Robbins may be one of the poorest communities in the Chicago area, but it’s rich in intangibles, such as pride and optimism.
The pride stems from being one of oldest all-black-governed towns in the United States, incorporated in 1917. The optimism comes from a fervent belief that Robbins’ best days are yet to come.
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“Sure, we’ve had our hard times,” said Tyrone Haymore, a village clerk and the its historian. “We were at the brink of bankruptcy, but I don’t think there are any doubts that this town will not just survive, but thrive.”
Haymore, who has lived in Robbins since he was 2, has an enthusiasm that’s infectious. Where other people see abandoned housing and weed-choked lots, Haymore sees a mecca of African-American heritage, a place that welcomed people of mixed race who fled the South Side to escape racial bigotry.
“The message was `Come here and start your own community.’ I think that the same attitude of openness and opportunity exists today,” Haymore said. “It’s always been a place where all things are possible.”
At the Robbins Village Hall, Haymore lovingly maintains exhibits dedicated to the town’s past glories and prominent residents, including Cornelius Coffey and Johnny Robinson, who with Chicagoan Bessie Coleman founded the first black airport and school of aviation in the United States-both in Robbins.
He can tell you about S.B. Fuller, who, despite a third-grade education, became the country’s first black multimillionaire by selling cosmetics door to door (no relation to Fuller Brush). Fuller’s Prairie-style house-which still stands at 13500 Kedzie Ave., and where his widow still resides-was built in 1954 for the then-unheard of sum of $300,000.
Or he can tell you about Samuel Earl Nichols, a former mayor and the inventor of cellophane-although TV viewers may be more intrigued by his daughter, Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” TV series.
“I was never really that interested in history when it was European, but this was my history,” said Haymore, who recently co-authored a Robbins coloring book as a teaching tool. “We have to let people-especially young people-know what we have here.”
To the casual observer, this small south suburban community may seem to have little to offer. Ironically, civil rights gains have hurt towns such as Robbins, whose residents can now live anywhere they please. During the 1980s, its population declined by 15 percent, and it ranks 262 out of 263 Chicagoland communities in per-capita income. It is a place where an estimated 20 percent of the workforce can’t find jobs and where churches (34) outnumber tax-paying businesses (26).
But if you look beyond the grim statistics, there are signs that Haymore’s optimism is more than civic boosterism. Consider:
– Last month, Robbins held a grand opening of its William Leonard Library, its pink granite exterior a stunning contrast to its predecessor, a dilapidated trailer next door.
– The Robbins Recreational/Training Center at 13800 S. Trumbull Ave., which Haymore said had been shuttered for two years because of lack of funds and mismanagement, has reopened, running programs for every age group from toddlers to seniors, thanks to executive director Lola Henry, who “begged and borrowed” donations. When Henry took over, teens were hanging out, shooting dice, in front of the building. On a recent visit, teens were in the brightly painted gym, playing a spirited game of basketball.
– The Union M.B. Church has taken the bold step of bringing some badly needed retail businesses to Robbins. A strip shopping center, called Union Faith Plaza, is going up on Claire Boulevard near 137th and will include a laundermat, an ice cream parlor and dry cleaners. It represents the first new business construction in at least 25 years.
– A 16-acre wholesale greenhouse is scheduled to open next year on 135th Street, between Kedzie and Hohman. The village also is negotiating with two trucking companies to move their base of operations to Robbins, Haymore said.
But the real economic lifeline is the controversial proposed Robbins incinerator.
The developer, Reading Energy Co., is predicting that groundbreaking for the trash-to-energy facility, at 133rd and Kedzie, will take place this summer and will be fully operational by 1997. The incinerator is intended to process 1,600 tons of trash per day.
The project promises to bring up to $2 million a year in tax revenue and 80 permanent jobs. However, the project still awaits financing from Wall Street.
While the incinerator has been on the drawing board for the last three administrations, Mayor Irene Brodie, who was elected in 1989, is credited as being the driving force behind the project.
Brodie has lobbied Springfield tirelessly and wooed support from neighboring towns.
At the same time, she went to work putting Robbins’ financial house in order; when she took office, the city’s phone bill was five months past due, there was an IRS lien on village accounts, and no one on the municipal payroll had seen a paycheck in a month.
Community Development Block Grant funds, which had been cut off under the previous administration, have recently been restored.
Robbins’ efforts to repair its fiscal problems haven’t gone unnoticed. The Harvard Graduate School of Business chose the village to be subject of a new case study on how a town can pull itself from the brink of bankruptcy; Brodie said she was flown to the Cambridge, Mass., campus and was encouraged by the students’ response to her presentation.
She only recently received the school’s report and therefore doesn’t know to what extent it may contain useful recommendations.
When Brodie became mayor she also tackled Robbins’ image and ordered the demolition of 50 of the town’s 253 abandoned homes.
She also has raised $20 million in seed money for a new branch of Seaway Bank in Robbins-contingent upon the incinerator being built.
“We’ve worked so hard,” said Brodie, dean at Moraine Valley Community College. “But everything depends on the incinerator. . . . What it means is that Robbins will no longer be relegated to grants and subsidies for its survival. . . . But there are people who have decided that we’re not entitled to this project.”
Not all critics are environmental groups or outsiders. The Black Caucus, a political group, opposes the incinerator. So does Adolph Coleman, whose father settled in Robbins in the 1920s. He said the project carries too high a price.
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“This is nothing more than environmental racism,” said Coleman, a minister. “Many of our people are buying it because they don’t understand it. At first, it looked good, but then I did some reading on my own and discovered the health problems that come along with it. . . . Economic development shouldn’t come at the sacrifice of a race of people.”
No one can question the sincerity and fierce devotion to Robbins felt by people on both sides of the debate. And that speaks volumes about the community.
“It has a small-town, country feeling,” said Ted Anthony of Coldwell Banker 1st American in Calumet City. “And if you want to move out of the city, spend your money wisely, have your kids in a suburban school system, Robbins is definitely the place to get a lot of house for your money.”
Indeed, there is a variety of housing stock-ranches, Cape Cods and split levels-that carry price tags in the $30,000-$60,000 range.
The most affluent area officially is called Golden Acres, but everyone refers to it as “the Starks homes,” after its builder, Edward Starks.
The Robbins native went to the University of Illinois to study civil engineering and returned home to build houses, which routinely sell in the $60,000-$80,000 range.
“People told him it couldn’t be done, but he proved everyone wrong,” Haymore said proudly.
The subdivision, near 139th and Kedzie, features large four-bedroom homes with sprawling yards, and counts among its residents Greg Wright, school board president of Posen-Robbins School District 143 1/2. Some Robbins elementary schoolchildren also attend District 130.
High school students attend District 218, which includes Richards, Shepherd and Eisenhower High Schools.
“Many of the sales are within the community, which indicated that people want to stay,” said Coldwell Banker’s Anthony. “There’s a strong grapevine in town . . . where you can find anything from jobs to government assistance. Because Robbins was virtually ignored by outsiders, they always had to rely on each other.”
It has been that way since S.B. Fuller, the cosmetics magnate, served as a mentor to other black entrepreneurs, including John Johnson of Ebony magazine and George Johnson of Johnson Products. And it’s still that way today, say residents.
“We can do and be like other cities,” said Lola Henry, the woman who resurrected the community center. “But you’ve got to stick to it, and above all, believe in what you’re doing.”