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- During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Polish peasants left their homes and immigrated to America. Looking for work, these immigrants tended to settle in the Northeast, where industry was beginning to boom. Chicago, with its extensive opportunity for industrial laborers was a magnet for Polish settlements 6.
- The majority of these settlements arose close to the major industrial areas, where they worked. By 1890, there were already five major Polish neighborhoods in Chicago: Polish Downtown (on the northwest side), the Lower West Side, Bridgeport, Back of the Yards, and South Chicago 7.
- After the Great Depression, Polish industrial workers benefited greatly from their union ties, gaining higher earnings and job security. However, the traditional Polish neighborhoods near the industrial centers remained crowded and tired. Many Poles bought houses in the suburbs and commuted to their jobs, instead of living near them.
- As they left, Blacks and Latinos increasingly occupied the areas they left behind. This led to the kind of cross-cultural experience Stuart Dybek presented in his short story, "The Wake." "Father Wojek, the pastor, could say the service in five languages - Latin, Polish, Ukrainian, English, and Spanish. The altar boys now were Mexican kids, their poor-looking gym shoes sticking out from black cassocks."8
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'"Humboldt Park is my neighborhood."
"Then you got to be a Uke, a Polack, a Scandihoof, or a Jew....I know my Chicago ..."'
- "Something to Remember Me By," Saul Bellow 10
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