounted for 26.1%. For this reason, many of the west side neighborhoods have been called "some of the most dangerous in America".

Crime has significantly increased since 1960. Kennedy was ranked with the 37th highest Violent Crime rate and the 12th highest Property Crime rate. By 1970, it had the 18th highest Violent Crime rate and the 9th highest Property Crime rate. According to city officials, this was contributed by the rise of poverty and abandonment rates from the 1960s and onward.

The city has ranked 1st in Burglaries and 2nd in Car Thefts since 1997. For this reason, Kennedy is often referred to as the "Breaking and Entering City".

Police
The Kennedy Police Department is responsible for law enforcement in the city. There were 193 sworn officers in 2009, accounting for a police population of 1 officer per 1,766 people. As of 2005, there were 27 unsworn officers and 48 neighborhood patrol participants.

Due to widespread budget issues Kennedy Police are considered to be highly underpaid with the average patrol officer making $27,493 a year.

The Chief of Police is Vladmir Maczkiejech. Maczkiejech served 41 years on the force before becoming Chief in 2006. Maczkiejech was born in Poland in 1935 and came to the United States in 1941 during World War II, where he learned English as a fluent second language.

Maczkiejech joined the Kennedy Police Department in 1965 after quitting his job at an automotive supply plant and was promoted to Sargeant in 1980. He became a Lieutennant in 1987, and he became Commander of the Office of Operations in 1993. Maczkiejech was appointed Assistant Chief of Police in 2002 and became Chief in 2006.

Gangs
Main article: Gangs in Kennedy, Illinois

There are multiple gangs in Kennedy, mostly on the West Side and Downtown. Crips are said to be the largest gang in the city with 2,176 members as of 2009, followed by Bloods with 1,941 members and the Gravehill Gang with 1,104 members.

In 2009, there were 8,192 known gang members in the city, making up 2.4% of the population.

Gangs first emerged in the Kennedy area around 1974, shortly after the establishment of housing projects. These gangs formed themselves to protect themselves from gangs living in other housing projects.

During the early 1980s, with the rise of Crack cocaine, Crip gangs began forming in the Downtown area. These gangs suffered from internal issues which eventually led to attacks on eachother including the pipe-bombing of Taylor Park Crips leader Jack Miller's home.

In the 1990s, as Blood gang members from the Wabash County Correctional Facility were released from prison, they began forming sets in their neighborhoods. Threatened by the presence of Bloods in the west side, white gang members created an alliance later named the Gravehill Gang.

Religion
41.96% of the people in Kennedy are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion.


 * 15.98% are Baptist
 * 7.82% are Catholic
 * 6.77% in are Jewish
 * 6.74% affilitates with Islam.
 * 3.26% are Protestant
 * 0.78% are LDS
 * 0.61% are an eastern faith

Education
The city is served by four seperate school districts. Each district runs out of a specific quarter of the city. The districts are Meadowbrook Public Schools (northwest), Arlington Neighborhood Schools (northeast), Dawson Public Schools (southwest) and Stuyvesant Public Schools (southeast).

Grant Baker High (Arlington) and Stuyvesant High (Stuyvesant) are considered to be the two major schools among the districts, each with around 6,000 students. Both schools play on rivaling sports teams, and while the rivalry has remained mostly peaceful, violence has occurred from it. A popular display among Grant Baker students is to burn a flag sporting Stuyvesant's grey-and-yellow school colors. Fights have also broken out between players and fans during games.

Graduation rates in each district were as follows:


 * Meadowbrook: 62% graduate high school, 5% obtain college degrees
 * Arlington: 66% graduate high school, 7% obtain college degrees
 * Dawson: 58% graduate high school, 3% obtain college degrees
 * Stuyvesant: 71% graduate high school, 11% obtain college degrees

According to the 2000 US Census:
 * 38.4% did not finish High School
 * 61.6% of citizens were high school graduates
 * 5.4% attended less than one year of college
 * 3.2% attended college for more than one year but did not finish


 * 12.2% of citizens held a college degree
 * 2.5% associates
 * 6.4% bachelors
 * 2.1% masters
 * 1.2% doctorate

Notable Residents
Andre "San Francisco" St. Francis - Rapper

Baxter Eidelheim - Author

Bryan Bernstein - Lawyer

Franco Cavell - Italian-American mobster involved in the Friday Wars

Henry Thompson - Human rights activist.

James Woodhorse - Actor, 1995-present

Marcus Loehmann - Activist, Leader of the Metropolitian Kennedy Order of Jewish-Americans.

Nikolai Kortseska - Russian Mobster involved in the Friday Wars

Orville Mazowiecki - Actor, 1949-1963

Willhouse Smalls - Painter.

Xavier Niedermeier - Actor, 1981-2000

Zachary J. Huxtable - Wabash County Commissioner.