Editing Cicero, Illinois (section)

==History==
[[File:Hawthorne Works tower 2012 1.JPG|thumb|upright|left|The last vestige of the [[Hawthorne Works]], which at its peak in the early 20th century employed over 40,000 workers.]]

Originally, [[Cicero Township, Cook County, Illinois|Cicero Township]] occupied an area six times the size of its current territory. The cities of [[Oak Park, Illinois|Oak Park]] and [[Berwyn, Illinois|Berwyn]] were incorporated from portions of Cicero Township, and other portions, such as [[Austin, Chicago|Austin]], were annexed into the city of [[Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/287.html |title=Cicero, IL |publisher=Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |access-date=November 17, 2012 |archive-date=November 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127192427/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/287.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1911, an [[aerodrome]] called the Cicero Flying Field had been established as the town's first aircraft facility of any type,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html |title=CICERO FLYING FIELD - Origin, Operation, Obscurity and Legacy - 1891 to 1916 - OPERATION, 1911 - THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CICERO FLYING FIELD |last=Gray |first=Carroll |date=2005 |website=lincolnbeachey.com |publisher=Carroll F. Gray |access-date=September 7, 2017 |quote=The second great aeronautical event of 1911 around Chicago was the establishment by the A.C.I. of a top-notch flying field named 'Cicero Flying Field' (or simply 'Cicero') within the township limits of Cicero (bounded by 16th St., 52nd Ave., 22nd St. and 48th Avenue. At some point during May, the A.C.I. was given a five year lease on the Cicero property by the Grant Land Association, Harold F. McCormick's property holding company. At the conclusion of the 1911 Aviation Meet, the hangars in Grant Park were moved to the southern edge of the 2-1/2 sq. mi. lot in Cicero. |archive-date=May 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509163329/http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html |url-status=live }}</ref> located on a roughly square plot of land about 800 meters (1/2-mile) per side, on then-open ground at {{Coord|41|51|19|N|87|44|56|W|type:landmark_region:US-IL}} by the Aero Club of Illinois, founded on February 10, 1910.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html |title=CICERO FLYING FIELD - Origin, Operation, Obscurity and Legacy - 1891 to 1916 - 1909 & 1910 - GLENN H. CURTISS & THE AERO CLUB OF ILLINOIS |last=Gray |first=Carroll |date=2005 |website=lincolnbeachey.com |publisher=Carroll F. Gray |access-date=September 7, 2017 |quote=The day before his two-day exhibition flights at the [[Hawthorne Race Course|Hawthorne Race Track]] in Cicero, Illinois, on October 16 and 17, 1909, [[Glenn Curtiss]] spoke to the Chicago Automobile Club and suggested that an aero club be formed in Chicago. In response to his remarks, the Aero Club of Illinois ('A.C.I.') was incorporated on February 10, 1910, with [[Octave Chanute]] as its first president—a perfect choice, to be sure... The second great aeronautical event of 1911 around Chicago was the establishment by the A.C.I. of a top-notch flying field named 'Cicero Flying Field' (or simply 'Cicero') within the township limits of Cicero (bounded by [West] 16th St., 52nd Ave [S. Laramie Avenue]., 22nd St [West Cermak Road]. and [[Illinois Route 50|48th Ave]].), conveniently located adjacent to interurban rail service—just a 15 min. 5¢ trip on the [[Douglas branch|Douglas Park 'L']] from downtown Chicago, and also was served by two streetcar lines. |archive-date=May 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509163329/http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Famous pilots like [[Hans-Joachim Buddecke]], [[Lincoln Beachey]], [[Chance M. Vought]] and others flew from there at various times during the [[Aviation in the pioneer era|"pioneer era" of aviation]] in the United States shortly before the nation's involvement in [[World War I]]; the field closed in mid-April 1916.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html |title=CICERO FLYING FIELD - Origin, Operation, Obscurity and Legacy - 1891 to 1916 - 1916 - THE FINAL FLIGHT & A NEW FIELD |last=Gray |first=Carroll |date=2005 |website=lincolnbeachey.com |publisher=Carroll F. Gray |access-date=September 7, 2017 |quote=On April 16, 1916, when 'Matty' Laird took off from Cicero Flying Field, at the controls of his self-designed and self-built Boneshaker biplane and flew to the new Partridge & Keller aviation field at 87th St. and Pulaski Road, in Chicago, Cicero Flying Field ceased to be. The next day, the Aero Club of Illinois (A.C.I.) officially opened its new 640 acre [[Ashburn Flying Field|'''Ashburn Field''']] on land purchased by A.C.I. President 'Pop' Dickinson for the A.C.I. Ashburn was located at 83rd St. and Cicero Avenue, about 7-1/2 miles almost due south of Cicero. All of the hangars and buildings at Cicero had been moved to Ashburn Field some months earlier. |archive-date=May 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509163329/http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

After building his criminal empire in Chicago, [[Al Capone]] moved to Cicero to escape the reach of Chicago police.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Duechler |first1=Doug |date=September 5, 2006 |title=Part II: From Capone to 'Bohemian Wall Street' to, of course, Betty |url=http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/9-5-2006/Colorful-Cicero/ |department=News |newspaper=[[Wednesday Journal#Wednesday Journal|Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest]] |series=Colorful Cicero |location=[[Oak Park, Illinois]] |publisher=[[Wednesday Journal]] |lccn=sn91055447 |oclc=24273230 |access-date=November 16, 2016 |archive-date=January 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119013321/https://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/9-5-2006/Colorful-Cicero/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[1924 Cicero, Illinois municipal elections|1924 Cicero municipal elections]] were particularly violent due to gang-related efforts to secure a favorable election result.

