Bridgeport (Chicago)

Bridgeport
Community area
Community Area 60 - Bridgeport
The White Eagle Brewing Company building in Bridgeport, designed by John S. Flizikowski, once stood at the corner of W. 37th Street and Racine.
Location within the city of Chicago
Coordinates: 41°50.4′N 87°39.0′W / 41.8400°N 87.6500°W / 41.8400; -87.6500Coordinates: 41°50.4′N 87°39.0′W / 41.8400°N 87.6500°W / 41.8400; -87.6500
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Cook
City	Chicago
Neighborhoods	list Bridgeport
Area
• Total	2.10 sq mi (5.44 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	31,925
• Density	15,000/sq mi (5,900/km2)
Demographics 2010
• White	35.1%
• Black	2.1%
• Hispanic	27.0%
• Asian	34.5%
• Other	1.3%
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	parts of 60608, 60609 and 60616
Median income	$35,535
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

Bridgeport, one of 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, is a neighborhood on the city's South Side, bounded on the north by the South Branch of the Chicago River, on the west by Bubbly Creek, on the south by Pershing Road, and on the east by the Union Pacific railroad tracks. Neighboring community areas are the Lower West Side across the river to the north, McKinley Park to the west, Canaryville to the south, and Armour Square to the east. Bridgeport has been the home of five Chicago mayors. Once known for its racial intolerance, Bridgeport today ranks as one of the city's most diverse neighborhoods.

Historically, much of the neighborhood was initially an Irish-American enclave. In the 1830s, large numbers of immigrants from Ireland started settling in this working-class neighborhood. Many of the same Irish immigrants who helped build the Erie Canal later came to Chicago to work on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Because of inadequate funding for the project, the State of Illinois began issuing "Land Scrip" to the workers rather than paying them with money. A large number of those Irish-Americans who received the scrip used it to purchase canal-owned land at the northern end of the canal where it meets the south branch of the Chicago River. The original Bridgeport village, named "Hardscrabble," centered on what is now the section of Throop Street north of 31st Street. The area later became known as Bridgeport because of its proximity to a bridge on the Chicago River, which was too low to allow safe passage for boats, forcing cargo to be unloaded there. Finley Peter Dunne later wrote about this area in popular sketches around the turn of the 20th century. Dunne's protagonist, Mr. Dooley, lived on "Archey Road" (present day Archer Avenue).