Edgewater

      Prayer Points

• Many residents live in flats only accessible to those in the building, making it a challenge to churches and ministries seeking to reach the community. Pray for creative access to these residents.

• Andersonville, formerly a Swedish community, is now home to an extensive LGBT community. Pray for receptivity to caring, and compassionate witnesses by Christ-followers over the long haul.

• Edgewater is still a relatively unchurched community compared to the population density. Pray for newer church plants and an even greater dispersion of the gospel.

• Praise God for growing unity among existing churches meeting regularly for prayer and planning to better serve the community.

      Ethnic Breakdown

• Asian (11.7%)

• Black or African American (13.9%)
• Hispanic or Latino (16.3%)
• White (54.5%)

Neighborhood Background

Currently the most densely populated neighborhood in Chicago, Edgewater’s rapid growth began in 1886 due the railroad. However, with the city-wide housing crisis in the 1940s, apartment buildings were later subdivided into smaller units and mansions were destroyed and replaced with high-rises.

These developments led to the formation of the Edgewater Community Council (ECC) in 1960, established to initiate local improvements to combat the prospect of social and physical deterioration within Edgewater. During the 1970s, the ECC fought and succeeded to separate Edgewater from Uptown, which many property-owners regarded as the reason for Edgewater’s backsliding.

Andersonville, a neighborhood of Edgewater, has one of the most concentrated areas of Swedish culture in the United States. It is also home to a diverse assortment of devoted residents and businesses, including one of Chicago’s largest lesbian gay bisexual transgender (LGBT) communities and a thriving Hispanic commercial area.