South Deering (Chicago, Illinois)

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South Deering, is the largest neighborhood of the 77 official community areas of the City of Chicago, Illinois, is located on the far south side. It was a very industrial neighborhood, consisting of a small group of homes in the northeast corner and Lake Calumet taking up most of the remainder. It exists in the 10th Ward, what was once the reign of Alderman Edward Vrdolyak, now in private law practice. It was the home of the now defunct Wisconsin Steel Works, originally the Joseph H. Brown Iron and Steel Company, which opened in 1875 and was the first steel mill in the entire Calumet region. Since the closing of the plant, the neighborhood has gone through an economic depression. South Deering was the home of primarily lower middle class dwellers. Jeffery Manor was once a predominantly Jewish community populated by World War II veterans purchasing their first house. It now is mostly African-American. Jeffery Manor is where Richard Speck murdered 8 student nurses in 1966. Jon Burge was raised in South Deering. Louis Rosen documented the racial transition of this and nearby communities in his 1998 book The South Side: The Racial Transformation of an American Neighborhood. The area from 95th to 103rd and from Baltimore Ave to Manistee is commonly referred to as "Slag Valley", in reference to the slag (waste steel) from the former steel plants, being piled in the area. It was also the longtime residence of late conspiracy theorist Sherman Skolnick.