Defining the Boundaries of the Calumet Region

When people talk about the Calumet region, they are usually not speaking about the exact same towns and neighborhoods, but they generally are talking about some part of the old industrial region that borders the southern edge of Lake Michigan. ¹

Many definitions and mental models of stakeholders don't cross the Illinois-Indiana state line. MCIC refers to the Calumet region as South Chicago, Calumet Heights, South Deering, East Side, and Hegewisch community areas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Lake Calumet and Fox River Special Area extends from 95th Street to 145th Street and from Cottage Grove to the state line with Indiana. U.S. EPA's Southeast Chicago Study Area extends from 87th Street to Sibley and from Western Avenue to the State Line. The same is true of a variety of other initiatives in Illinois and Indiana, and also of the mental models of some long-time players in the region.

However, most organizations and people whose definitions don't cross state lines agree it is arbitrary to stop at the state line. Illinois and Indiana at the south end of Lake Michigan share climate, geology, shoreline, a heavily linked manufacturing-based economy, a shared labor market, transportation facilities that serve both areas, a legacy of pollution from industrial activities, history as dump sites for wastes from other places², and rivers, towns, and streets with the name "Calumet."

The Center for Neighborhood Technology describes the Calumet Region as the base of Lake Michigan, encompassing 140 square miles stretching from Chicago's Southeast Side, including the Illinois towns of Calumet City, Dolton, and Burnham, and extending to Northwest Indiana, including Gary, Hammond, Whiting, and East Chicago.

According to staff at City Innovation, the Calumet region is that part of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois drained by the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers, usually including the northern portions of Lake and Porter counties in Indiana. City Innovations' Crescent Corridor extends from the Loop in a crescent that ends near Gary Harbor.

Neighborhoods and municipalities within 1/2 mile of any corridor boundary of the Lake Calumet Ecological Park are, in Illinois, the neighborhoods of Burnside, Roseland, Pullman, West Pullman, South Deering, East Side, Hegewisch, Chatham, South Chicago, Calumet Heights and the towns of Burnham, Dolton, Riverdale, Calumet City, Calumet Park, Robbins, Crestwood, Alsip, Blue Island, Dixmoor, Blue Island, Harvey, Phoenix, South Holland, Lansing. In Indiana, the municipalities include Hammond, Whiting, Gary, East Chicago, Portage, Munster, Highland, Griffith, New Chicago, and Lake Station.³

The Lake Calumet Airport Feasibility Study defined the region as Hammond in Indiana; South Deering, East Side, and Hegewisch in Chicago; and Burnham and Calumet City in Cook County.

The broadest definition includes all of Lake County, most of Porter County, the cities of LaPorte and Michigan City, and much of the southern half of Cook County.⁴

For the purposes of this paper, the Calumet region includes both Southeast Chicago in Illinois and the northeastern part of Lake County, Indiana with borders that change depending upon the purpose or initiative. The Calumet region includes at least the City of Chicago neighborhoods of East Side, South Deering, Hegewisch, South Chicago, Calumet Heights, Burnside, and Pullman; the Illinois suburban jurisdictions of Riverdale, Dolton, Calumet City, Burnham, and South Holland; and the Indiana jurisdictions of Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, and, perhaps, Gary.

This is not to say it is easy to research, let alone unite, a bi-state Calumet region, but it seems the only reasonable way to go, given the linkages described above and throughout this paper. Still, because of Governors State University's interests, much more information was collected on Illinois for this report than on Northwest Indiana.⁵

In fact, there is little bi-state coordination in this region and some competition for new economic development. The one attempt to establish an ongoing bi-state planning agency was abandoned after only a few years. The only formal bi-state agency now is the Chicago-Gary Regional Airport Authority created in 1995. To date, no specific projects have been developed under the compact.

Both states do participate in multi-state consultation in the Chicago Air Quality Region through the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO). Coordination for transportation improvements takes place through specific projects such as improvements to I-94 or commuter rail service and information sharing between metropolitan planning organizations. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and Hammond are cooperating to restore Wolf Lake with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Lakes grant. There is also information exchange about brownfields redevelopment, and there is growing interest in working together on natural resource management.⁶

While there may or may not be opportunities to deepen bi-state cooperation in the near future, it seems important to keep touching base with the multiple connections across the state line.

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