Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood

February 2019, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks received a document on the Pilsen Historic District.  That public document contains a wealth of information and images related to the Pilsen Historic District, from its beginnings as a Chicago neighborhood to its current development.  Below are several pages from that document, which have a focus on the time when Pilsen developed as a Czech community, until the present, when Pilsen has become a Hispanic community.

Click on this to view the entire document in PDF format.

Pages 10 - 27

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PILSEN NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE BUILDINGS IN THE PILSEN HISTORIC DISTRICT

Early History and Settlement (1840s - 1880s)

During the 1840s, the area that would become known as Pilsen had its earliest settlement. The first set-tlers were Irish and German immigrant laborers who helped build the Illinois and Michigan Canal which connected the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River. Before long, other opportunities attracted immigrant settlers to the community including construction of the nearby Burlington and Chicago and Alton Railroads. Plank Roads along Ogden and Archer A venues and a cinder roadway, known then as Black Road (now S. Blue Island Ave.), served as important arterials for raw materials and goods pro¬duced at nearby lumber yards, brickyards, tanners, and black smiths.

By the early 1860s, another important industry had become established in the area: brewing. Prussian immigrant Peter Schoenhoefen and a partner, Matheus Gottfried, had success with a smaller operation. So they moved their facility to W. 16" and S. Canalport Streets in 1862. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago the firm initially produced about 600 barrels of lager beer annually. In 1867, Schoenhoefen bought out Gottfried renaming the firm as the Peter Schoenhoefen Brewing Company. He soon in-creased its output to 10,000 barrels a year. Several other breweries operated in Pilsen during the late 19 and early 20 centuries.

Bohemians (native to the western region of the present-day Czech Republic) first began settling in Pil-sen immediately after the Great Fire of 1871. Bohemia had been ruled under the Hapsburg Monarchy for hundreds of years beginning in the 16 century. In the late 1850s, the earliest Bohemian immigra-tion to America was spurred by failed attempts at revolution against what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The earliest Bohemian immigrants to arrive in Chicago settled near Lincoln Park and the Near West Side. The surrounding neighborhood came to be known as "Prague." Much of the neighborhood was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871. Following the fire, Chicago's Czechs moved west of the South Branch of the Chicago River and along W. 18" Street.

The new Bohemian neighborhood was soon dubbed "Pilsen." According to various sources the name came from a tavern near S. Carpenter and W. 19 Streets called "U Mesta Plznd," meaning Near the City of Pilsen."

The community continued to grow as other industries moved to the Lower West Side including McCormick Reaper Works whose original complex was destroyed by the Great Fire. Cyrus McCormick built an even larger factory just west of Pilsen at W. Blue Island and S. Western Avenues. The manufacturing company soon became a major employer for Pilsen residents.

Pilsen's early population was predominantly Bohemian; however, immigrants from many other European ethnicities settled here as well. They included Slovaks, Prussians, Lithuanians, Poles, Swedes, Dutch, and Croatians. Like Bohemians, many were skilled tradesman who had been lured to Chicago by the opportunities to rebuild the city after the Great Fire. Home ownership was a shared goal. Trades-men could stretch their budgets by serving as contractor for their own projects. Very modest cottages often provided a home for extended families. For example German immigrant Henry Nottke, a laborer in a brickyard, built a brick cottage around 1875 at 2022 W. 18" St. The 1880 Census indicates that early on, Henry Nottke lived there with his wife Minnie, their three children, his mother, and his broth-er John, who worked at an iron foundry. Thirty years later, after Minnie's death, the Nottke brothers rented space in their home to a Polish widow and her daughter.

Sometimes Pilsen residents would build a home at the rear of their lot where they would live until they had the means to erect a larger more expensive house closer to the street. By having two homes on the same lot, they could accommodate extended family and often also to take in renters and supplement their income.

Another interesting characteristic of many of Pilsen's early structures is that several of the smaller buildings and their lots lie below the grade of the street and sidewalk. These buildings must be accessed by either a small bridge leading to the front door, or by steps down from the sidewalk to a front entrance at the lower grade level. (In some instances, a stoop leads up to the front door at what was originally the second story.) These homes were built before or during the time when the neighbor-hood's streets were raised. Following an outbreak of cholera in 1854- the sixth year in a row that saw widespread epidemics attributed to the unsanitary living conditions of standing water and poor drainage - the City drafted a plan for a municipal sewer system. The new system utilized gravity to provide proper drainage. This meant that the grade of all streets in settled neighborhoods had to be raised out of the swamp in which the city had been built.

