East Side, until recently, was socially and economically dominated by the Calumet River and the jobs it supported.

Many of the neighborhood's residents in this period were families of Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian heritage, who had emigrated from Europe to work in the steel mills and take related jobs.

Especially after unionization, the neighborhood became a stronghold of the Chicago Democratic Party machine of Mayor Richard J. Daley.

The neighborhood's longtime alderman, Edward Vrdolyak, became a noted Chicago "power broker" after the senior Daley's death.

Most of the neighborhood was built north of 108th Street by the 1930s, with expansion to the south occurring in the 1940s and 1950s as new industries opened up along the nearby Calumet River.

The headquarters for the Port of Chicago, which operates Foreign Trade Zone #22, is located at 3600 East 95th Street.

The East Side community area has voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic Party in the past two presidential elections.

East Side is Metra territory, as the nearest Chicago Transit Authority train station is the 95th/Dan Ryan terminal on the Red Line, 7 miles (11 km) northwest of the neighborhood.