South Lawndale, Chicago
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Community Area 30 - South Lawndale Location within the city of Chicago |
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Neighborhoods |
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ZIP Code | parts of 60608 and 60623 | |
Area | 11.5 km² (4.44 mi²) | |
Population (2000) Density |
91,071 (up 12.22% from 1990) 7,919.5 /km² |
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Demographics | Black Hispanic Asian White Other |
12.9% 83.0% 0.13% 3.52% 0.41% |
Median income | $32,320 | |
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services |
South Lawndale located on the west side of Chicago, Illinois and more commonly known as the Little Village neighborhood, is one of 77 well-defined Chicago community areas.
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[edit] Neighborhoods
[edit] Little Village
Little Village is a neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, historically designated "South Lawndale" it was popularly known as "Czech California" for many years due to the largest ethnic group being of Bohemian heritage. It is home to the largest Mexican-American population in the Midwest, and was formerly the home of large Italian, Polish, Czech, Irish, Lithuanian, Croatian and Slovene ethnic communities. It is located south of the BNSF Railway tracks (Metra's BNSF Railway Line also runs on these tracks) that run south-west from 18th Street and Western Avenue to 26th Street and Cicero Avenue and north of the South Branch of the Chicago River, and west of the north/south railroad tracks just west of Western Avenue and east of the city limits at Cicero Avenue.
The name "Little Village" was reportedly coined by a realtor in the early 1950s to "capture the Bohemian character of the community".[1] Famous past residents of Little Village include Mayor Anton Cermak, who lived in the 2300 block of S. Millard Avenue, across the street from Lazaro Cardenas Elementary. Pat Sajak was also a Little Village resident. He attended Gary Elementary Schools and Farragut High School. The bulk of Little Village falls within the aldermanic boundaries of the 22nd ward (Muñoz). The commercial strip along 26th Street is said to have the second highest business revenue in the city after N. Michigan Avenue.
[edit] Marshall Square
Marshall Square is a neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, in the northeast corner of the South Lawndale Community Area, named to designate the square formed by Marshall Boulevard, 24th Boulevard, Cermak Road, and California Avenue. It is bounded roughly by Kedzie Avenue. on the west, 26th Street on the south, the BNSF Railway tracks (2000 S.) on the north, and the north/south railroad tracks (2500 W.) on the east. The bulk of the Marshall Square neighborhood falls within the aldermanic boundaries of the 12th Ward. According to the Chicago Public Library Marshall Square Branch webpage, James A. Marshall, for whom Marshall Boulevard was named, came to Chicago in 1832, opened a dancing school and served as secretary of the Chicago Real Estate Board.
Points of interest include: the art-deco Marshall Square Theater at Cermak Road and Marshall Boulevard, which was originally a vaudeville venue, later a silent movie theater, and currently a venue for banquets, weddings, and Latin music under the current name of "Apollo's 2000"; The massive Carter Harrison High School at 24th Boulevard and Marshall Boulevard, now an elementary school named for Maria Saucedo, an area teacher who lost her life in a fire in 1981; and the highly visible statue of Marquette and Joliet which stands at the junction between Marshall and 24th Boulevards.
[edit] References
- ^ Source: longtime resident and neighborhood historian
[edit] External links
- Official City of Chicago South Lawndale Community Map
- Little Village Chamber of Commerce
- Chicago Historical Society Profile: Pilsen & Little Village
- Marshall Square Online
- Maria Saucedo bio
- Marshall Square Theater
- St. Agnes of Bohemia in Little Village
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North Lawndale, Chicago | Lower West Side, Chicago |
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Cicero, Illinois | McKinley Park, Chicago | ||||||
South Lawndale, Chicago | |||||||
Garfield Ridge, Chicago | Archer Heights, Chicago | Brighton Park, Chicago |