Here are some photos from our strolls in the Chicago, Illinois neighborhood of Wicker Park last October when we were in town visiting our daughter, Natalie, and her family. Hip Wicker Park has been a residential neighborhood since Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837. The Wicker Park Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places listings and much of the community was also designated as a Chicago Landmark District.
If I included this photo previously, I apologize. I still smile each time I see it!
Some background thanks to Wikipedia: In late 1868, the Chicago Board of Public Works announced their wish to build a park west of Milwaukee Avenue and south of North Avenue because the grounds were of "considerable capacity and are laid out in a tasteful and attractive manner as a park." Charles Wicker and his brother Joel purchased 80 acres of land along Milwaukee Avenue in 1870 and laid out a subdivision with a mix of lot sizes surrounding a four-acre park. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 spurred the first wave of development, as homeless Chicagoans looked to build new houses. Wicker Park was especially popular to Chicago's wealthy Northern European immigrants. More prosperous merchants built large mansions along the neighborhood's choicest streets, one of them Hoyne known then as "Beer Baron Row," as many of Chicago's wealthiest brewers built mansions there.
At the turn of the century, immigration from Poland and the completion of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Lines or "L," greatly boosted the population density of West Town, especially in areas east of Wicker Park. The area adjacent to the city park, also called Wicker Park, became known as Polish Downtown and the "Polish Gold Coast."
Janina and Diane: Since you both grew up in Wicker Park, did you know that Poland's provisional government met in Wicker Park during World War I?! The near Northwest Side became home to many of the most opulent churches in the Archdiocese of Chicago, built in the Polish Cathedral style of Renaissance Revival and Baroque Revival architecture in the eastern part of the country.
Polish immigration into the area accelerated during and after World War II when as many as 150,000 Poles are estimated to have arrived between 1939 and 1959 as Displaced Persons (DPs). According to Wikipedia, they clustered in established ethnic enclaves like Wicker Park as shops, restaurants, and banks had staff who spoke their language. One inhabitant commented on growing up in the area in the 1950s that "it felt like everyone was a Pole." It was a place where the local store owners, priests, police officers, garbage collectors, teachers, and librarians all either spoke Polish or had families that did.
Wicker Park began to change radically beginning in the 1960s as highway development displaced many residents and tore holes in the network of Polish-American churches and neighborhood groups. In addition, Latinos, displaced by urban renewal in Old Town and Lincoln Park, began moving in. Latinos comprised less than one percent of the area's population in 1960, but that increased to 39 percent a decade later. It contained the second-largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in Chicago and was the original home to the largest Latino gang at the time, the Latin Kings. Urban renewal projects were undertaken to combat "urban blight" in some parts of the neighborhood, but disinvestment quickly followed as city banks redlined West Town for much of the mid-20th century.
The 1970s saw hundreds of cases of insurance-motivated arson reported in Wicker Park and many small factories near the area also closed or moved away. The obvious result was increased unemployment which caused it to go in a downward decline with certain streets becoming notorious for prostitution, drug dealers, and gang crimes.
Community development groups attempted to stabilize the area through new affordable housing construction in the 1980s. That coincided with the arrival of artists attracted by the neighborhood's easy access to the Loop, low-cost loft space in the abandoned factories, and a distinctly urban feel.
Wicker Park is now best known for its numerous commercial and entertainment establishments, and for being a very convenient place to live for downtown workers because of its proximity to public transportation and The Loop. As crime decreased in the last two decades, many new homes have been built as well as older homes being restored, leading to increased business activity.
Steven and I know that Natalie and Adam love being in Wicker Park because of its great location and cutting-edge gourmet restaurants and bakeries, European-style cafes, and artsy businesses. But, even though they're right 'in the city,' they can still walk out their door and escape for walks along quiet residential streets. For a young couple in their first home, it looks like they have the best of both worlds just minutes away: the excitement and convenience that a thriving city has to offer and yet a quiet community as well. After spending quite a bit of time visiting them the past few years, I could understand why in September of 2012 Wicker Park was named the number four hippest hipster neighborhood in the country by Forbes Magazine. I would think it's still got to be near the top almost ten years later.
Diane: This will resonate with you!
I guess park staff didn't want anyone getting too close together during Covid and therefore turned the water off at the fountain in Wicker Park. So sad seeing an empty fountain.
The park's gardens honored Edith Konieczko, a longtime Wicker Park neighborhood resident, for her dedication to the gardens, events, and the community. I read that she loved marigolds and her "saucy smile was ever-present" as she worked to help people get involved in making a difference. What a woman!
I wonder if Natalie and Adam will take their daughter, Clara, to a future Scarecrow Extravaganza so she can make her own.
Halloween was definitely in the air!
I'm sure you recognize the image of George Floyd by now, the man who was killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25th, 2020.
Next post: All things Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois.
Posted on August 20th, 2021, from Grayton Beach State Park on Florida's Panhandle just two days before Steven and I leave the park for the last time until next summer to drive one thousand miles due north to Chicago to see Natalie, Adam, and thirteen-month old Clara for a few days. Thank goodness I finally got this post in before returning to Chicago for the third time since we were there last October!
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