CHICAGO (WLS) — Chatham is one of Chicago’s most historic neighborhoods.

The community, located in the southeastern part of the city, has been home to one of Chicago’s largest middle-class African-American communities since the late 1950s.

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It was considered the black mecca for business. At one time, Chatham was home to multimillion-dollar black-owned businesses, such as the Johnson Products Company and Seaway National Bank.

In her latest edition of “Our Chicago: Neighborhood Walk,” Val Warner visited Chatham with one of its most prominent former residents, ABC7 Chicago anchor Cheryl Burton. It’s a community that Warner is also familiar with. As a child living in Los Angeles, Warner spent his summers in Chatham, visiting his grandmother.

Burton, whose family moved to Chatham in 1958, told Warner that Chatham made her the person she is today.

“Chatham is in my blood,” Burton said. “It shaped our lives.”

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On their tour of Chatham, the two men began at a structure known as “The Blue White House.” Built in the mid-1960s, its bricks were imported from Italy, Burton said.

“Inside, the shape looks exactly like the White House,” Burton said.

The two then walked across the street to the historic home of legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was one of Chatham’s first black residents to settle there in 1956.

Since 1972, the house has been owned by former U.S. Senator Roland Burris, who invited Burton and Warner to the house he purchased directly from Jackson.

The two then visited Dat Donut, a well-known restaurant located at 8251 S. Cottage Grove Ave. As you would expect, this establishment sells huge donuts. But it also offers ribs, sausages, and hoagies, as you’d expect from a place that once housed the famous Leon’s Barbeque.

The couple then visited Burton’s former high school, Dixon Elementary, at 8301 S. St. Lawrence Ave.

They then ended up a few blocks east of Chatham in nearby Avalon Park, where they visited one of Burton’s favorite clothing stores, Essential Elements, located at 1640 E. 87th St.