Execution of the plan began in 1858 and took two decades to complete. Although the City of Chicago was responsible for laying of all the pipe, and raising roadways and sidewalks, the responsibility to raise buildings to meet the new surface elevations was the responsibility of individual property owners. Where funds or manpower were limited, owners simply created new doorways at the second floor. Sometimes the lower level became a basement and in other cases the open space between the street and the house provided a place for a small garden. According to Czechs of Chicagoland, so many Pilsen families planted below street level gardens in front of their houses that Pilsen was nicknamed the "Garden City."

The architecture of many of Pilsen's early homes and businesses often reflected the influence of the owner's homeland. The preferred building material, brick, not only provided better fire resistance than wood, but it was also the material used for many traditional structures in Central Europe. While- many of Pilsen's 19 century structures are expressions of the popular architectural styles of the day, such as Italianate and Romanesque Revival, they had special flourishes that gave their buildings a "Bohemian Baroque" flair. For example, brick cottages and flat buildings often had carved limestone lintels or molded surrounds enlivened by ornamentation with floral motifs.

Pilsen's enterprising immigrant residents often remodeled and rebuilt their structures to adapt to changing needs. One early example was Polish immigrant Jacob Zaremba's 1870s frame cottage at 1314 W. 18 St. which features fishtail shingles at its gable end. Listed as a house mover in an 1875 City Directory, Zaremba used his professional skills to raise his house onto a new brick first story in 1880 (five years later). The remodeled structure provided a first story grocery store that was run by his son Frank, and an apartment for the family above.

The neighborhood grew quickly, soon including stores, offices, restaurants, and saloons as well as resi¬dences. Since the demand for housing had continued to grow, these businesses were often designed to have commercial space on the first story and flats above, lending the building type its historic name of "store and flats" building. Some noteworthy examples include a well-detailed 1886 mixed-use brick building at 1644 W. 18" St.; Joseph Nowak's 1887 corner saloon and apartment building at 1501-1503 W. 18" St.; and Peter Niedzicki's 1880s mid-block saloon at 1636 W. 18 St.

While some early residents managed to build or purchase their own homes, life was far from easy in Pilsen. Most area residents worked ten-hour days, six days per week in the area's garment factories, lumber mills, rail yards, meat processing plants, and other factories. Families often had to put their children to work, and accidents, even fatal ones, were commonplace.

Because of the scale of industrial work in the area, and the strong desire of local residents to improve their lot in life, Pilsen became a key center in the development of the labor movement in Chicago. Ac-cording to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, "Perhaps no city in the United States exceeded Chicago in the number, breadth, intensity and national importance of labor upheavals between the Civil War and 1919." These Chicago upheavals "were notable for their social impact." From the 1900s, immigrant workers in Pilsen were involved in labor actions, mobilizations, strikes and walkouts. Labor protesters often faced police, militia and even the US Army. These protests were among the most important labor actions in American history and helped forge the American labor movement.

Free-Thinking, Religion, Arts & Culture, and Politics (1870s-1890s)

Pilsen had a sizable Catholic population during the late 19" century. One of the neighborhood's first parishes for Bohemian Catholics, St. Procopius Church, was founded in 1875. Named after the patron saint of Czechoslovakia, the parish erected a handsome brick church at 1226-1228 W. 18 St. in the early 1880s. Around the same time, there were also Catholic parishes in the area that served immigrants from other parts of Europe. For instance, Jesuit priests from Chicago's Holy Family had founded a small frame mission church for Irish immigrants in Pilsen in 1874. A decade later, they made plans to replace that structure with the monumental St. Pius V Church completed in 1893 at 1901-1907 S. Ash-land Ave. As St. Pius V Church was reaching completion, Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church first opened its doors to serve Croatian immigrants at 1848 S. Throop St.

