The old community of Pope Leo XIV Dalton has been plagued by violence and corruption in recent years. His old neighbors hope that his election will mean a change in the wealth of a village in southern Chicago.
“One of Ours”: Chicago celebrates Pope Leo XIV’s election
Chicago residents and leaders of the Archdiocese of Chicago are celebrating the election of the Pope Native People.
DALTON, Illinois – They said there were no prayers in the village. And then Leo came.
The inhabitants of this tiny Bergh, just south of Chicago, who have been haunted by drugs, murder, corruption and other violent demons of biblical proportions for the majority of the past 50 years, see the rays of God’s hope in Pope Leo XIV, the son of the most famous native.
“This brings hope. We went from hell to holy land, because it was rough for our community for several years,” village trustee Kiana Belcher told USA Today. “Even the grocery store can say it’s a different atmosphere. Now the light is brightly shining in Dalton.”
Pope Leo was born in Chicago but grew up in this small village in the 1960s. At the time it was a modest working class enclave known for its prosperous and hardworking people, struggling with its rusty belt.
In addition to the new landscape, many changes have occurred. By the 2000s, communities had become a symbol of dysfunction. Former “super mayor” Tiffany Enyard has driven the city into more than $3.5 million in debt. Meanwhile, the homicide rate reached about 10 times the national average.
Dalton’s story is about not just Pope Leo, but how American communities change, and not always for the better part due to poverty, crime and lack of work.
“It got so bad that I had to move my mother out of here. What is crime?” Giagan, 66, served as an altar boy in St. Mary’s parish at the same time as Pope Leo.
Robert Francis Prevast – Leo’s name before the Holy See – grew up in a modest ranch house, ranked 141st. Within a mile of the Catholic parish, he learned the faith, worked as an altar boy and went to school. Leo’s parents bought a 1,200-square-foot brick home in 1949 on a monthly mortgage of $42.
Dalton has changed a lot as he played a priest from the time the future Pope lived there. Leo’s late father, Louis, was an educator who led the local school district. His late mother, Mildred, worked as a librarian and devoted herself to the assumptions of St. Mary, the now shy parish of the family.
The area began to change dramatically in the 1990s after Leo left, and after the villagers left, steel factories and other factories that had been closed to village residents. Chicagoans today see it as an example of the kind of miscalculation the city managed to avoid.
Residents now hope that Pope Leo’s election will bring redemption to the village, starting with his old haunt.
“This will be a landmark,” said Geargun, the site where Leo grew up. “People will come from all over the world.”
The block where the Pope grew up
A flood of pilgrims and other curious visitors began to arrive at the small brick house where Pope Leo grew up, within hours of his election announcement. The home is 212 E. 141st Pl, about a mile south of Chicago. It is located in.
The visitors came so quickly that local officials warned strangers not to park in front of the house, and neighbors sued sudden traffic.
The beatfick exterior from visitors outside the house left neighbor Donna Saguna “flabbergasted.”
“A sense of peace,” she said incredibly about what they said they felt. “This was a house that was not at all peaceful.”
Saguna, 50, moved around about eight years ago, and for the first few years he said Leo’s home and others around him are a hotbed of drug trafficking and violence. Today, some on the block are clearly vacant.
Dalton police did not respond to requests for information regarding the block, but Councillor Belcher said the area is considered a rough part of the village. “That side of town is a little more poorer,” she said.
The problem with the block is a microcosm of the entire village.
Dalton committed dozens of murders in the Cook County Medical Examination Office in 2023. Approximately 20,000 people live in the village. In other words, the homicide rate is about 10 times the national average.
Census data shows the average income in the area is under $30,000. About a fifth of the population is suffering from poverty.
Dalton: Rise and fall in a small American town
According to Chicago’s Enza Gopedia, Dalton was founded in 1892 and had a population of just a few thousand for half a century.
It then went down the roads of many Rust Belt American towns and experienced significant population growth before protruding when nearby factories were closed.
The Dalton boom came when Leo moved into the area when he nearly quadrupled its size. According to census data, the village grew from 5,000 in 1950 (the year after Leo’s parents bought the family home) to 19,000 in 1960.
Chicago and northwest Indiana formed industrial hubs, from the steel mills behind the buildings that make up the city’s iconic skyline to the automotive mills that assemble Fords cruising along Lakeshore Drive.
Many factories began closing in the 1980s, but Dalton’s outlook remained clear. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1985 that Dalton’s stability was “one of its appeal” and that “a major change in the community” was not expected. The average household income in 1980 was $27,000, or $107,000, $2025, reported the newspaper.
From “All Wars” to “More optimistic than ever”
Danny Lee, a retired Chicago railroad supervisor, moved to the village in 1989, years after the Tribune’s sunny report.
“It was cool for a few years,” the 77-year-old said. He then began to have a brush with his neighbor who kept him “on his toes.”
The issues include drug trade, attempts to break in, and other potentially unstable interactions.
“I didn’t know if we were going to have an all-out war here,” Lee said. “It was a rocky road at times.”
He said the problem with Dalton began when there was no more work in the abundant factory. “Most of these types of jobs were gone and some neighborhoods were dependent on those jobs,” he said. “We can’t stress that enough.”
Lee stayed because he felt his upbringing in a Chicago public housing complex taught him to deal with rough neighbors despite a bullet hole in his home.
He wasn’t sure things would improve elsewhere as the effects of the closure factories hit small American towns.
“Dalton isn’t the only place in that situation,” said the retired Amtrak Railroad Supervisor. “We have a similar problem across our region. It’s all over the country.”
According to Lee, there are no blessings in other towns. According to Pope Leo.
“We hope it brings some tourism. I admit I’m greedy, but I want Dalton to grow,” Lee said. “I’m more optimistic than ever.”
What’s next for the house and neighborhood?
The Daltonians are keen to think before and after Leo.
“It makes me feel like anything is possible to see him from here on and I put my head down every night,” Sagna said. “God has a plan for us all.”
According to Cook County Real Estate Records, Leo moved to seminary school in the late 60s, but his family remained home until 1996.
The interior of the house changed dramatically as Leo lived there. According to photos of the interior that the neighbor showed to USA Today, current owner Paweł Radzik has renovated the interior. He tried to sell the house for $219,000, but deleted the list after Leo’s election.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Rajc is scheduled to be auctioned on June 18th for auction. The owner’s real estate agent previously said he hopes the new owner will turn it into a shrine or restore it to the way Leo lived there. Radzik did not respond to requests for comment.
Almost everyone agrees that it wants to be a landmark of some sort.
“The miracle of 141,” said Councilman Belcher. “It’s an honor to get this type of attention. It’s the first stage so you don’t really know what will happen, but you know there are a lot of people coming to visit the town.”
Leo connects neighbors
Dalton officials and homeowners are still settling the next one of Pope Leo’s old home. But the neighbors haven’t been wasted for a while.
Saguna sets the mood for visitors by playing Gregorian chant music and often stands outside to chat. Another neighbor, Marilyn Aung, continues to light candles on the stairs leading up to her home.
The eight small flames she said reminded me of the Dalton resident who was elected Pope on May 8th.
Awong, 71, hopes the building will become a programming-secured landmark that will boost its longtime community. In the meantime, she is grateful that the Pope has put her out and chatted with her neighbors.
“In many cases, you don’t even know who your neighbor is,” said Aung, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, who has lived in the area for over 50 years. “So, as a community, I’m grateful that we finally got together and talked to each other.”
