Poles in Chicago


Both immigrant Poles and Americans of Polish heritage live in Chicago, Illinois. They are a part of worldwide Polonia, the Polish term for the Polish Diaspora outside of Poland. Poles in Chicago have contributed to the economic, social and cultural well-being of Chicago from its very beginning. Poles have been a part of the history of Chicago since 1837, when Captain Joseph Napieralski, along with other veterans of the November Uprising first set foot there. As of the 2000 U.S. census, Poles in Chicago were the largest European American ethnic group in the city, making up 7.3% of the total population. However, according to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, German Americans and Irish Americans each had slightly surpassed Polish Americans as the largest European American ethnic groups in Chicago. German Americans made up 7.3% of the population, and numbered at 199,789; Irish Americans also made up 7.3% of the population, and numbered at 199,294. Polish Americans now made up 6.7% of Chicago's population, and numbered at 182,064. Polish is the fourth most widely spoken language in Chicago behind English, Spanish, and Mandarin.
According to Census estimates as of 2023, the Polish ancestry population in the broader Chicago metropolitan area numbers 721,538, making it the metropolitan region with the highest Polish population in the country, and likely the most Polish metropolitan area in the world outside of Poland. While it is often claimed that Chicago has or had the highest Polish population outside of Warsaw, this is unlikely to ever have been the case, given the population of Łódź and Wrocław has historically outpaced the Polish ancestry population in Chicago.

History

A number of Poles contributed to the history of the city together with Captain Napieralski, a veteran of Cross Mountain during the November Uprising. Along with him came other early Polish settlers such as Major Louis Chlopicki, the nephew of General Józef Chłopicki who had been the leader of the same insurrection. Not to mention certain A. Panakaske who resided in the second ward in the 1830s as well as J. Zoliski who lived in the sixth ward with records of both men having cast their ballots for William B. Ogden in the 1837 mayoral race in Chicago.

Distribution

According to Dominic Pacyga, most of the Poles who first came to Chicago settled in five distinct parts of the city. The first of those Polish Patches, as they were colloquially referred to, was located on the Near Northwest Side. Centering on the Polish Triangle at the intersection of Milwaukee and Ashland avenues with Division street it later became known as Polish Downtown. The second large settlement, developed in Pilsen on the west side near 18th street and Ashland avenue. Poles established two separate enclaves in the Stock Yard district, one in Bridgeport, the other in the Back of the Yards near 47th street and Ashland avenue. Another Polish neighborhood developed in the area around the massive Illinois Steel works in South Chicago in the area colloquially referred to as "the Bush".
Polish communities in Chicago were often founded and organized around parishes mostly by peasant immigrants who named their neighbourhoods after them, like Bronislawowo, named after St. Bronislava.* Sometimes the neighbourhoods are contiguous so its difficult to say precisely where one ends and one begins, as in the case of 'Stanislawowo' by the church of St. Stanislaus Kostka and 'Trojcowo' by Holy Trinity Polish Mission in the former area of Polish Downtown.

Initial historical Polish patches

In Polish the ending 'owo' in e.g., Bronislawowo functions similar to English 'ville' in Johnsville or 'ton' in Charleston. When added to a name of a saint, it indicates a Polish sounding town or a village. This is a colloquial phenomenon, not present in educated Polish; however, it persists in the names of different Polish areas of Chicago.
Polish Downtown- '
  • Trojcowo – The area around Holy Trinity Polish Mission
  • Stanislawowo – The area around St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago
  • Kantowo – The area around St. John Cantius in Chicago
  • Mlodziankowo – The area around Holy Innocents in Chicago
  • Fidelisowo – The area around St. Fidelis
  • Helenowo – The area around St. Helen
  • Marianowo – The area around St. Mary of the Angels in Chicago
  • Jadwigowo – The area around St. Hedwig's in Chicago
Lower West Side
  • Wojciechowo – The area around St. Adalbert's in Chicago
  • Annowo – The area around St. Anns in Chicago
  • Romanowo – The area around St. Roman's
  • Kazimierzowo – The area around the former St. Casimir's
Bridgeport
  • NMP Nieustajacej Pomocy – The area around St. Mary of Perpetual Help
  • Barbarowo – The area around St. Barbara in Chicago
Back of the Yards
  • Jozefowo – The area around St. Joseph's in Chicago
  • Janowo – The area around St. John of God
  • Sercanowo – The area around Sacred Heart
South Chicago'''
  • Niepokolanowo – The area around Immaculate Conception in Chicago
  • Michalowo – The area around St. Michael's in Chicago
  • Magdalenowo – The area around St. Mary Magdalene
  • Bronislawowo – The area around St. Bronislava