Many Bohemians who, under Hapsburg rule, had been forced to follow the government's official state religion and practice Catholicism, had come to America seeking religious freedom. Some followed other Christian faiths, but many rejected religion altogether, instead choosing to follow a form of secular humanism, known as Freethought. A local organization of Bohemian Freethinkers known as Svobodna obec Chicagu had formed as early as 1870.

Throughout the late 19 century, the Pilsen community was characterized by an unusual diversity of its members' religious and political beliefs. Many Bohemians were active in the Democratic and Socialist parties. By the early 1890s, Freethinkers far outnumbered the religious followers. Freethinkers were quite intellectual and often met to discuss and debate politics, religion, and other subjects. Pilsen's immigrant residents were often well-educated. Almost the entire adult population could read and write in their native language. This high level of literacy, and the strong and diverse attitudes about religion, politics, and other subjects, created a market for many daily Czech newspapers. One of the most popular in Pilsen was Denni Hlasatel (Daily Herald) founded in 1891. As readership increased, the news-paper soon outgrew its offices on S. Racine Ave and moved its headquarters to 1545 W. 18" St. in1904.

During the 1890s, a number of sokols, or meeting halls, were built in Pilsen. Much like a German Tumverein, a sokol was a social club for men that was meant to foster healthy minds and bodies. In 1892, the Bohemian Freethought organization erected the Plzensky Sokol at 1812-1816 S. Ashland Ave. Designed by Bohemian immigrant architect Frank Randak, the structure was first built as a one story hall with a gymnasium; then significantly enlarged three years later. The Plzensky Sokol was used for gymnastic training and exhibitions, lectures, and various social programs. Frank Randak also designed another important hall in the neighborhood, Cesko-Slovansky Podporujici Spolek (Czech

Slavic Benevolent Society), later called Czesky Slovonsky Americky Sokol (C.S.A.S), at 1436-1440 W. 18 St. First built in 1893, it also began as a one-story structure, and then was enlarged in 1902 to a monumental four-story building. In addition to operating its large meeting hall, C.S.A.S was a protective society. If Czech men had injuries at work, were laid off, or died, the organization helped take care of their families. Since women were not initially admitted into the Sokols, they formed their own organizations such as Jendota Ceskych Dam (Union of Czech Ladies), a national organization with sever¬al local chapters.

In addition to religion, politics, and physical fitness, many Bohemian immigrants were interested in music and theater. While a number of performing arts groups had formed by the early 1890' s there were few places for them to practice or perform. John Dusek, a Bohemian immigrant and saloon¬keeper, decided to combine the need for a large hall for performances, lectures, meetings and other events with rental apartments and storefronts, as well as a corner saloon. Located at 1805 S. Allport St., Dusek's impressive 1892 Romanesque Revival style Thalia Hall (a designated Chicago Landmark) was named in honor of one of Zeus's daughters, the mythical Muse of comedy and pastoral poetry.

City within a City (l 890s -1900s)

By the late 1890s, Pilsen had evolved into a thriving self-sufficient community. Historian Bessie Louise Pierce described the neighborhood of that period as a small city within the larger city. She wrote, "... here, the Streets lined with Bohemian provision stores, restaurants, and other businesses, appeared transplanted from the home across the sea, reminders of a place and day now gone." As a result of the substantial Czech immigration to Chicago leading up to the turn-of-the century, the city was recognized as having the largest Bohemian population in the nation, and third in the world (following Pra¬gue and Vienna).

At this time the McCormick Reaper Works was still a major employer of Pilsen residents, but many other manufacturers and companies also had operations in the neighborhood. The Chicago Stove Works Foundry was located at 22° St. and Blue Island Ave. Schrayer's & Sons, a hardware firm near W. Roosevelt Rd. and S. Blue Island Ave., made their own line of tinware and iron products. They expanded by building a second Schrayer's & Sons Factory at 917-925 W. 18 St. in 1905.There were other small blacksmiths and foundries throughout Pilsen.

Railroads continued to provide many area residents with jobs. Breweries also became even more prolific than before. In the early 1890s, proprietors of an earlier company known as Bohemian Brewery opened a larger firm called the Atlas Brewery Company at S. Blue Island Ave and W. 21 St,

Other local businesses were related to the lumber industry. These included the Pilsen Lumber Company; Maxwell Brothers' box-making factory at S. Loomis St. and W. 21 St.; the Goss & Phillips Manufacturing Company at Cermak Rd. and Carpenter St. that specialized in doors and window sashes; and numerous furniture factories.

