Jacob Kaplan is one of the authors of Avondale and Chicago's Polish Village. He and his fellow authors will lead a discussion of the book and the history of the Avondale neighborhood at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 12 at the Portage-Cragin Branch.
We asked Kaplan to tell us more about their book and the Avondale neighborhood.
Q: Tell me what motivated you and your co-authors to write about this topic.
A: We were always very interested in finding overlooked Chicago-related topics to write about. Avondale is a neighborhood that simply doesn't get as much love as other parts of the city. We felt that there was a lot of history here to be uncovered.
Q: Why is Avondale considered "the neighborhood that built Chicago"?
A: Because Avondale has historically been a neighborhood of "smokestacks and steeples." Innumerable factories were located in the area, providing jobs to many area workers. Products of all sorts were manufactured in Avondale. Brick factories were prevalent early in Avondale's history, which resulted in building materials from Avondale literally providing the building blocks for other parts of the city.
Q: What is the most important revelation that you hope readers take away from this book?
A: That the history of this everyday, "true Chicago" neighborhood is significant. That the stories of everyday Avondale residents, toiling away in area factories to help produce the wealth that made Chicago great, are stories worth telling and remembering. That Chicago is so big that a lot of the history in neighborhoods like Avondale tends to be overlooked.
Q: Can you explain why many Polish Americans, especially here in Chicagoland, feel such a strong connection to their heritage as well as the country of Poland?
A: For many years there technically was no country of Poland, so the bonds that drew Poles together in cities like Chicago resulted from a celebration of their heritage as well as concern about what was going on in the homeland, especially during the Communist period in Eastern Europe. Polish heritage has always been quite prevalent in Chicago and particularly in Avondale, where many Poles came to reside. Many Polish groups and institutions have been located in the neighborhood over the years.
Q: Were there any surprises along the way—either in the research or in the writing? Did you find sources who were unexpected?
A: There were many surprises! It was great tracking down longtime residents in our search for photos and stories. We also spent a lot of time searching in little-known city and state archives, looking for never-before-seen photos. We are very proud of the collection of photos we were able to unearth for the book.