    Subsequent historical Polish patches

Later as Poles grew in number and advanced economically, they migrated further out into outlying areas. The result was that the West Town/Logan Square settlement in Polish Downtown spread westward along North Avenue and northwestward along Milwaukee, thereby creating a "Polish Corridor," which tied in contiguous areas such as Norwood Park, Jefferson Park, Portage Park, and Belmont-Cragin. The same kind of advance occurred in the other original areas of Polish settlements so that Poles from both the Lower West Side and the Back of the Yards moved into both sides of Archer Avenue, giving rise to sizable Polish settlements on the Southwest Side of the city such as McKinley Park, Garfield Ridge, Brighton Park and Archer Heights. On the far Southeast Side, the South Chicago "steel mill settlements" spilled over into Pullman, Roseland, East Side, Hegewisch and Calumet City as well as into Lake County in Northwest Indiana, where thriving Polish communities were found in North Hammond, Whiting, the Indian Harbor section of East Chicago and several neighborhoods in the newly built industrial city of Gary.

North and Northwest Sides of Chicago

Lincoln Park
  • Jozafatowo or Kaszubowo – The area around the parish of St. Josaphat's in Chicago which was initially heavily Cassubian
Lincoln Square
  • U Przemienienia – The area around the parish of Transfiguration
Avondale
Chicago's Polish Village:
  • Jackowo – The area around St. Hyacinth Basilica
  • Waclawowo – The area around St. Wenceslaus
Irving Park
Portage Park
  • Władysławowo – The area around the parish of St. Ladislaus in Chicago
Jefferson Park
  • Konstancowo – The area around the parish of St. Constance
Norwood Park
  • Teklowo – The area around the parish of St. Thecla
Belmont Cragin
  • Jakubowo – The area around St. James
  • U Biskupa/ Biskupowo – The area around the parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr
Humboldt Park
  • Franciszkowo – The area around the parish of St. Francis of Assisi

    South Side of Chicago

McKinley Park
Archer Heights
  • Brunowo – The area around the parish St. Bruno
Garfield Ridge
  • Kamilowo – The area around the parish of St. Camillus by Midway Airport
Brighton Park
  • U Pieciu Braci – The area around Five Holy Martyrs
  • Pankracowo – The area around the parish of St. Pancratius
South Lawndale
  • U Dobrego Pasterza/ Pasterzowo – The area around the parish of Good Shepherd
West Elsdon
  • Turibiuszowo – The area around the parish of St. Turibius
Roseland
  • Salomejowo – The area around the parish of St. Salomea
Hegewisch
  • Florianowo – The area around the parish of St. Florian
Over the course of the city's development as the city's Polish community climbed further up the economic ladder and were followed by new waves of immigrants the concentration of Poles shifted to different areas of the city.

Religion

As in Poland, the overwhelming majority of Polish immigrants who settled in Chicago were culturally very devout Roman Catholics. Though almost all of the Polish Americans remained loyal to the Catholic Church after immigrating, a breakaway Catholic church was founded in 1897 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Polish parishioners founded the church to assert independence from the Catholic Church in America. The split was in rebellion from the church leadership, then dominated by Irish and German clergy, and lacking in Polish speakers and Polish church leaders. The Bucktown campus of the former Cathedral of All Saints still stands as a testament to this community of faith. The current Cathedral and Cemetery complex on the city's periphery by Rosemont remains active and is still independent from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
Poland is also home to followers of Protestantism and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Small groups of both of these groups are present Chicago. One of the most celebrated painters of religious icons in North America today is a Polish American Eastern Orthodox priest, Fr. Theodore Jurewicz, who singlehandedly painted New Gračanica Monastery in Third Lake, Illinois, over the span of three years.
While large numbers of Jews from the former lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth immigrated to the Chicago area, they faced a historical trajectory far different from that of their Christian counterparts. In the process of Americanization, many Polish Jews in Chicago would lose their identification with Poland, with notable exceptions. There have also been small numbers of Muslims, mostly Lipka Tatars originating from the Białystok region.