United Airlines Flight 553

West Lawn, one of Chicago's 77 official community areas, is located on the southwest side of the city. It is considered to be a "melting pot" of sorts, due to its constant change of races moving in and out of the area, as well as the diversity that exists there. It has a small town atmosphere in the big city. West Lawn is home to many Polish-Americans, Irish-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and other people of Latin American and Eastern European origin.

The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture (Lithuanian: Balzeko lietuvių kultūros muziejus) is located at 6500 S. Pulaski Rd. in Chicago's West Lawn neighborhood, not far from Chicago Midway International Airport. Founded in 1966, the Balzekas Museum is dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of Lithuanian culture and is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the subjects of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language, history, culture and politics, and to the Lithuanian-American experience. The museum hosts events, programs, and workshops, such as traditional Lithuanian Užgavėnės (Mardi-Gras) mask making, vėlykaičiai or margučiai Easter egg decorating, and straw Christmas ornament making. The museum is a popular destination for tourists and schools, seeking to learn about Lithuanian history, culture, and immigration. Promoting the study and appreciation of America's diverse ethnic cultural heritage and seeking to foster greater understanding among all people, the museum works cooperatively with numerous ethnic groups; cultural, arts and educational organizations; museums; fraternal orders; religious entities; and governmental institutions. The Balzekas Museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. It was founded by Lithuanian-American businessman Stanley Balzekas, Jr., who continues to serve as the president of the museum. Chicago's Lithuanian community has more Lithuanians and people of Lithuanian descent than anywhere in the world outside of Lithuania itself. The museum's bulletin, called the Lithuanian Museum Review, is published quarterly.

Richard J. Daley College is a public, two-year community college in Chicago, one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago. The college was founded as William J. Bogan Junior College in 1960 and utilized classrooms in the evenings provided by William J. Bogan High School in the Ashburn neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. In 1970, the college moved to an interim campus, made of prefab buildings, in the West Lawn neighborhood at 7500 S. Pulaski Road, until the present campus was completed in 1981. In 1976, a week after the death of Richard J. Daley, the college was renamed in honor of the late mayor.

Marquette Park, the largest park on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, at 323 acres (1.31 km2), is located at 41.768°N 87.703°W / 41.768; -87.703 in the city's Chicago Lawn neighborhood. The park is named for Father Jacques Marquette (1637–1675).

Lionel Hampton Fine & Performing Arts School is a public magnet school for grades K–8 in southwestern Chicago, Illinois, United States. This school was started in the fall of 2000. This school was formerly known as New Dawes.

Chicago Lawn, also signed as Chicago Lawn-63rd St., was a former railroad station on the border of Chicago Lawn and West Lawn in Chicago, Illinois. The tracks adjacent to the station were elevated over 63rd Street in 1929. Service to the station remained until April 30, 1971, when the eastbound International Limited and westbound Inter-City Limited passenger trains were replaced by Amtrak services on May 1, 1971. The station building was demolished in 2017.

Hubbard High School is a public four-year high school located in the West Lawn neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Hubbard is part of the Chicago Public Schools district. The school is named for American fur trader and insurance underwriter Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard. As of 2017, Hubbard had an 82.9% five–year graduation rate. In 2017, the student population was 91% Hispanic and 96% "low income".

Beth Shalom, formally Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, is a Black Hebrew Israelite synagogue in Chicago, Illinois. The congregation leader is Rabbi Capers Funnye. Assistant rabbis are Avraham Ben Israel and Joshua V. Salter. Beth Shalom is affiliated with the International Israelite Board of Rabbis.The congregation, which has about 200 members, is mostly African American. The congregation was started by Rabbi Horace Hasan from Bombay, India, in 1918 as the Ethiopian Hebrew Settlement Workers Association, and was influenced by Wentworth Arthur Matthew's Commandment Keepers.Along with African-Americans, members include Hispanics and whites who were born Jews, as well as former Christians and Muslims. As is traditional with Judaism, they do not seek converts, and members must study Judaism for a year before undergoing a traditional conversion requiring men to be ritually circumcised and women to undergo ritual immersion in a mikvah.The congregation is "somewhere between Conservative and Modern Orthodox" with distinctive African-American influences; while men and women sit separately as in Orthodox synagogues, a choir sings spirituals to the beat of a drum. It follows traditional Jewish liturgy and laws, including Sabbath and "a modified version of kosher dietary laws."The congregation is currently housed in a former synagogue purchased from the Lawn Manor Hebrew Congregation of Ashkenazi Lithuanian Jews on South Kedzie Avenue in the Marquette Park neighborhood, on Chicago's South Side.

