Old Town, Chicago
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Old Town Triangle Historic District
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Old Town sign, on Wells and North Avenues. An identical sign exists on Wells and Division streets.
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| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
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| Built | 1872 |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Italianate, Queen Anne, Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 84000347 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 8, 1984 |
| Designated CL | September 28, 1977 |
Old Town is a neighborhood and historic district in North Side, Chicago, Illinois home to many of Chicago's older, Victorian-era buildings. Examples include St. Michael's Church, one of seven buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire.
In the 19th century, German immigrants moved to the meadows north of North avenue and began farming previous swampland, planting celery, potatoes and cabbages. This gave the area the nickname 'The Cabbage Patch'. The name stuck until around 1900.
During World War II, the streets of North, Clark, and Ogden Avenues (which form a triangle) were designated a 'neighborhood defense unit' by Chicago's Civil Defense Agency. In the years immediately after the war, The population of “North Town” (as it was known) sponsored annual art fairs called the “Old Town Holiday.” The art fairs were popular attractions to the neighborhood and the name "Old Town" was used in the title of the Old Town Triangle Association when it was formed in 1948, by residents who wanted to improve the condition of buildings that were suffering from physical deterioration. In the 1950s, much of Old Town was an enclave to many of the first Puerto Ricans to emigrate to Chicago. They referred to this area as part of "La Clark".
There is no legal entity known as Old Town, although claims have been made as to the nature of its unspecific borders:
It is important to stress that there is no such legal entity as Old Town. Old Town is where you make it.
This neighborhood is supposed to be as much a sound as a place, and it's from the bells of St. Michael's Church. The story goes you only really live in Old Town if you can hear them.
...it was said that all who lived within hearing distance of the church's bells were Old Towners.
The land known as Old Town originally served as a home and trade center to many Nations including Potawatomi, Miami and Illinois. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, most of the indigenous people were forcibly removed, and the land was then settled in the 1850s by German-Catholic immigrants. Clark Street is a leftover of the culture, it being an old road which followed a slight ridge along Lake Michigan.
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Wikipedia