Bounded on one side by the Chicago River, West Town is three miles northwest of the Loop. West Town is a fairly large community really composed of a group of smaller neighborhoods. The area is roughly bounded by Kinzie Street, Division Street, California Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94).
During the 1860s, many homes were constructed near the railroad yards and near newly constructed factories along the river and Milwaukee Avenue. Poles settled the area, as well as many Germans and Scandinavians north of Humboldt Park. After the Fire, Polish immigration to the area increased, along with Russian Jews, Ukrainians, and Germans.
Today, it forms one of the city's great melting pots. Two-thirds of its 180,000 population is Latino. Of the other residents - most are Polish, Ukrainian, Italian, and African-American. More than half the housing units were built before 1910, and most residential development occurred before 1939. The population peaked in 1910, and began declining in the 1930s. Now, there are artists and musicians and young urban professionals. Virtually everyone is rediscovering Chicago's near northwest side community of West Town.
The best-known neighborhood in West Town is Ukrainian Village featuring its churches and solid, Victorian-style housing. Ukrainian Village has an ethnically diverse population today, but remains the base for the Chicago area's Ukrainian community. The proximity to Wicker Park and Bucktown and the nightlife at the Damen/North/Milwaukee Avenue intersection is beginning to attract young professionals who want to pay lower rents.
In 2000 single-family homes in West Town sold for an average of $365,000. Townhouses and condominiums sold for an average of $275,000 in 2000. Single-family houses tend to be higher priced in Wicker Park than in Ukrainian Village. The area west of Western Avenue offers comparative bargain prices and people are now moving west of Western, because east of Western is just becoming too expensive. Apartment rents vary widely in West Town mainly being a function of the condition of the building.
Other West Town neighborhoods where renovated apartments and single-family homes can be found: Noble Square - bounded by Grand, Division, Ashland and I-90/94; East Village - bounded by Division, Chicago, Ashland and Damen.
The CTA's Blue Line trains stop at Division and Ashland, and Chicago and Milwaukee, and Damen and Milwaukee. Buses run along most major streets. The Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94) is the eastern boundary.
Click here to go back to Chicago Neighborhoods
Other Chicago Neighborhoods: