Avondale and Chicago's Polish Village

by Jacob Kaplan, Daniel Pogorzelski, Rob Reid, Elisa Addlesperger, Dominic Pacyga (Foreword by)

Overview

Home to Chicago's Polish Village, impressive examples of architecture, and the legendary Olson Waterfall, Avondale is often called "the neighborhood that built Chicago."

Images of America: Avondale and Chicago's Polish Village sheds light on the little known history of the community, including its fascinating industrial past. From its beginnings as a sleepy subdivision started by a Michigan senator, it became a cultural mecca for Chicago's Polish community, playing a crucial role in Poland's struggles for independence. Many people from all over the world also called Avondale home, such as Scottish proprietors, African American freedmen, Irish activists, Swedish shopkeepers, German tradesmen, Jewish merchants, Filipino laborers, and Italian entrepreneurs; a diversity further enriched as many from the former Soviet Bloc and Latin America settled here. Avondale would be unrecognizable today from its humble origins, but the strong sense of community these neighbors have will never change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467111188
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/21/2014
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	721,150
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jacob Kaplan is editor and cofounder of Forgotten Chicago. Daniel Pogorzelski is the vice president of the Northwest Chicago Historical Society and coauthor of the titles Portage Park and Bridgeport in the Images of America series. Rob Reid is a current Avondale resident and the founder of Avondale Time Machine, a local history blog. Elisa Addlesperger first discovered the joys of Chicago neighborhood history while working at the DePaul University Library Special Collections and Archives.

Table of Contents

Foreword 6

Introduction 7

1 Beginnings 9

2 The Neighborhood That Built Chicago 15

3 A Church for Every Nation 37

4 The Best Game in Town 49

5 From Polish Village to Polish Mecca 57

6 Come Together 69

7 An Expressway Runs through It 89

8 Avondale's Lost Wonder 97

9 Getting Around 103

10 Shop Local 109