Stony Island Avenue is a major thoroughfare on South Side

South Side (Chicago)

The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...

 of the city of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, designated 1600 East in Chicago's street numbering system

Streets and highways of Chicago

Roads and freeways in Chicago summarizes the main thoroughfares and the numbering system used in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.-Street layout:...

. It runs from 56th Street south to the Calumet River

Calumet River

The Calumet River refers to a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the neighborhood of South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana.-Background:...

. Stony Island Avenue continues sporadically south of the Calumet in the southern suburbs, running alongside the Bishop Ford Freeway

Bishop Ford Freeway

The Bishop Ford Freeway, formerly known as the Calumet Expressway, is a portion of Interstate 94 in northeastern Illinois, south of downtown Chicago. It runs from Interstate 57 south to the intersection with Interstate 80, Interstate 294 and Illinois Route 394...

, sometimes as a frontage road

Frontage road

A frontage road is a non-limited access road running parallel to a higher-speed road, usually a freeway, and feeding it at appropriate points of access...

. It terminates at County Line Road on the border of Will and Kankakee Counties.

Points of interest

Running roughly parallel to the Illinois Central Railroad

Illinois Central Railroad

The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...

, Stony Island Avenue forms the western boundary of Jackson Park

Jackson Park (Chicago)

Jackson Park is a 500 acre park on Chicago's South Side, located at 6401 South Stony Island Avenue in the Woodlawn community area. It extends into the South Shore and Hyde Park community areas, bordering Lake Michigan and several South Side neighborhoods...

, former home of the World's Columbian Exposition

World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 of 1893 and current home of the Museum of Science and Industry

Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)

The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

. Buildings of the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 line its western side, as does the national headquarters of the historically African-American Alpha Kappa Alpha

Alpha Kappa Alpha

Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...

 sorority. Between 59th and 60th streets the Midway Plaisance

Midway Plaisance

The Midway Plaisance, also known locally as the Midway, is a park on the South Side of the city of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its east end and Jackson Park at its west end. It divides the Hyde Park...

 runs westward to connect Jackson Park to Washington Park a mile away. Shortly after leaving the Hyde Park neighborhood

Hyde Park, Chicago

Hyde Park, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois, United States and seven miles south of the Chicago Loop, is a Chicago neighborhood and one of 77 Chicago community areas. It is home to the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Science...

 sits Hyde Park Career Academy

Hyde Park Career Academy

Hyde Park Career Academy is a public 4-year high school located in the Woodlawn neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is a part of the Chicago Public Schools District 299.-Notable alumni:...

 at 63rd Street. Stony Island becomes an extremely wide thoroughfare between 67th and 94th streets. At 71st Street there is a Metra Electric Line Stony Island Avenue

Stony Island (Metra)

Stony Island Station is the first electrified commuter rail station along the South Chicago Branch of the Metra Electric Line. The station is located in the median of 71st Street west of the intersection with Stony Island Avenue, and is away from the northern terminus at Randolph Street Station...

 station. Just south of 71st is the famous Moo & Oink

Moo & Oink

Moo & Oink was a South Side Chicago, Illinois-based grocery store chain and wholesaler that catered to the inner-city community and south suburbs...

 Grocery Store. At 73rd Street is the Nation of Islam

Nation of Islam

The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...

's Mosque Maryam

Mosque Maryam

Mosque Maryam is a large mosque in Chicago, Illinois, United States and the headquarters of the Nation of Islam. It is located at 7351 South Stony Island Avenue in the South Shore area. Louis Farrakhan's headquarters are located on the premises. Originally a Greek Orthodox church, it was purchased...

. At 75th Street is Jackson Park Hospital. Stony Island meets 79th Street, and South Chicago Avenue forming a major and large intersection, with the ramps of the Chicago Skyway

Chicago Skyway

The Chicago Skyway, also known as Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge System, is a toll road in Chicago, Illinois, United States, carrying Interstate 90 from the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side leading into the Chicago Loop....

 overhead. Adjacent to this intersection on 79th Street is the New Regal Theater

New Regal Theater

The New Regal Theater is located at 1641 East 79th Street, in Chicago, Illinois. The theater opened as the Avalon Theater in 1927. The design is an "atmospheric" Moorish Revival movie palace designed by John Eberson, who was nationally known for the atmospheric design...

, a Chicago Landmark. At about 92nd Street, Stony Island passes to the west of the geographical feature for which it was named, a stony hill that was once an island when the glacial Lake Chicago

Lake Chicago

This article is about the prehistoric lake, For other geographic features with this name, see ChicagoLake Chicago was a prehistoric proglacial lake that is the ancestor of what is now known as Lake Michigan, one of North America's five Great Lakes....

 covered the area thousands of years ago. Early pioneers gave this hill, located in the present day neighborhood of Calumet Heights

Calumet Heights, Chicago

Calumet Heights, located on the South Side of the city, is one of the 77 well defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois. Calumet Heights is bounded by 87th Street on the north, South Chicago Avenue on the east, and railroad lines on the west and south . It includes the neighborhoods of Calumet...

 (also referred to as Pill Hill for the large number of doctors who used to live in the area), Chicago at 41°43′42"N 87°34′47"W, the name Stony Island because at a distance it looked like an island in set a tractless prairie

Prairie

Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

 sea. (See also the nearby Blue Island). At the intersection with 93rd Street, is the Bronzeville Children's Museum. It is the only African-American children's museum in the US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. South of 95th Street

95th Street (Chicago)

95th Street is a major east–west street on Chicago's South Side and in the southwest suburbs, designated as 9500 South in Chicago's address system. 95th Street is south of Madison Street.-Route:...

 Stony Island Avenue enters the heavily industrialized

Heavy industry

Heavy industry does not have a single fixed meaning as compared to light industry. It can mean production of products which are either heavy in weight or in the processes leading to their production. In general, it is a popular term used within the name of many Japanese and Korean firms, meaning...

 region of Lake Calumet

Lake Calumet

Lake Calumet is the largest body of water within the city of Chicago. Formerly a shallow, postglacial lake draining into Lake Michigan, it has been changed beyond recognition by industrial redevelopment and decay...

.

At some points in the South Suburbs, street signs for Stony Island Avenue are spelled as Stoney Island Avenue.