As a thriving industrial city in the middle of the 20th century, North Chicago experienced a downturn as factories departed, leaving little but contaminated real estate for others to clean up.
Now, with the help of government grants, contamination from the 40-acre Sheridan Crossing land is being removed with plans for a multi-use residential and commercial project connected to the city’s downtown to the north. Its neighbor to the south and east is Naval Station Great Lakes.
Partially located along Lake Michigan, Foss Park had lakefront frontage unfit for swimming or sunbathing. The beach there was closed for more than a century before a renovation project enabled the Foss Park District to reopen it two years ago. It is free for anyone’s use.
Struggling North Chicago School District 187 was placed under an independent authority by the Illinois State Board of Education in 2012. Now, the district is on its way to having a fully elected Board of Education, and the high school graduation rate improved from 52% to 85%.
Longtime North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham, Jr. — he started his sixth term this year — said the rebirth of the city has been the result of an all-encompassing effort by the people and its governing bodies, as they are ready to take the next step together.
“This is the new North Chicago, and this is what it is all about,” Rockingham said. “We have new businesses. It’s not just the city. It’s the Park District, and the school district, and the city all making North Chicago a better place.”
North Chicago officially began its rebranding effort to tell its story with the premiere of a documentary about its history produced by Studio North, a new logo and motto — “History, Harmony, Home” — on Tuesday at North Chicago Community High School.
“If you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell it for you,” Mark Mohr, the owner of Studio North located in North Chicago for 37 years, said. “History, harmony, home are three words, but one story.”
For Rockingham, rebranding is a fresh debut of sorts for the community and all of its parts, including the municipality, the Park District, the schools and the Navy base. They are all part of it, and the story weaves their roles together, he said.
“They are all part of who we are,” Rockingham said after the event. “Everything and everyone is connected. This is a new coming out for the community. It’s something we’re going to build together.”
Rebranding is much more than a new logo and slogan, according to a brochure published by the city. It is what people, both outsiders and residents, think about when they hear the name North Chicago.
“Rebranding the city is all about changing perceptions,” the city wrote in the brochure. “Our new brand gives our city, our businesses and our residents a new story to talk about. A story that aligns with our community values, our history and our hopes for the future.”
The movie itself told the story of North Chicago through the voices of people who have been in the community for generations, as well as newcomers. Incorporated in 1895, Naval Station Great Lakes opened in 1911 as they grew up together. Manufacturing came around then, too.
Built by immigrants, people came to North Chicago from parts of Europe as well as part of the Great Migration, bringing Black people from the South to opportunities in the northern United States. That diversity remains as individuals from other places arrive.
When the movie told the story of the Angel Drill Team and Bunny Drill Team for younger girls, there were sounds of approval from many of the 200 people in the room. It was founded by retired U.S. Navy Chief Nathaniel Hamilton in 1967 and ended with his retirement in 2011. It won national awards.
Dealing with the improvement of the schools, the movie told the story of scholarship efforts to help students continue their education, and the $40 million AbbVie spent to build the new state-of-the-art Neal Math and Science Academy middle school. It opened in 2022.