Brighton Park is a community area located on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois. It is number 58 of the 77 community areas of Chicago. Brighton Park is bordered on the north by the former Illinois & Michigan Canal and the current Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, on the east by Western Avenue, on the south by 49th Street, and on the west by Drake Ave. The neighborhood is a mix of residential areas, commercial zones, industrial works and transportation (primarily railroad and trucking) facilities. It is relatively peaceful, according to Chicago Police Department statistics (2004 CPD Annual Report). History After the expulsion of the Potawatomi, the land in what is now Brighton Park was platted and subdivided in anticipation of the opening of the Illinois-Michigan Canal. In the 1850s, private investors, notably John McCaffrey bought it with the hopes of turning it into a center of commerce. In 1851, the area was incorporated as a municipality. Named Brighton to invoke livestock markets in, among other places, the Brighton neighborhood of Boston and its livestock markets. Brighton Park had an active livestock market in the late 1850s, but it was overshadowed by the Union Stock Yards in the 1860s. In 1855, Chicago mayor "Long" John Wentworth built the Brighton Park horse racetrack (whose name conveniently alluded to the more famous Brighton Racecourse in England) directly east of the village, in what is now the Chicago Park District's McKinley Park. The Great Chicago Fire spared Brighton Park. In 1889, after Lake Township voted to allow for annexation, Brighton Park became part of the City of Chicago. By 1871, the year of the Great Chicago Fire, Brighton Park was served by the Archer Avenue horsecar and the Alton Railroad. (Brighton Park was not affected by the fire). The railroad built a roundhouse in the neighborhood, and various factories were built. Later the streetcar was electrified and extended and interurban electric railway service was provided by the Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway until 1934. Most of the residential buildings now in Brighton Park were built in the early part of the 20th century, between 1905 and 1925, after more electric streetcar lines (on Western Ave, Kedzie Ave, 35th St and 47th St) had been extended into the neighborhood, providing cheap & quick transport to work. By the turn of the century, Brighton Park was becoming a destination for many European immigrants, particularly those