| In the 1890s and 1900s, immigration from Poland
and the completion of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Lines
greatly boosted the population density of West Town, especially
in areas east of Wicker Park. The corner of Division, Milwaukee,
and Ashland once known as 'Kostkaville', retains the moniker "Polish
Triangle" to this day, and the provisional government of Poland
met in Wicker Park during World War I. The area is home to many
of the most opulent churches in the Archdiocese of Chicago, built
in the so-called 'Polish Cathedral style'. After World War II, many
Poles moved to newer, less crowded housing further northwest, and
Wicker Park became more ethnically diverse with a large influx of
Puerto Rican immigrants. Split from the Lincoln Park neighborhood
only by the Kennedy Expressway in the late 50's and 60's, it contained
the second largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in Chicago. It
was the original home to the largest Latino gang at the time, the
Latin Kings.
The Young Lords, a human rights movement, held sit-ins with L.A.D.O.
at the Wicker Park Welfare Office and large non violent marches
to city hall. Urban renewal projects were undertaken to combat "urban
blight" in some parts of the neighborhood, but disinvestment
continued at a rapid clip. Wicker Park was also promoted by the
city's urban renewal plans, as a good "suburb within the city"
because of its easy access to downtown, via Milwaukee Ave. and the
elevated train (via Damen and Division stations). Chicago and Wicker
Park reached a nadir in the 1970s, a decade when the city overall
lost 11% of its population. During the 1970s, hundreds of cases
of insurance-motivated arson were reported in Wicker Park, near
St. Elizabeth Hospital. Many small factories near the area (many
in woodworking) also closed or moved away as city inspectors paid
extra visits that now follow, today's retail store expansion into
these areas. |
