Calumet Heights Apartments for Rent

The neighborhood of Calumet Heights, 11 miles southeast of the Chicago Loop, is actually two neighborhoods in one. Bounded by 87th Street on the north, South Chicago Avenue on the east and railroad lines on the west and south, the neighborhood is comprised of two distinct residential areas: the Stony Island Heights neighborhood, in the eastern two-thirds of the community; and the more affluent Pill Hill neighborhood, said to be named for the large number of doctors from nearby South Chicago Hospital.

The community takes its name from the nearby Calumet River. Like many Chicago neighborhoods, Calumet Heights was unoccupied swampland through the 19th century until the arrival of the railroad. In 1881, the New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad built rail yards at the area’s western border. A small settlement began to develop nearby, and in 1887 the new Calumet Heights subdivision appeared.

In 1920, Calumet Heights had 3,248 residents. By 1930 the population had more than doubled. New housing included many single-family homes, though an area of apartments also developed west of Stony Island Avenue, between 87th and 91st Streets.

Today Calumet Heights is a middle-class neighborhood primarily comprised of classic pre-World War II Chicago-style bungalows, with a large number of new homes and some pockets of homes somewhat more grand.