was originally settled in the 1870s by workers from England, Wales, and Ireland who were attracted by the industrial jobs in nearby factories. As more industries were set up along the Calumet River, immigrants from eastern and southern Europe arrived, in addition to a small Mexican community which formed by the 1910s. Major employers included Wisconsin Steel, Illinois Slag and Ballast Company, and the Federal Furnace Company, as well as U.S. Steel Southworks in nearby South Chicago and the Ford Assembly Plant in Hegewisch. Additionally, a large railroad marshalling yard has been present in the northwest part of the neighborhood since the 1870s. 20th century The area prospered through World War One and the 1920s, but like other neighborhoods reliant on heavy industry, South Deering was devastated during the Great Depression. The decline in production led to mass unemployment, and by October 1933 some 20% of households were receiving relief from the city, state, or federal government. South Deering's fortunes improved with the onset of World War II, as the mills and other factories operated around-the-clock, even on holidays, to produce the steel, food products, and armored vehicles necessary to win the war. The segregated Trumbull Park Homes, a public housing project, and the Jeffery Manor subdivision were constructed beginning in 1938 and 1947, respectively, and the population increased from 7,900 in 1930 to 18,900 by 1960. Starting in 1953, racial tensions worsened as the existing white residents violently opposed a handful of black residents who were seeking suburban-style homes close to the factories. White flight occurred in South Deering in the 1960s and 1970s, as white families began to move to suburbs such as Dolton, Riverdale, Burnham, Calumet City, South Holland, and Lansing, but it never reached the levels of other neighborhoods such as Roseland, South Chicago, and South Shore. While the Calumet River was industrialized by the Great Depression, Lake Calumet itself was left mostly untouched until the 1950s, when the city of Chicago and state of Illinois began to infill parts of the lake to construct the International Port of Illinois (1959) and large slips for more steel mills, chemical plants, and oil refineries. However, the decline of heavy industry slammed South Deering in the 1970s and 1980s, as Wisconsin Steel (which employed over 3,000 workers during the 1960s) shuttered for good in 1980 and the nearby U.S. Steel Southworks laid off half of its workforce in