About ROBBINS, IL
Robbins is a village in Cook County, 17 miles south of the Loop. The population was 6,635 at the 2000 census. Irene H. Brodie is the current mayor of the city. Robbins is the oldest majority-black suburb in the Chicago area and one of the oldest incorporated black municipalities in the United States. Robbins is also characteristic of semirural black suburbs that developed in the United States during the Great Migration.
Population expanded to 4,766 in 1950 and 9,644 by 1970 (98 percent black), as developers opened new subdivisions and the village annexed territory. Robbins was one of few places in the Chicago suburbs where African Americans could purchase homes without risking violence. In the 1960s, black developer Edward Starks opened the Golden Acres subdivision, which brought modern, suburban-style houses to the community.
As late as 1950, 22 percent of Robbins homes lacked indoor plumbing, and over 40 percent were considered substandard in 1960. Although the community paved streets and installed sewers in the 1950s, these costs, combined with plant layoffs in the 1970s, saddled the suburb with municipal debts. Economic woes notwithstanding, Robbins remained one of the few places in greater Chicago where African Americans with very limited resources could afford to buy a home of their own.
Learn more about this city.
City of Robbins, IL official site
City of Robbins, IL Chamber of Commerce
City of Robbins, IL newspaper
County of Robbins, IL official site
State of Illinois official site