For the last 30 years or so development has steadily inched west along Irving Park Road toward the city’s boundaries. Only one parcel remains undeveloped, the land just east of Harlem, which is still a marshy forest, home to migratory birds, deer, and even coyotes.
The institution was surrounded by acres of vacant land. “It was like having a forest right in the neighborhood,” says Swider, who grew up in the area in the 1950s. “There was a creek back there and marshlands. It wasn’t an official forest preserve, but it served the same purpose. I remember the boy who grew up next door to me used to take a little boat to the pond out there.”
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In 1965 the state closed the mental hospital. “There was a transition in mental health from institutions to outpatient treatment,” says Allen, “so you no longer had a need for the big asylums. So the question became, What to do about all that land?”
Over the past few years Allen and city planning officials have been working with the state, which still owns the land, to put together a development deal. He says that by June they’d packaged an arrangement under which the state would cede the land to the city. “Maryville and New Horizons would move to the east side of Oak Park Avenue,” Allen says. “You’d also have ten acres for public open space that would be maintained by Wright College and some residential single-family homes. West of Oak Park Avenue, IDOT gets 15 acres for their trucks and equipment, and then, as you get further west toward Harlem, you’d have the Home Depot.”
Swider says she hasn’t been persuaded by the city’s arguments in favor of development. “On our bus tour Alderman Allen took us by some of [IDOT’s] dilapidated property and tried to talk the deal up,” she says. “I pointed to the condos that are already on the edge of the property and said, ‘This is out of character.’ Alderman Allen said, ‘What’s the matter, Joyce? Are you going to stand in the way of progress? Maybe you should move out of the neighborhood.’ I said, ‘I’ve been here since 1948, and I want to maintain a quality of life.’”
Swider thinks the proposal could become a campaign issue in the upcoming aldermanic election if a strong candidate emerges to challenge Allen. But Allen says he’s not concerned about losing votes over the deal: “I don’t think there are too many Home Depots out there. There are a lot of people who like Home Depot. They call our office and say, ‘When is the Home Depot coming?’ So there’s that sentiment out there too.”
