| Avondale aka
Jackowo is one of 77 officially designated Chicago,
Illinois community areas. It is located on the Northwest
Side of Chicago. Its main borders are the North Branch
of the Chicago River, Diversey Avenue, Addison Street,
Pulaski Road and the Union Pacific/Northwest rail line;
bisecting the community are Belmont and Milwaukee Avenues
along with the Kennedy Expressway (Interstate 90/Interstate
94). Located directly north of the Logan Square neighborhood,
it is also accessible through the Belmont and Logan
Square stations of the CTA Blue Line.
An early racially-integrated
suburb, Avondale became part of Chicago when the city
annexed the Town of Jefferson in 1889. Factories that
sprang up around the turn of the century by the railroads
were responsible for the initial wave of European immigrants,
mostly Germans, Scandinavians and Poles. This quiet,
blue-collar neighborhood had an increase in the Hispanic
population from 37.6% in 1990 to 62.0% in 2000.[1] Avondale
was the site of one of Chicago's Seven Lost Wonders,
the Olson Park and Waterfall complex at Diversey and
Pulaski.
Jackowo, is one of Chicago's
largest and most vibrant 'Polish Patches'. The neighborhood
gets its name from Saint Hyacinth's Basilica (Bazylika
Św. Jacka), the local Catholic parish church, at
3636 West Wolfram Street.
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