Ashburn, one of Chicago's 77 community areas, is located on the south side of the city. Greater Ashburn covers nearly five square miles. The approximate boundaries of Ashburn are 72nd Street (north), Western Avenue (east), 87th Street (south) and Cicero Avenue (west).

The Dodge Chicago Aircraft Engine Plant was a World War II defense plant that built the majority of the B-29 bomber aircraft engines used in World War II. The plant design was initiated by automotive plant designer Albert Kahn and his company. The plant is seen as an influential design landmark of American industrial manufacturing facilities. The main building of the Dodge Chicago plant covered eighty-two acres and occupied over 30 city blocks, and at the time was the largest building in the world. Although Kahn died prior to the completion of the project, he was influential in the innovative design that efficiently used precious wartime materials used in its construction. Kahn had extensive tunnels dug to facilitate foot and supply traffic. These tunnels span the width and breadth of the plant in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wooden block floors were placed for ergonomic reasons, which was typical for industrial plants of the day. These floors were cemented over when the facility was converted into Ford City Mall, and only recently had to be removed from TRI (candy maker Tootsie Roll Industries) as posing a potential health hazard. The Belt Line Railroad shunted lines into the plant, and to this day evidence of the rails remain. Construction of the plant was started in 1942, and it was in full operation by early 1944. The B-29 Superfortress bomber was used in the strategic bombing campaign against Japan. It was the largest American aircraft to see service in World War II. Each B-29 Superfortress used four of the massive Wright R-3350 - Cyclone 18-cylinder 2,200 horsepower (1,600 kW) engines built at the Dodge Chicago Plant. There were nearly 4000 of these aircraft produced when the B-29 was retired from service in the 1960s. Many firsts in industry took place there. Chemist Lencke produced Z-max lubricant. 75% of the employees were women, 1 to 2 percent of whom were African Americans. The Dodge Chicago plant marked an all-time high water mark of cooperation and success between the efforts of the American government, industry, and labor. It also set an early standard for providing an environment of racial and ethnic cooperation and tolerance. After the war, a lease for the plant was awarded to the Tucker Car Corporation, and it later used by several automobile manufacturers including Ford Motor Company. Tootsie Roll Industries moved into a vacated portion of the plant in 1967. To this day, TRI uses these tunnels for archives and storage as well as locker rooms, as Ford City uses them for a strip of boutiques. The plant was constructed just east of South Cicero Avenue and was a half-mile long from 72nd Street to 76th Street, and nearly a half-mile wide, reaching South Kostner Avenue in Chicago's West Lawn community. To this day, the northern two-thirds of its buildings still house the Tootsie Roll factory, and a section that was demolished for a parking lot which separates Tootsie Roll from the Ford City Mall.

William J. Bogan Computer Technical High School (also known simply as Bogan High School) is a public 4–year high school located in the Ashburn neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by Chicago Public Schools district, Bogan opened in 1959. The school is named for Chicago Public Schools Superintendent William J. Bogan. In 1999, the school began offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program; and becoming an International Baccalaureate World School in 2004.

Wrightwood is a station on Metra's SouthWest Service in Wrightwood neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. The station is 11.5 miles (18.5 km) away from Chicago Union Station, the northern terminus of the line. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Wrightwood is in zone C. As of 2018, Wrightwood is the 154th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 261 weekday boardings. There is an unstaffed shelter and across from the station is Norfolk Southern's Landers Yard. As of January 16, 2023, Wrightwood is served by 27 trains (14 inbound, 13 outbound) on weekdays. Saturday service is currently suspended.