Former residents reflect on life at Rockford housing project as demolition nears
As the city's public housing authority prepares to demolish the city's Fairgrounds Valley apartment complex, some who lived and grew up in the 210-unit housing project are making final visits and sharing fond memories.
“I was always around families who cared about me and made sure I enjoyed living there,” said Rockford poet and community activist Christopher Sims, who lived in Fairgrounds with his family in the mid-1970s. “They taught me a lot about community and respect.”
“Plenty of positive life lessons were taught inside of those bricks,” said Robert Suggs, who also was a resident in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. “And I wouldn't trade it for anything.”
In more recent years, the homes had a reputation as a high-crime zone, known more for police calls than its sense of community. Violence and illegal drug activity at the complex often was reported.
While the headlines are hard to ignore, some say it doesn't change how they feel about their childhoods.
“People have their own interpretation of crime to a degree. ... What someone who lives outside of the Fairgrounds community calls crime, we just may call it life,” Suggs said. “Most housing projects have stigmas. We get it. But we were a community, and we knew what it was. And that's what mattered most.”
More: One step closer to demolition: Feds deem Rockford's Fairgrounds housing complex 'obsolete'
Significant structural deficiencies
It’s now quiet on the nearly 15-acre property.
The buildings are boarded up, and the Rockford Housing Authority is getting ready to demolish what remains of the complex.
A physical needs assessment at Fairgrounds conducted by the RHA identified significant structural deficiencies. The agency estimated it would cost about $34 million to renovate.
In 2017, residents of 47 Fairgrounds apartments were relocated to The Grove at Keith Creek on the city's east side.
As part of an overall redevelopment plan, RHA, through its nonprofit, Bridge Rockford, has also been acquiring and rehabilitating distressed foreclosed single-family homes in high-opportunity areas within Winnebago County.
When Fairgrounds was decommissioned in 2021, there were 360 children younger than 18 living there. The housing authority said women headed about 92% of households.
The units have been replaced with 158 new tenant protection vouchers, allowing residents to relocate while protecting their subsidy assistance.
Dice games and notorious names
Built in 1969, the Fairgrounds Valley property is still being maintained because the RHA has not yet awarded a demolition contract.
“We still have a request for proposal out,” said Tequila Pollard-Brown, the RHA’s affordable housing manager. “Right now, we are making sure the buildings are boarded up, and we will be installing barricades around the property.”
Sims strolled through the complex earlier this month and snapped a selfie in front of Unit 708, his home in 1976.
He said the front door of that apartment was his gateway to Rockford and places Lee, Acorn and Tanner streets, the Piggly Wiggly, Noble’s Groceries and to see the "Candy Lady."
“There was lots of love in Fairgrounds,” Sims said. “Everyone was usually loving, caring, patient and empowering."
Whatever the property becomes after it's razed, Sims said it will always have place in his heart, so much so that it shows up often in his poetry.
“The shouts of hallelujah as some families moved out, reaching ascension,” Sims wrote in a recent piece. “Cognac and gin bottles being cracked open. Jokes, stories woven smoothly into conversations.
"The sounds of dice games, card games, some of Rockford's most notorious names.”
Jim Hagerty writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the Rockford Register Star. Email him at jhagerty@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Former residents reflect on Rockford Fairgrounds as demolition looms
