Bicentennial Bash: Counting down to Illinois' 200th birthday in Hyde Park

Friday, November 16, 2018
CHICAGO (WLS) -- ABC 7 is putting a spotlight on historic communities around Illinois as we get closer to the state's 200th birthday.

This Friday, our Bicentennial Bash was on the South Side.
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ABC7 celebrated at the Sophy Hyde Park Hotel at 53rd and Dorchester, Friday.

Alan King, a co-founder of the "Chosen Few" joined the party and explained how house music was born and nurtured on the South Side. The Hiplet Ballerinas were also on hand.
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Bicentennial Bash: House music in Hyde Park


In addition to house music, Chicago's South Side is known as the birthplace of Gospel music.

Bicentennial Bash: Gospel music


Historian Charles Bethea of the Chicago History Museum also joined the party to talk about the history on the South Side, including the site of the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.



And despite their name, the Harlem Globetrotters were actually founded on the South Side of Chicago.

Bicentennial Bash: Harlem Globetrotters
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