On July 11–12, 1951, a [[Cicero Race Riot of 1951|race riot erupted in Cicero]] when a white mob of around 4,000 attacked and burned an apartment building at 6139 W. 19th Street that housed the [[African-American]] family of Harvey Clark Jr., a [[Chicago Transit Authority]] bus driver who had relocated to the all-white city. Governor [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai E. Stevenson]] was forced to call out the [[Illinois National Guard]]. The Clarks moved away and the building had to be boarded up.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM68ZW_1951_Race_Riots_Then_Now_Cicero_IL |title=1951 Race Riots Then & Now - Cicero, IL |access-date=May 26, 2013 |archive-date=November 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128132003/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM68ZW_1951_Race_Riots_Then_Now_Cicero_IL |url-status=live }}</ref> The Cicero riot received worldwide condemnation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilkerson|first=Isabel|title=The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration|publisher=Random House|year=2020|isbn=978-0-679-44432-9|location=New York|pages=375}}</ref>

Cicero was taken up and abandoned several times as site for a [[civil rights]] march in the mid-1960s. Cicero had a [[sundown town]] policy prohibiting African Americans from living in the city.<ref>{{cite news|title='Victory' Means Little to Cicero|first=Robert|last=Nolte|work=[[Billings Gazette]]|location=Billings, Montana|date=September 8, 1966|page=7|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29074025/|via=Newspapers.com|quote=Although he says the Cicero march was a victory, residents of Cicero probably feel no different about Negroes than they did one week ago. (Negroes are not allowed to live in Cicero, but ironically, 15,000 of them work in the suburb's factories and stores five days a week.)}}</ref> The [[American Friends Service Committee]], [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], and many affiliated organizations, including churches, were conducting marches against housing and school ''de facto'' segregation and inequality in Chicago and several suburbs, but the leaders feared an overly violent response in [[Chicago Lawn, Chicago|Chicago Lawn]] and Cicero.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/256.html |title=Chicago Lawn |publisher=Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |access-date=November 17, 2012 |archive-date=August 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810010733/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/256.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Eventually, a substantial march (met by catcalls, flying bottles and bricks) was conducted in Chicago Lawn, but only a splinter group, led by [[Jesse Jackson]], marched in Cicero.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/12_chicago.html |title=American Experience.Eyes on the Prize.The Story of the Movement |publisher=PBS |access-date=November 17, 2012 |archive-date=January 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131090222/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/12_chicago.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The marches in the Chicago suburbs helped galvanize support for the passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]], extending federal prohibitions against discrimination to private housing. The act also created the [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development]]'s [[Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity]], which enforces the law.

The 1980s and 1990s saw a heavy influx of [[Hispanic]] (mostly [[Mexican American|Mexican]] and [[Central America]]n) residents to Cicero. Once considered mainly a [[Czech American|Czech]] or [[Bohemia]]n town, most of the European-style restaurants and shops on 22nd Street (now [[Cermak Road]]) have been replaced by Spanish-titled businesses. In addition, Cicero has a small black community.

Cicero has seen a revival in its commercial sector, with many new mini-malls and large retail stores. New condominiums are also being built in the city.

Cicero has long had a reputation of government scandal. In 2002, Republican Town President [[Betty Loren-Maltese]] was sent to [[Federal Bureau of Prisons|federal prison]] in California for misappropriating $12 million in funds.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/31/usa.matthewengel| title=Spirit of Capone lives on in Mobtown, Illinois| last= Engel| first=Matthew|date=August 31, 2002|work=The Guardian| accessdate=April 10, 2011|location=Cicero, Illinois}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ipsn.org/indictments/loren-maltese_indictment/betty_loren-maltese_perps.htm |title=Betty Loren-Maltese and fellow perps |publisher=Ipsn.org |date=June 16, 2001 |access-date=November 17, 2012 |archive-date=August 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120822102506/http://www.ipsn.org/indictments/loren-maltese_indictment/betty_loren-maltese_perps.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Due to this corruption, Cicero is frequently overlooked as candidate for annexation with Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |title=Won't You Be My (Annexed) Neighbor? |first=Edward |last=McClelland|url=https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/wont-you-be-my-annexed-neighbor/ |website=Chicago Magazine |access-date=9 November 2024}}</ref>