Hegewisch (Chicago, Illinois)

 community, neighbourhood, draw only border

Hegewisch (pronounced "heg-wish" by the locals it is actually a German surname pronounced "hege-vish"), one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, is located on the city's far south side. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Riverdale and South Deering to the west, the East Side to the north, the village of Burnham to the south and the city of Hammond, Indiana to the east. It is part of the 10th ward of Chicago. John Pope is the alderman as of April 2005. The community area is named for Adolph Hegewisch, the president of U.S. Rolling Stock Company who hoped to establish “an ideal workingman's community” when he laid out the town along a rail line in 1883, six years before Chicago annexed the town.

One of Hegewisch's more notable features is its unique demographics, being one of the last remaining predominantly white south Chicago communities (alongside Beverly and Mount Greenwood) and the last predominantly white community on the city's Southeast Side. In recent years, Hegewisch has seen a dramatic increase in its Hispanic population. As of the most recent census/city survey, the Hegewisch population is 67% white and 29% Hispanic, although this has changed markedly since the last census.