Many Pilsen workers, especially women, were employed in the garment industry. Dozens of small garment finishing sweatshops and tailor shops operated throughout the neighborhood. Wives and daughters often put in long hours at home producing piecework for the manufacturers of cloaks, suits, gloves, or other clothing. Hart Schaffner & Marx, the largest clothing maker in the nation, had manufacturing facilities in several areas of Chicago, including Shop No. 5 east of the Pilsen Historic District at W.18 and S. Halsted Streets.

Pilsen's hardworking immigrant residents were known to be thrifty with their money as they strove to own a home or start a business. Thus there was a strong local demand for safe places to deposit money. Large downtown banks were far away and they tended to discriminate against working-class immigrants. In response, many small neighborhood banks opened in Pilsen during the late 19 century. Since their services often included mortgages, Pilsen bankers also specialized in real estate, and several building and real estate offices were erected in structures with flats above so that Pilsen bankers and realtors could live and work in their building. For example, Anthony Kozel's bank building at 1332- 1334 W. 18" St. was designed and built by his brother-in-law, Frank Layer in 1892. After the completion of the Romanesque Revival style building, both Kozel and Layer lived in units above the bank with their families.

Frank J. Petru built his business at 1443 W. 18 St. providing safe deposit vaults, insurance, and loans, but with a major focus on real estate. As was typical during this period, Petru didn't build a whole new building. Instead, he remodeled an existing brick structure around 1908 into an office and flat building that resembles a small Classical temple. He and his family lived in one of the apartments in the structure during his business's early years. Although they later moved to Cicero, he continued to run his office out of the Frank J. Petru Building for decades.

Rental properties in the neighborhood could be quite lucrative. Frank Kriz, who built a handsome four¬story store-and-flat building at 1140 W. 18" St., listed his occupation in the 1900 Census as "capitalist." Having emigrated from Bohemia in 1854, Kriz had managed to raise two professional sons- a lawyer and an electrician. They lived (along with a daughter and a younger son) in one of the apartments, and rented the other units to four Bohemian immigrant families. At the time, a total of thirty-five residents were living in Kriz's building. Tenants included a saloon-keeper, a carpenter, a carriage painter, an errand boy, blacksmiths, tailors, and glove knitters.

Another successful building owner was music dealer Thomas Kosatka. He and his wife Anna were Bohemian immigrants who rented an apartment at 1419 W. 18 St. in 1900. Within a decade, they were able to purchase 1425 W. 18" St., a mixed-use building that previously housed a jewelry shop. The Kosatkas opened a music store where they sold Victor Victrola products. They lived in an upper level apartment, and rented out the other two units.

Pilsen had many meat-packing firms, sausage factories, and butcher shops, also frequently housed in buildings with flats above. The Loeb Brothers had two locations in Pilsen between the late 1880s and early 1900s. One was an expansive operation at 1915- 1923 S. Blue Island Ave. where they presumably ran their meat-packing operation, and a much small corner storefront at 952 W. 18 St., which was likely a butcher shop. Both buildings had residential apartments on the upper floors.

Joseph Liska, a butcher who, in 1900 rented a space for his business and lived in the apartment above, managed to purchase the structure several years later. In 1907, he replaced the older structure with his own mixed-use building at 1328 W. 18" St. designed by architect Anton Charvat. Along with his butcher shop and an apartment for his own family, Liska rented units to four other families.

Another business owner who was able to build his own architect-designed structure was photographer Francis D. Nemecek who emigrated from Bohemia with his family as a child. He began running his own photography studio from a space in 1450 W. 18" St. around 1903. With a few years, Nemecek was able to hire the prominent Czech architect Frank Randak to design a new photography studio that he built at 1439 W. 18" St. in 1907. Nemecek continued operating his business from the elegant corner building for more than forty years.

