This collection reflects the administration, programming and advocacy efforts of the Beverly Area Planning Association between 1967 and 1972. Among the issues included in the collection are businesses in Beverly, zoning, real estate, and commuter transportation. The collection contains correspondence, minutes, reports, financial records, publications, research studies and subject files.
To learn more about the collection, or to prepare to see the collection in person, consult the Beverly Area Planning Association records finding aid
The Beverly Area Planning Association (BAPA) was founded in 1947 as an umbrella agency of residential and business associations in the Beverly Hills/Morgan Park neighborhood in Southwest Chicago. Founded as a property-owners organization in the predominantly while neighborhoods of the Beverly Area, the organization was initially concerned with neighborhood beautification projects. In the early 1970s, however, the focus of the organization shifted to address the effects of open-housing legislation in Chicago. Due to expanding city borders and the increasing numbers of African American homeowners in Beverly, a number of real estate agents were encouraging white homeowners to uproot. In order to combat the resultant racial segregation, BAPA secured grants that allowed it to monitor real estate agencies during this era, and encouraged residents to welcome their new African American neighbors as part of an integrated community. BAPA worked with State and local legislators to manage the effects of open housing legislation in their area. BAPA has also confronted such issues as crime in the community, rail transportation to the Loop, the quality of public education, and was instrumental in the creation of the Beverley Arts Center in 1967. The organization seeks to maintain the property values of the neighborhood by encouraging the rehabilitation of houses and fostering a vibrant neighborhood economy.
The image featured at the top of this collection page is UIC_BAPA_0010_0163_001, from the cover of "Beverly Hills/Morgan Park - Village in the City"