OOTA Ep. 11—Silent Voices Among Us: Stories from Chicago's Henry Horner Homes

National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) Podcasts

In this episode of Out of the Archives, "Silent Voices Among Us: Stories from Chicago's Henry Horner Homes," which named after our online exhibition of the same name, we share stories from residents of the Henry Horner Homes, known to many of its residents as the Hornets. The stories range from different experiences from the early years of the Henry Horner Homes to moving out during their demolition.
A special thanks to the storytellers from this episode, including Crystal Palmer, Marina Pullom, Patricia Smith, John Pettiford, Sharon Leggitt, and Maria Moon. We'd also like to thank the members of the Museum's Oral History Corps and other oral historians who recorded these stories including Francesco De Salvatore, Raymond McDonald, and Maria Moon.
The Henry Horner Homes were constructed between 1957 and 1959 and contained 920 units. Thousands of residents lived in the Henry Horner Homes between 1957 and 1995 when demolition began. The demolition ran in phases beginning in 1995 until 2008, which made way for the Westhaven mixed-income community, which was established in 1997. The stories in this episode span from 1962 to 2013.

Read the transcript here.