Hermosa, Chicago –  EDMAR Corporation Masonry Tuckpointing Service Area

Hermosa (60639, 60641, and 60647 zip codes), a designated Chicago community, situated 6 miles from downtown, on the City’s N-W side, is combined from Hermosa and Kelvyn Park neighborhoods..

Hermosa tuckpointing | Hermosa masonry

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Although, its land area is quite small, Hermosa is considered to be one of the most densely populated Chicago communities. Defined by Belmont Ave. on the North and three train tracks along its E-S-W borders.

First settlers begun coming to the Hermosa area from Europe (Scotland, Germany and Sweden) at the beginning of 1880’s, and their first house was built in 1882. Around the same time railroad trucks were extended through the land and the first train station was built by James F. Keeney. Mr. Kinney, who also owned a substantial portion of the today’s Hermosa area, was its first developer, building 30 houses on his property, that were occupied by 150 people. The first school and church were erected soon after.

1884 started with local industrial growth that begun with the Laminated Wood Company, and followed by the Expanded Metal Company, the Eclipse Furnace Company, and the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company warehouse. Another notable company that had its headquarters and manufacturing plant in Hermosa between 1895 and 1982, was Shwinn Bicycle Company.

A few years later, in 1889, Hermosa was annexed into the City of Chicago. There are unconfirmed records stating that the area was initially called “Pacific”, which was later changed to “Garfield”, and finally “Hermosa” (beautiful in Spanish).

In 1893 Elias and Flora Call Disney designed and built their house in Hermosa, at 1249 Tripp Avenue (today the address is 2156 North Tripp Avenue), where a few years later, their little child was born – Walt Disney.

By 1920’s local population grew to 15000 and for the next ten years the majority of today’s housing stock in Hermosa was built. It mostly comprised of brick bungalows, 2 & and 3 flats, and smaller 5 and more unit apartment buildings. This real estate boom impacted population growth that passed 23K around 1930. At that time, the majority of residents were of German, Scandinavian, Polish, Hungarian, and Austrian ethnicity.

The demographics have change dramatically by the 1960’s, when population started declining eventually dropping below 20K, and it’s large portion was replaced by Puerto Ricans, who became the largest ethnicity in Hermosa area (1/3 of local population). In the 80’s, Hermosa became predominantly Hispanic community.

The population reached is historical high in the year 2000, with around 27000 residents.