Hegewisch (locally pronounced /ˈhɛɡˌwɪʃ/ "heg-wish") is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's far south side.

The community area is named for Adolph Hegewisch, the president of U.S. Rolling Stock Company who hoped to establish "an ideal workingman's community" when he laid out the town along a rail line in 1883, six years before Chicago annexed the town.

[2] In 1837, Hegewisch, along with the area that now composes most of the South Side of Chicago, was incorporated as part of Hyde Park Township.

When workers attempted to march on Republic Steel, they were shot at by the Chicago Police Department.

In 1980, Wisconsin Steel closed its South Deering mill, leading to high unemployment in the area.

Today, Hegewisch is a stable middle and working-class neighborhood, with roughly average levels of household income, and below-average crime and poverty (relative to the city of Chicago as a whole).

[1] Wolf Lake is located in Hegewisch and is part of the William W. Powers State Recreation Area.

Harbor Point Estates, located east of Avenue F. The trailer park is built on the former site of a landfill.

[22] Flex-N-Gate, which provides bumpers to the "Big Three," will begin production near the Torrence Avenue Assembly Plant in 2019.

[23] In March 2017, it was announced that CRRC Sifang America would be manufacturing the new 7000 series cars for the Chicago "L" in Hegewisch.

[25] It is also home to Calumet Harbor Lumber Company, the last surviving saw mill within the Chicago city limits, a distinction it has held for over a quarter century.

The top 5 employing industry sectors of community residents are manufacturing (12%), public administration (10.9%), education (10.8%), healthcare (10.6%) and retail trade (8.5%).

[1] KCBX Terminals, a petcoke processing facility owned by the Koch brothers is located in Hegewisch.

Virgil I. Grissom and Henry Clay Elementary Schools serve Hegewisch students.

As part of the Chicago "L"'s Red Line extension, the proposed 130th Street terminal would be near the Altgeld Gardens Homes, a public housing project in the Riverdale neighborhood near Hegewisch.

The below average availability of public transit leads to its regular use by only 16% of Hegewisch outbound commuters.

[31] For much of the latter half of the twentieth century, it was dominated by Ed Vrdolyak, who served as the Democratic Ward Committeeman from 1968 to 1987 and Alderman from 1971 to 1987.

[31] The Hispanic Democratic Organization, a pro-Daley political action committee had a strong presence in the ward until its demise after the Hired Trucks scandal.