19th century In late 1868, the Chicago Board of Public Works announced the desire to build a park "lying west of Milwaukee avenue and south of North avenue. The grounds are of considerable capacity and are laid out in a tasteful and attractive manner as a park." Present at the meeting was alderman Charles Wicker, who, with his brother Joel, purchased of land along
Milwaukee Avenue in 1870 and laid out a subdivision with a mix of lot sizes surrounding a park. The
Great Chicago Fire of 1871 spurred the first wave of development, as homeless Chicagoans looked to build new houses. Before the end of the 19th century,
Germans and
Norwegians tended to live in the area's north and northwestern sections. Wicker Park became the abode of Chicago's wealthy Northern European immigrants. The district proved especially popular with merchants, who built large mansions along the neighborhood's choicest streets—particularly on Hoyne and Pierce, just southwest of North and Damen−known then as Robey. Hoyne was known then as "Beer Baron Row", as many of Chicago's wealthiest
brewers built mansions there.
Turn of the century With the end of the 19th century the area was subsumed into the surrounding.
Polish Downtown, being adjacent to
Wicker Park, which gave the neighborhood its name, also became known as the "Polish Gold Coast". In the 1890s and 1900s, immigration from
Poland and the completion of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Lines greatly boosted the population density of West Town, especially in areas east of Wicker Park. The area around
Division,
Milwaukee, and Ashland was once known as "
Kostkaville", and the intersection retains the names "
Polonia Triangle − Polish Triangle" to the present day.
20th century The provisional government of Poland met in Wicker Park during
World War I. The near Northwest Side became home to many of the most opulent churches in the
Archdiocese of Chicago, built in the
Polish Cathedral style of
Renaissance Revival and
Baroque Revival architecture in the Eastern U.S.
1930s–1950s Polish immigration into the area accelerated during and after
World War II when as many as 150,000 Poles are estimated to have arrived between 1939 and 1959 as
Displaced Persons (DPs). Like the Ukrainians in neighboring
Ukrainian Village, they clustered in established ethnic enclaves like this one that offered shops, restaurants, and banks where people spoke their language.
Division Street was referred to as
Polish Broadway. Poet
John Guzlowski whose parents first came to the area as DPs commented on growing up in the area in the 1950s that
"it felt like everyone was a Pole", a place where the local store owners, priests, cops, trash men, teachers, librarians all either spoke Polish or had family that did.
Nelson Algren's literary output lionized the Division Street strip in his books such as
The Man with the Golden Arm and
Never Come Morning focusing on the stories of junkies, gamblers, hookers, and drunks in some areas of that neighborhood. and resulted in the book
Never Come Morning being banned for decades from the
Chicago Public Library system over the massive outcry by
Chicago Polonia. For decades, the festival centered on the
Flatiron Arts Building and was typically held during the month of October, Chicago's Artist Month. Since 2008 "Around the Coyote" moved downtown, officially marking an end of an era, in 2008 it was renamed
Looptopia. The presence of local artists also declined in the area, many migrated to other art communities in Pilsen, Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Jefferson Park, Rogers Park, and Uptown.
21st century residence on July 16, 2001, note the vandalism (red paint on the door) and street-level brick that has been worn due to graffiti and its continued removal due to protests against perceived gentrification that the show promulgated. The present day neighborhood is best known for its numerous commercial and entertainment establishments, and being a convenient place to live for downtown workers due to its proximity to public transportation and
The Loop. In 2001, MTV's reality TV show
The Real World: Chicago was also staged in Wicker Park, which caused protests due to perceived promotion of gentrification. In the past two decades crime has decreased and many new homes have been built as well as older homes being restored, leading to increased business activity. The neighborhood is extremely trendy known for hosting emerging bands, high fashion boutiques, cutting-edge gourmet restaurants and bakeries, European-style cafes, upscale independent grocers, and artsy businesses. visible in background In a September 2012
Forbes article, Wicker Park was named the #4 hippest hipster neighborhood in the country. Wicker Park, along with other nearby West Town neighborhoods, has seen rising property values and increasing tax rates, increasing taxes levied by the city. In 2016 the city overall saw an average increase in taxes of 13%, when the city government raised the property tax rate and re-assessed housing values, however Wicker Park saw a 28.1% average increase. Nearby developments including the
Bloomingdale Trail (otherwise known as The 606) have fueled an increase in property values and helped spur other large scale developments. ==Education==