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Maxwell Street
Maxwell Street is an east–west street in Chicago, Illinois, that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West. The Maxwell Street neighborhood is considered part of the Near West Side and is one of the city's oldest residential districts. It is the location of the celebrated Maxwell Street Market and the birthplace of Chicago blues and the "Maxwell Street Polish", a sausage sandwich. A large portion of the area is part of the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and a private housing development sponsored by the university.
Maxwell Street first appears on a Chicago map in 1847. It was named for Dr. Philip Maxwell. It was originally a wooden plank road that ran from the south branch of the Chicago River west to Blue Island Avenue. The earliest housing was built by and for Irish immigrants who were brought to Chicago to construct the first railroads. It continued to be a "gateway" neighborhood for immigrants and others, including Greeks, Bohemians, Russians, Germans, Italians, Poles, African Americans and Mexicans.
Hull House, the largest and most famous of the 19th-century settlement houses, was established by Jane Addams here to help immigrants transition to their lives in Chicago. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started only a few blocks away, but it burned north and east, sparing Maxwell Street and the rest of the Near West Side.
A few blocks north of Maxwell Street are the city's historic Greek and Italian communities. Taylor Street is Chicago's Little Italy, and one can still find Italian cuisine, including pastries and lemon ice. Pilsen, the neighborhood to the south, was originally Bohemian but became Mexican.
The historic church is St. Francis of Assisi, which has evolved through the years with the surrounding community. It originally was German Catholic, then became Italian, and later Mexican, with almost all its masses conducted in Spanish.
Beginning in the 1880s, Eastern European Jews became the dominant ethnic group in the neighborhood, which remained predominantly Jewish until the 1920s. This was the heyday of the open-air pushcart market the neighborhood is famous for.
After 1920, most of the residents were African Americans who came North in the Great Migration (African American), although most businesses continued to be Jewish-owned. In the 1980s and 1990s, the neighborhood and market became predominantly Mexican-American. Most of the older Jewish merchant families had by then moved to the suburbs.
During the period when it was predominantly African American, and especially in the decades after World War II, the area became famous for its street musicians, mostly playing the blues, but also gospel and other styles.
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Maxwell Street
Maxwell Street is an east–west street in Chicago, Illinois, that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West. The Maxwell Street neighborhood is considered part of the Near West Side and is one of the city's oldest residential districts. It is the location of the celebrated Maxwell Street Market and the birthplace of Chicago blues and the "Maxwell Street Polish", a sausage sandwich. A large portion of the area is part of the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and a private housing development sponsored by the university.
Maxwell Street first appears on a Chicago map in 1847. It was named for Dr. Philip Maxwell. It was originally a wooden plank road that ran from the south branch of the Chicago River west to Blue Island Avenue. The earliest housing was built by and for Irish immigrants who were brought to Chicago to construct the first railroads. It continued to be a "gateway" neighborhood for immigrants and others, including Greeks, Bohemians, Russians, Germans, Italians, Poles, African Americans and Mexicans.
Hull House, the largest and most famous of the 19th-century settlement houses, was established by Jane Addams here to help immigrants transition to their lives in Chicago. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started only a few blocks away, but it burned north and east, sparing Maxwell Street and the rest of the Near West Side.
A few blocks north of Maxwell Street are the city's historic Greek and Italian communities. Taylor Street is Chicago's Little Italy, and one can still find Italian cuisine, including pastries and lemon ice. Pilsen, the neighborhood to the south, was originally Bohemian but became Mexican.
The historic church is St. Francis of Assisi, which has evolved through the years with the surrounding community. It originally was German Catholic, then became Italian, and later Mexican, with almost all its masses conducted in Spanish.
Beginning in the 1880s, Eastern European Jews became the dominant ethnic group in the neighborhood, which remained predominantly Jewish until the 1920s. This was the heyday of the open-air pushcart market the neighborhood is famous for.
After 1920, most of the residents were African Americans who came North in the Great Migration (African American), although most businesses continued to be Jewish-owned. In the 1980s and 1990s, the neighborhood and market became predominantly Mexican-American. Most of the older Jewish merchant families had by then moved to the suburbs.
During the period when it was predominantly African American, and especially in the decades after World War II, the area became famous for its street musicians, mostly playing the blues, but also gospel and other styles.