1. Cultural Studies:
The Avondale
Community and
Chicago’s Polish
Landscape
Mr. Greg Sherwin
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Lincolnshire, IL

2. Cultural LandscapeCultural Landscape
ConceptsConcepts
 Material and Nonmaterial Culture
 Sequent Occupance
 Chain Migration
 Cultural Diffusion
 Cultural Landscape study on AP Central Website

3. ChicagoChicago’s changing’s changing
neighborhoodsneighborhoods
 Chicago historian Dominic Pacyga characterizes
Chicago as a snake that transforms itself every
generation, shedding its old skin to emerge a new and
different creature. The city’s neighborhoods reflect
various social incarnations that can be read as layers in
the surrounding cityscape.

4. The Avondale Community
and Chicago’s Polish
Landscape
By Mr. Sherwinski

5. Polish Chicago HistoryPolish Chicago History

7. Largest Polish City after Warsaw?Largest Polish City after Warsaw?
Well maybe many moons agoWell maybe many moons ago
 There are about 9-10 million
Americans of Polish descent.
 Chicago bills itself as the largest
Polish city outside of Poland,
with approximately 185,000
Polish language speakers.
Name 1900 2007
Warsaw 756,400 1,706,624
Krakow 120,300 756,583

8. Polish Organizations inPolish Organizations in
ChicagoChicago
 The Polish Museum of America
 Polish American Association
 Polish American Congress
 Polish National Alliance
 Polish Falcons
 Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America

9. Avondale: The
Polish Village of
Chicago
One of many Polish
neighborhoods in Chicago

10. Avondale neighborhood-Avondale neighborhood-
The Polish VillageThe Polish Village
This area is referred to as Jackowo (pronounced Yahtskovo) and Wac awowo inł
Polish based on the churches in the area. Owo has the same function as “ville”
or “ton” in English.

11. Avondale:Avondale:
The Polish VillageThe Polish Village
 The Polish Village (Jackowo and Wac awowo), together make upł
one of Chicago's largest and most vibrant Polish Patches.
 The neighborhoods derive their Polish names from the two
contiguous Polish Roman Catholic parishes- Saint Hyacinth's
Basilica and St. Wenceslaus Church.
 Milwaukee Avenue is the district's main commercial strip with
dozens of sausage shops, restaurants, bakeries etc.
 In English the area is usually referred to as the Polish Village - the
name featured on signs hung on street lamps over the district.
Pulaski Avenue, named after the Polish Revolutionary War hero,
runs through the area.

12.  Casimir Pulaski Day is a holiday
observed in Illinois on the first Monday
of every March in memory of Casimir
Pulaski, a Revolutionary War cavalry
officer born in Poland.
 The day is celebrated mainly in areas
that have large Polish populations, such
as Chicago. The focus of official
commemorations of Casimir Pulaski
Day in Chicago is at the Polish
Museum of America where various city
and state officials congregate to pay
tribute to Chicago's Polish Community.
 Illinois enacted a law on June 20, 1977,
to celebrate the birthday of Casimir
Pulaski and held the first official
Pulaski Day celebrations in 1978.
Casmir Pulaski

13. Avondale and the OldAvondale and the Old
Polish DowntownPolish Downtown
 Many Polish patches and
neighborhoods in Chicago
historically.
 The Original Polish Downtown
neighborhood was around
Division, Ashland and Milwaukee
 Avondale is connected to the
Polish Downtown by Milwaukee
Avenue
 Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago is
known as the Polish Corridor or
Polish Broadway.
Map of the Old Polish Downtown
which is South and East of
Avondale

16. Old Polish DowntownOld Polish Downtown
 Today the area is gentrified.
 Young, hip Wicker Park
neighborhood
 But layers of the old landscape
persist
Polish National Museum in Old
Polish Downtown

17. 1. St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Rectory, and Elementary School, 1351 W. Evergreen Street
2. Holy Trinity Church and Rectory, 1120 N Noble Street
3. Holy Trinity Elementary School, now Polish offices, 1135 N. Cleaver Street
6. St. Stanislaus Gymnasium, now residential, 1521 W. Haddon Avenue
7. Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and Polish Museum of America, 984 N. Milwaukee Avenue
8. Polish National Alliance, now College of Office Technology, 1520 W. Division Street
9. Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division Street
10. Polish Welfare Association, now other businesses, 1303 N. Ashland Avenue
11. Polish Women’s Alliance, now residential, 1309 N. Ashland Avenue
14. Home Bank, now Mb Financial, 1200 N. Ashland Avenue
15. Polish Veterans Home, now art gallery, 1239 N. Wood Street
16. Falcons Hall, now other uses, 1062 N. Ashland Avenue

