AUBURN GRESHAM — A free trolley tour through Auburn Gresham will highlight homes and land for sale and prominent sites, such as a historic church.
The goal of the free tours, said Janece Simmons, director of the Neighborhood Housing Services for Auburn Gresham, is to showcase neighborhood gems and to attract potential homebuyers to a community that has been plagued by violence.
Wendell Hutson says the tours hope to show people a different side of the neighborhood:
"Auburn Gresham has a lot of historic places people don't know about. This tour will give people a chance to see what the beauty within Auburn Gresham," said Simmons.
The tours are also being sponsored by the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation. They begin from the corporation's headquarters at 1159 W. 79th St. and run from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Among the sites highlighted:
• the Highland Theater, 7959 S. Ashland Ave;
• Auburn Park, 406 W. Winneconna Pkwy.;
• St. Sabina Church, 1210 W. 78th Pl;
• the Martin Luther King Jr. Park & Family Entertainment Center, 1219 W. 76th St;
• and Mt. Hermon Missionary Baptist Church, 7848 S. Normal Blvd., which was built in 1885.
Home buying information will also be available, Simmons said.
"We are looking for people who want to learn about a community and not just a home," Simmons said. "Potential purchasers will learn about forgivable funds up to $75,000 to assist with their purchase of a vacant property in the Auburn Gresham."
Potential buyers will be shown single family homes, multi-unit buildings and bungalows for sale, as well as available business spaces.
There are 10 Chicago communities within the historic bungalow district, and Auburn Gresham is one of them, according to Carla Bruni, an architectural historian for the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association.
In July, the neighborhood housing services co-sponsored the screening of the "Pillars of Auburn Gresham," a documentary about Auburn Gresham's past. The movie will be shown again to those taking the tour.
"A lot of people don't know about Auburn Gresham's history when [40 years ago] it was mainly a white community," added Simmons. "So much has changed over the years and now Auburn Gresham is seen as a bad place to live and that's not true."