Saloons, which had existed in Pilsen since the 1870s, became even more numerous in the 1890s and early 1900s. As explained by the National Register of Historic Places Pilsen Historic District Registration Form (NRHP Pilsen Historic District Form), throughout the city, the popularity of beer was "bolstered by the fact that water was often of relatively low quality and because milk was difficult to keep fresh." Pilsen's saloons were especially popular because "the Bohemians were known throughout the world as being makers - and consumers of exceptional beer." Beyond the popularity of the beverage being served, saloons also offered a much needed respite from the congestion of the neighborhood. The overall density of Pilsen meant that there were often many people living in each house making lei¬sure time at home impossible. Spending time outdoors was equally challenging as Pilsen had very little open green space, and the city's larger parks were far away.

As the Temperance Movement grew in Chicago, Pilsen's saloons were receiving new scrutiny. John Huss, a religious missionary, was so concerned about the neighborhood's vast number of saloons that he wrote a book entitled What I Found in Pilsen. He wrote, "I saw only one place where the gospel is preached and counted 72 liquor saloons on one side of the street, and presume there were as many more on the other side, within a distance of about one and a half miles." Among the neighborhood's numerous saloons of the 1890s and 1900s were establishments run by Joseph Skupa at 1858 W. All-port St.; Joseph Bernard at 1901-1903 S. Blue Island Ave; Paul Heil at 1326 W. 18 St; John Sonfel at 2024 W. 18 St; and Joseph Novotny at 1800 S. Throop St.

During this period, the intense competition among brewing companies and increasing legal restrictions and social pressures on public drinking, lead some of Chicago's breweries to adopt a "tied-house" system. Developed in England a century earlier, tied houses allowed large brewing companies to have direct control by exclusively selling their products at their own establishments. Although many independent saloons continued operating throughout Pilsen, they often faced complaints and were investi-gated by authorities. In contrast, the tied houses were impressive establishments designed to attract customers while conveying a sense of legitimacy and decency in the face of rising social opposition against alcohol.

The brewing companies employed high-quality architectural designs and popular historical styles of architecture for their tied-houses. German immigrant and Chicago resident Edward G. Uihlein, who headed the Schlitz Brewing Company, built fifty-seven tied houses in Chicago from 1897 to 1905 at a cost of $328,800. Uihlein hired Frommann & Jebsen, a talented German-American local architectural firm to produce the handsomely designed and well-detailed tied houses. These included an 1899 Schlitz Tied-House at 1870 S. Blue Island Ave. A number of other similar tied-houses throughout Chicago have been designated as Chicago Landmarks.

Overcrowding and Other Adversities (1900s-1920s)

At the turn of the twentieth century, as Chicago's immigration rates continued to rise, Pilsen's population grew rapidly, and the neighborhood became extremely overcrowded. In fact, Chicago: City of Neighborhoods reports that in 1901, more than 7,000 people were living within a nine-block area of Pilsen. Congested living and working conditions often led to public health crises.

Sweatshops operated out of many of Pilsen's flat buildings and disease spread rapidly to the workers and residents of them. The Illinois Chief Factory Inspector, Dr. F. J. Patera began investigating such workplaces in 1893 and published annual reports for more than a decade. His First Annual Report sheds light on the deplorable conditions that took place in many of Pilsen's sweatshops. In describing the conditions of Mr. B. Kunick's sweatshop located behind a "deep and crowded four-story tenement and lodging house" at 1423 W. 19 St., the report explained: ...Passing down the alley west of this building, entrance is had through stable cesspools and past foul closets, to a rear building of three stories, Kunick's shop being on the second floor, with another shop below it and tenants above; entrance to shop by a dark and dirty stairway." He went on to say that the garment contractor lived on the premises, and employed 17 men, 7 women, and 5 children under the age of 16.

In 1894, a smallpox epidemic ravaged Pilsen, spreading largely through the sweatshops and many of the mixed-use buildings that housed them. Responding to the smallpox epidemic, City officials required that victims of the disease be sent to a public health facility known as the "pest-house." Public health officers were known to treat the ill with brutality. So much so, that in May of 1894, a group of residents gathered near W. 19" and S. Allport Streets and attempted to fight off the six officials who came to take several small pox victims away. This scuffle prompted Bohemian residents to rally for an investigation of the Health Department.

Social reformers recognized the extreme level of need in Pilsen. Inspired by Jane Addams's Hull House, several settlement houses formed in the community. These included Gads Hill Social Settlement, which opened in a former saloon at 1919 W. Cullerton Ave. in 1898, and the Howell Neighborhood House (later Casa Aztlan) located at 1831 S. Racine Ave.

