Mount Greenwood

      Prayer Points

• This community is home to many of the police officers and firefighters who serve our city. Pray for their protection and praise God for these selfless individuals who sacrifice much for our city.

• Mount Greenwood is a somewhat comfortable community, which often comes with complacency in seeking God. Pray that the residents would seek Christ instead of worldly things as sources of satisfaction and identity.

• Because Mount Greenwood borders more under-resourced communities, many youth visit, seeking entertainment. Pray that the church would see these as opportunities to reach out to the youth, instead of regarding them as hindrances and trouble-makers.

      Ethnic Breakdown

• Asian (0%)
• Black or African American (4.7%)
• Hispanic or Latino (5.8%)
• White (89.4%)

Neighborhood Background

Mount Greenwood is bound by eight cemeteries and was once nicknamed the “Seven Holy Tombs”. In 1897 taverns and restaurants opened to serve mourners after funerals. Mount Greenwood was annexed to Chicago in 1927 in hopes that this would catalyze improvements to the neighborhoods, such as the development of sewers, paved streets, and public schools. Such changes were slow to occur, however, in 1936 the sewage systems and paved and lit streets were developed.

Between 1930 and 1950 the population of Mount Greenwood grew rapidly. By 1980 Mount Greenwood contained the last farm that existed in Chicago; this was later developed into the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.

The magnet school stirred up controversy when, in the late 1980s, black students were bussed into the white community. This led to a community protest and racial hostility. Recently, the population has declined and became a densely white population, with African American and Hispanic populations still representing small percentages.