Biohazard Cleanup Near North Phoenix Phoenix, IL

Phoenix is a village in southern Cook County, about 19 miles south of the Chicago Loop, nestled between Harvey and South Holland.

Phoenix began in the 1890s as Phenix Park, a small subdivision on businessman William McLatchy's land just outside 'dry' Harvey, where five saloons opened to serve Harvey's factory workers.

When Harvey tried to annex Phenix Park to shut down its saloons, residents voted 38 to 18 on August 29, 1900 to incorporate as an independent village, and the courts upheld the result despite Harvey's legal challenge.

By 1905 village records had shortened the name from Phenix Park to Phoenix, after the mythical bird of Egyptian legend.

The first African American families moved to Phoenix in 1915, with the Jefferson family believed to be the first; their home still stands at 152nd Street and 9th Avenue.

Phoenix's population soared after World War II as Black families came for jobs in the area's steel mills and railroads, peaking at 4,203 people in 1960.

In 1962 the predominantly white southern portion of Phoenix was de-annexed into Harvey, costing the village about a third of its population and roughly 60 percent of its tax base.

Phoenix had a population of 1,708 at the 2020 census, and about 84.6 percent of its residents were Black or African American.

Phoenix has 742 households in just 0.45 square miles, one of the smallest villages in Cook County, and residents nicknamed it 'nine blocks.'

The village's median age was 44.1 years at the 2020 census, and half of its households were headed by a female householder with no spouse present.