Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood - Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois (2023)

Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood - Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois (2023) "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.(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Click on this to view the entire document in PDF format.Pages 10 - 27THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PILSEN NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE BUILDINGS IN THE PILSEN HISTORIC DISTRICTEarly 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.""(Video) PILSEN CHICAGO - https://www.affordablecebu.com/