Douglas

Grand Boulevard
After the Fire of 1871, the population within Grand Boulevard began to increase. With the influx of middle class families moving from central downtown and the migration of African-Americans from the South during World War I the community began to see the start of an unending pattern of movement to the area. In 1920, there were 77,000 residents, with African-Americans constituting 32 percent of the population, and increased to 87,000 by the1930's. In the 1940's while the effect of the Depression slowed the population growth in some communities Grand Boulevard had more than 100,000 residents of which 98 percent were African American. By the 1950's, Grand Boulevard saw a radical increase with its population reaching a historic high of 144,557 residents.

With the escalation in population came the growth of community, commercial and institutional developments. The Langley Methodist Episcopal Church was erected in 1871. Two years later School District No. 7 was formed to serve Grand Boulevard and the Irish opened the parish of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. With these additions to Grand Boulevard, it inspired the construction of mansions to add to the array of single-family homes and three story apartment buildings. However, this was only the start of the single-family units to be built. In 1929 a large-scale housing project, Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, was built to stimulate the middle-income settlement in Grand Boulevard. In 1950 the construction of the Robert Taylor Homes, along the Federal Street slum area, supplemented the need for more homes due to the number of residents in the community.