Although not unique within the city of Chicago, Pilsen had long suffered from an inadequate number of public schools to keep up with the growing immigrant population. Throop School (later demolished and now the site of Throop Park) had been the only public school in the community for years. The Board of Education built several new schools in just over a decade: Longfellow School (1882, demolished); Komensky School (1890, now Perez School Annex); Jirka School (1898, now Pilsen Community Academy), originally named for a Czech physician who created a make-shift school to fill the void in the neighborhood; and Jungman School (1903). In addition, the Board rented space in the mixed-use building at 952 W. 18 St. and operated there the Eighteenth St. Branch School for a few years in the early 1900s.

Despite additional public facilities in the neighborhood, the plight of workers hadn't improved much after the turn of the century. In September of 1910, a group of young women workers from Pilsen began what turned into one of the most important labor strikes in American history. The 17 female employees of Hart, Schaffner & Marx's Shop No. 5 in Pilsen walked out in protest against long hours, low wages, and oppressive working conditions. Tens of thousands of workers from other garment shops throughout the city would join the four-month strike. The Garment Workers' Strike inspired acts of labor activism throughout the country as well as the formation of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Perhaps emboldened by the garment workers, employees of other Pilsen companies rallied for labor reforms the next several years. In one example, the workers from the Burton-Dixie Cotton Mattress Company at 2024 S. Racine Ave. held a strike in 1915 that led to violence between unionized and non-unionized workers.

As labor reforms, including efforts to enact child labor laws, made slow but steady progress, life improved for many working-class residents of Pilsen. Many first generation American children of the area's immigrant families became more prosperous than their parents. Immigration stalled when American entered WWI in 1917. Czechoslovakia gained independence after the war, and as a result, fewer Bohemians were interested in emigrating.

In 1920, the Lower West Side community area, which includes the Pilsen neighborhood, reached its highest peak in population with more than 85,000 residents, but those numbers soon began to fall. At the time, the population of Czech immigrants and first generation Czech-Americans throughout Chicago was estimated at 200,000, but they did not all reside in Pilsen. Many had moved to the Lawndale neighborhood (nicknamed Czech California), while others had begun to relocate to Cicero and other suburbs.

Continuity and Change (1920s-1950s)

Despite Pilsen's slow decline of population, the community remained stable through the 1920s and many residents continued to have a strong sense of pride in their cultural heritage. In August of 1921, a huge parade celebrating Czechoslovak heritage, started at W. 18 St. and S. Ashland Ave. and proceed¬ed to Chicago's Coliseum at W. 15th St and S. Wabash Ave. After participants in traditional folk clothing and military regalia held a colorful parade, men, women, and children performed in gymnastics exhibitions at the Coliseum. In 1925, a five-day National Sokol Tournament was held Soldier Field. By this time, girls were allowed to participate in gymnastic training in sokols in many major American cities. Czechoslovak-Americans throughout the nation came to Chicago to participate in the Soldier Field Tournament. Female athletes from the Pilsen Sokol won first place.

Small businesses in Pilsen also fared well into the 1920s. New stores and shops along W. 18 St. and S. Ashland Ave. reflected the prosperity of the times as well as the desires of an increasingly consumer -oriented culture. Several auto sales companies had opened in the area- Bien Motor Sales at 1706- 1708 S. Ashland Ave.; G & L Auto Sales at 2002 W. 18 St., and the E & M Auto Supply Co. at 1734 W. 18 St. There was an Ashland Radio Shop at 1712 S. Ashland Ave. and the Joseph Jiran Co. at 1333 W. 18" St. supplied tubes and other parts for radio repairs. The Ben J. Fitz Men's Clothes store opened in a renovated building at 1726 W. 18" St. in 1926.

The prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly with the onset of the Great Depression. Pilsen's population had plunged significantly by the end of the 1920s, and continued dropping through the 1930s. Little construction took place throughout Chicago and especially in cash-strapped Pilsen. But one exception is the 1935 U.S. Post Office for Pilsen funded through President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Designed by Chicago architect John C. Bollenbacher, the impressive Art Moderne style Post Office is located at 1859 S. Ashland Ave. This large postal facility replaced a much smaller post office which operated for two decades or so out of 1509 W.18 St., a structure that still has a Pony Express logo in bas relief above the front door.

