Lower West Side, Chicago
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Lower West Side Pilsen |
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|---|---|
| Community area | |
| Community Area 31 - Lower West Side | |
 Location within the city of Chicago |
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| Coordinates: 41°51′N 87°39.6′W / 41.850°N 87.6600°WCoordinates: 41°51′N 87°39.6′W / 41.850°N 87.6600°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| County | Cook |
| City | Chicago |
| Neighborhoods | |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2.80 sq mi (7.25 km2) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 35,769 |
| • Density | 13,000/sq mi (4,900/km2) |
| Demographics 2010 | |
| • White | 20.43% |
| • Black | 3.10% |
| • Hispanic | 73.43% |
| • Asian | 1.04% |
| • Other | 1.00% |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP Codes | parts of 60608 and 60616 |
| Median household income | $34,573 |
| Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services | |
Lower West Side is a community area on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is three miles southwest of the Chicago Loop, and its main neighborhood is Pilsen. The Heart of Chicago is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the Lower West Side.
In the late 19th century, Pilsen was inhabited by Czech immigrants who named the district after Plzeň, the fourth largest city in what is now the Czech Republic. They replaced the Germans and Irish who had settled there before them, in the mid-nineteenth century. The population also included smaller numbers of other ethnic groups from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, such as Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats and Austrians, as well as immigrants of Polish and Lithuanian heritage. Many of the immigrants worked in the stockyards and surrounding factories. Like many early 20th century American urban neighborhoods, however, Pilsen was home to both wealthy professionals and the working class, with the whole area knitted together based on the ethnicities, mostly of Slavic descent, who were not readily welcome in other areas of the city.
Although there was some increase in the Hispanic presence in the late 1950s, it was not until the early 1960s that there was a great spurt in the numbers of Latinos in Pilsen. This was due to the displacement of Latinos from the neighborhood UIC currently occupies, south of Hull House, and from other urban revitalization projects. In 1970, Latinos became the majority population in Pilsen, with about 25,000 people out of the community's 43,341 people surpassing the population of people of Eastern European descent. In particular, Mexicans made up about 36% of the residents of Pilsen in 1973.
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