Overton Incubator

Neighborhood: Bronzeville

Site Address: 221 E. 49th Street

Hours to Visit: The parking lot is open for visitors Monday to Sunday 12pm-5pm; school grounds (outdoor areas) are open to the public everyday 10am-7pm

Projects by: Borderless Studio and The Open Workshop

About the (former) Overton Elementary School and the Overton Incubator:

Anthony Overton Elementary School, built in 1963 and designed by Perkins and Will was one of 50 schools that were closed in 2013 citing budget cuts, under-enrollment, and low performance. Washington Park Development Group has since purchased the school, and through collaborations with artists, designers, and small businesses, has transformed the school grounds into an experimental hub, referred to as the Overton Incubator that is intended to serve the community to support creative entrepreneurship in business, technology and design.

About Creative Grounds: 

Creative Grounds, a multi-year initiative and collaboration between Borderless Studio and Washington Park Development Group, at Overton Incubator is a community-led research platform that seeks to bring visibility to the closure of nearly fifty Chicago Public Schools concentrated in Chicago’s West and South Sides while organizing activations as a form of advocacy and collaborative agency, and creating a space to spark collective imagination about the future of social infrastructure in our city.