Mexicantown, Kennedy, Illinois

Mexicantown is a region in Eastern Kennedy consisting of the Earl Watts and Rancho Dominguez neighborhoods.

History
The Mexicantown area was first established around 1922 as a north-eastern extension of the city of Dawson. Two primary real estate developers, Earl "Kilowatt" Hetsford, a former electrician, and Juan-Carlos Dominguez; recieved grants from the city to begin building on vacant city owned property. Hetsford and Dominguez were heavily involved in competitive business and agreed to develop in seperate areas.

Both developers designed and built Craftsman and Cape Cod homes, which were typical of new developments at the time. Hetsford, however, took inspiration from existing homes in Dawson and began building Gable Front homes. Dominguez began to emulate Hetsford by building these homes as well. This enraged Hetsford and drove him to lower the market prices of his homes in order to allow his subdivision to become populated faster. He also began to buy contracted lots from the city in order to sell them to individual buyers and builders.

At the time, the area's Hispanic population was scarce, but growing due to industrialization. Dawson was often seen as an alternative to the more expensive areas of Lincoln Township (now Kennedy). Poor Hispanic immigrants, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, who were settling in the United States for job opportunities; chose Hetsford's subdivision mainly because of it's low prices. However, Dominguez used his nationality to his advantage; advertising using slogans such as "I'm giving my own people a place to call home" and "A place of opportunity for my brothers and sisters is here". This turned new buyers away from Hetsford's subdivision and pushed them towards Dominguez's.

The area was well established by the time that Lincoln Township incorporated as the City of Stuyvesant in 1934. City officials coined the two subdivisions "Earl Watts" and "Rancho Dominguez" after the two developers. Around 1940, "Mexicantown" arose as a racist term connected with the area. The racist nature of the term lost magnitude over the course of the decade as it's own residents began using it to describe the area as well. In 1953, the neighborhood established the Mexicantown Community Board, highly supported by City Council member Franklin Kaszmieracz who lived in neighboring Coneo Woods. Kaszmieracz became a representative of the board in 1955.

However, the population flight in 1957 damaged the neighborhood and the community. Previous to the population flight, the percentage of whites was 94.28%, of which only 49.18% were Hispanic. In 1960, non-Hispanic whites made up only 14.97% of the population.

Despite white flight, abandonment did not become a major issue in the neighborhood. Blacks seeking refuge from the failing neighborhoods of the west side integrated in large numbers into the neighborhood. By 1970, the African American population of the area was 16%.

As the failures of the manufacturing industry reached Mexicantown, a considerable number of factories which had lined the main roads through the area closed down. The Community Board began ordering foreclosures and demolitions on these buildings via their incumbent city council representatives. This created many vacant fields along the main roads. In response, the Community Board formed an Economic Development Council in 1984. In the beginning, the main purpose of the council was to work with the community to maintain these fields in order to make the possibility of land sale more desirable.

To an extent, it had worked. Small pockets of development in the area arose around 1989. It wasn't until wealthier residents moved in around 1996 that the area had an actual revival. While the migration of the wealthy to the area was on a very small scale, many of the new residents were businesspeople who sought to develop upscale shops and restaurants. More than half were also of Hispanic descent and singled out the area for being a culturally positive place to develop.

In 2002, Mexicantown was featured in TIME magazine, which called it's story a "True tale of the American Dream" and "A tribute to community values".

Demographics
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 76.24% White, 19.31% African American, 1.5% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.92% from other races, and 1.66% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 60.93% of the population.

The median income for a household in the neighborhood was $34,095, and the median income for a family was $39,672. The per capita income for the neighborhood was $15,838. About 22.1% of families and 28.4% of the population were below the poverty line.