18. Images from Avondale-Images from Avondale-
The Polish VillageThe Polish Village

19. Images from Avondale-Images from Avondale-
The Polish VillageThe Polish Village

20. MORE PHOTOSMORE PHOTOS

21. More PhotosMore Photos
We speak Polish!

22. More PhotosMore Photos

23. A holdover from another era when neighborhood taverns on side streets in Chicago were
almost as common as corporate chain drugstores are today. The ethnic character of this
establishment’s proprietors is well established by the name, along with the words advertising
Zimne Piwo (cold beer) below the Old Style logo.

24. An ad on the side of Pasieka Bakery at the corner of Lawndale and
Milwaukee charms passersby by declaring it has “the best” baked goods in
town.

25. Religious Landscape:Religious Landscape:
Two Polish Catholic ChurchesTwo Polish Catholic Churches
St. Hyacinth (1894) St. Wenceslaus (1912)
It is a prime example of the so-
called "Polish Cathedral style" of
churches in both its opulence and
grand scale.
Built as the Polish population
swelled in the area.

26. Side BarSide Bar

27. These churches are on the North and South edges of Avondale

28. Inside St. HyacinthInside St. Hyacinth
BasilicaBasilica
Catholic Churches tend to be ornate

29. Statue of Pope
John Paul II
outside of St.
Hyacinth

30. Pope John Paul II inPope John Paul II in
Chicago (1979)Chicago (1979)

31. Karol Wojtyla (voy-te-wa)Karol Wojtyla (voy-te-wa)
Chicago 1976Chicago 1976

33. After Plane crash thatAfter Plane crash that
killed Polish President…killed Polish President…

34. Non-Polish elements
on the landscape of
Avondale

35. Chicago Housing
and building in
Avondale
The Chicago Cultural Landscape

36. At Milwaukee and Ridgeway, this
“Sullivanesque” building serves as the
Polish Medical Center.

37. Avondale is in theAvondale is in the
Bungalow BeltBungalow Belt
Gray indicates area where many
bungalows were built in the 1920s

40. Glocalization and
the Bungalow
Once Pop. Culture- now somewhat unique
to Chicago-tax credits to fix up and
modernize your Bungalow
website

41. Bungalows in AvaondaleBungalows in Avaondale

42. Two Flats also dominate the AvondaleTwo Flats also dominate the Avondale
working class landscapeworking class landscape

43. Blue collar landscapeBlue collar landscape

46. One can’t appreciate the built environment of Avondale without grasping
its prominent industrial character. From Florsheim Shoes to Olson Rug,
factories here produced goods that were shipped across the country,
alongside a host of smaller scale, and often family-owned, industrial
operations.
This vintage shot from 1970s of Dad’s Root Beer factory.

47. Polish outmigration
from Avondale

51. As one immigrant group movesAs one immigrant group moves
out, the next moves inout, the next moves in
 Sequent Occupance:
The succeeding stages of
human inhabitation over
time on one site. Each
stage is seen as being
established by its
predecessor, although
the sequence will almost
certainly be interrupted
by outside forces.

53. Sign with 3 languagesSign with 3 languages

54. Two Cultures
At right is a prominent sign on the
Polish Village’s commercial strip
along Milwaukee Avenue, along
with a Latino vendor selling paletas
(Latin American ice pops) beneath
it, an indication of the increased
Hispanic presence in the area.

55. Mexican landscapeMexican landscape

58. A look at the Red AppleA look at the Red Apple
againagain

59. Final thoughts:
Avondale’s Polish
influence on the
landscape is evident,
but the landscape is
changing

60. ChicagoChicago’s changing’s changing
neighborhoodsneighborhoods
 Chicago historian Dominic Pacyga characterizes
Chicago as a snake that transforms itself every
generation, shedding its old skin to emerge a new and
different creature. The city’s neighborhoods reflect
various social incarnations that can be read as layers in
the surrounding cityscape.