By the late 1930s and early 1940s, most of the area's buildings were well over fifty years old. As few owners had the means to undertake major repairs, many structures began to fall into disrepair. But earlier patterns continued with many families making their livings as small business owners in Pilsen, whether they still lived above their shop or commuted from another neighborhood or suburb. Always the strivers, some Pilsen residents opened their first store during this period. For example jewelry repairman Joseph Cwiak added a new brick storefront onto the front of his frame house and opened a jewelry shop at 1743 W. 18" St. Similarly, undertaker Joseph Linhart, who previously ran his operation from a rented space, built his own Gothic Revival style funeral home with flats at 1343-1345 W. 19 St. in 1938.

After WWII, some manufacturing companies left the neighborhood, but others remained. Meat packing, sausage factories, and butchers remained prevalent. Other long-time industrial firms continued to do well. The Burton-Dixie Company which had run a mattress-making factory at 2024 S. Racine Ave. since the turn-of-the-century, was producing pillows, comforters, and sleeping bags in the 1940s and

1950s. At the time, several furniture-making and woodworking firms continued to operate in Pilsen. Joseph Kaszab, a Hungarian immigrant who had a W. 21 St. business that produced Murphy beds in the 1920s, began specializing in office furniture in the 1930s. In the mid-1940s he began operating under a subsidiary, Woodwork Corporation of America. The firm built a large new plant at 1424-1436 W. 21' St. in 1946. A Chicago Tribune article published 20 years later marveled that because so many of the firm's 200 cabinetmakers were European immigrants who spoke little English, the foremen knew how to explain a job in German, Czech, and Polish.

Mexican Influence on Art and Culture (1950s-Present)

Known as ethnic succession by sociologists, many ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago evolved as new ethnic groups replaced older ones. Pilsen was no exception. Originally settled in the 1840s by Irish and German workers, Pilsen later become home to other groups including Bohemians, Lithuanians, Croats and Poles. The area attracted these groups due to its affordable housing and ample job opportunities. Beginning in the 1950's, Pilsen, changed yet again to reflect the culture and aesthetic of its most recent Mexican immigrants. The new arrivals in Pilsen came from Mexico directly, as well as relocating from other nearby neighborhoods, some of which were undergoing redevelopment.

Until this time, most of Chicago's Mexican immigrants lived on the Southeast Side, Back-of-the¬Yards, or Near West Side. However, construction of the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) beginning in 1949, the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) in 1960, and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) cam¬pus in 1963, was responsible for the displacement of thousands of African American, Italian, Jewish, Greek and Mexican residents. Many of these Mexican families moved to Pilsen as long time European residents of Pilsen relocated to the surrounding suburbs.

In 1952, the Reverend of St. Procopius Church noted that his congregation was becoming more diverse as it now included Mexicans along with Bohemians, Croatians, and Poles. By 1958, Howell Neighbor-hood House had begun offering English lessons to Spanish speakers. Pilsen's population began growing for the first time in decades. By the late 1960's the demographic of Pilsen changed, and within a decade it became a majority Mexican community. By 1970, Mexican-born residents accounted for nearly fifty percent of Pilsen's population, while the community's Czech-born population had dropped to less than one percent.

The Pilsen Neighbors Community Council, a grassroots civic organization that had been founded in 1954 by Eastern European immigrants, embraced the change as new residents began assuming leader-ship roles in the organization and the focus of PNCC became community organizing. Along with Czech specialties, the Council's annual street carnival began featuring Mexican foods in the early 1960s. In 1964, the Pilsen Neighbors asked the Board of Education to begin offering additional re-sources for the overcrowded schools in Pilsen. Noting the many children come from homes where only Spanish was spoken, the Community Council stressed the importance of providing English lessons in those schools.

Like the Bohemian immigrants that preceded them, Pilsen's Mexican-American residents possess a strong sense of cultural pride. In celebration of Mexican heritage, history, culture and language, the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council began holding an annual four-day festival each July called Fiesta Del Sol; The National Mexican Museum of Art hosts an annual exhibit for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) each October featuring traditional and contemporary installations honoring the departed; and other celebrations of Mexican food, art and culture have become commonplace throughout Pilsen.